Board of Directors

Tara has been married for 25 years and has walked through more than 22 years of foster care, adoption, and kinship care alongside her husband. Together, they are parents to seven children—three of whom joined their family through foster care and adoption. Over the years, their home has also been open to more than 45 foster children.

Foster care has shaped Tara’s life in ways she never expected. It has given her a deep understanding of both the beauty and the brokenness within the system, and a strong conviction to come alongside youth and families who are often carrying more than they can hold alone.

Through this journey, Tara witnessed a significant disconnect between the church and the realities of foster care and adoption. That gap fueled her desire to help bridge understanding through practical support, lived experience, and long‑term presence.

Tara’s leadership is deeply rooted in her faith. She has encountered God’s faithfulness in the hardest places and believes families were never meant to walk through crisis alone.

Restoryed Families grew out of Tara’s lived experience, her commitment to God, and a conviction that restoration is possible when families are supported—and when the church steps into places of need with love, presence, and action.

Shelby Burnett has always had a heart for helping others and foster care. Shelby Burnett has been married for 13 years. Her and her husband have two children and were foster parents for 2 years in TN. She also spent time working in a residential home with teen girls in foster care, most of whom were in the process of aging out with little to no support.

In fostering and the group home, she saw the lack of support for and lack of understanding for children and parents in care and especially those aging out of the system. She strongly believes that no one should feel like they are walking through adoption, fostering, or kinship alone and that when given the right resources families can not just survive, but thrive.

In some of her hardest moments, she felt God’s peace, faithfulness, and goodness carry her through. She is so excited to share the love of Christ with others who are walking through a hard season. It’s her desire that Restoryed would give hope to women and children to know that they are not alone and that they can carry on through their toughest moments.

Jessica is a wife, mother to 4 children, and a follower of Christ who fully believes in the mission of foster and adoptive services but understands there are many gaps in the support they are able to provide.

Jessica met her husband, Bryan, in high school. They have been together ever since, including her time away at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke where she majored in Secondary Math Education. They were married shortly after her graduation, and she began her career as a high school math teacher. Over the next several years, they welcomed their first 2 children, Jessica earned her Masters degree in Math Education and her National Board Certification.

When their oldest child reached school age, Jessica and Bryan followed the Lord's leading for her to leave teaching to stay home and homeschool their children. Since then, they have been blessed with 2 more children and many opportunities to disciple young children and youth through church and other volunteer opportunities.

Throughout nearly a decade of teaching in public schools, more than 15 years working with children and youth at church, and the development of many friendships with families who have fostered or adopted, Jessica has seen a multitude of support needs for foster and adoptive families. She strongly believes it is the duty of churches and communities to care for the widowed and orphaned and feels blessed to be part of the Restoryed Families mission to fill the gaps for families in need and help rewrite the stories of so many of God's children and their families.