Our Team

President

Gwen Evans-McWilliams is the mother of six children, three via adoption, and has 5 grandchildren. Gwen and Husband Robin have been Resource Parents for over 35 years. Gwen works part time as a medical case manager for the Y.A. Flunder Flunder Foundation servicing HIV clients in Alameda County. She is also a Professional Specialist at the Chabot College Foster Kinship Care Education Program, where she provides training to new, current and incumbent Resource Parents and kinship caregivers in their pre-service RFA (Resource Family Approval) curriculum for Alameda County’s Department of Children and Family Services. Gwen is on the Advisory Board of Children’s Hospital’s Center for the Vulnerable Child clinic in Oakland.

First Vice President

Charles E. Bracey has been married to his lovely wife, Sheila for 13 years. They have three children, one via adoption and have been foster resource parents for four years. Charles is a U.S. Army, Gulf War Veteran, the former pastor of Crossroads Christian Center, and is currently employed by the YMCA of San Francisco. He proudly services his local community by volunteering with the ACFPA. Charles also works with Chabot College as a Regional Foster Parent Pride Trainer for the Foster Kinship Care Education Program (FKCE), where he serves as Professional Specialist for the Chabot/Las Positas Community College. Charles has been so impacted by his work within the ACFPA that his motto is: “I see Children.” He is very passionate about his service to the ACFPA, the children, and families they serve. 

Second Vice President

Anita Peters has been married to her loving husband Steven for 40 years. Together they have raised 4 children; 2 biological and 2 by way of adoption, and have been foster resource parents for over 7 years. The Peters have opened their home to over 20 foster children over the years, but Anita’s particular passion is in caring for medically fragile infants and toddlers. Her career in leadership has spanned technology, food services, and real estate respectively. After taking a hiatus from real estate in order to focus on becoming a foster parent, she has returned as an agent to Keller Williams Real Estate. Anita is honored to serve as the President of the Community Action Outreach for Infants (CARI) program and the Second Vice President of Alameda County Foster Parent Association.

Recording Secretary

Liz Jobst is a stay-at-home foster mom. She and her partner John live with their ten year old son, six year old boy/girl twins in Piedmont. They have been foster parents to several infants since 2016 and adopted the twins in 2019. Liz has a B.A. in English and Religious Studies, and a M.Ed. with a focus on early childhood education. She started her professional career as a Kindergarten teacher and then worked in family ministry. Liz is passionate about kids and families and looks forward to connecting with you at the next association meeting.​

Treasurer and Website Content/Design

Torfeh Rejali  has a Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology and is a licensed Marriage, Family Therapist.  She has worked in the behavioral health field for her entire career, serving in multiple leadership roles. She is currently the Division Director of Quality Assurance at Alameda County Behavioral Health Department. In her role, she provides oversight of a team responsible for ensuring that behavioral health services provided to Medi-Cal beneficiaries meet quality and compliance standards. She has a certificate in non-profit management. She and her husband, Greg, have fostered two children and are delighted to continue to be in the childrens’ lives and supporting them and their families as much as possible. Torfeh is passionate about the mission of ACFPA and is honored to have the opportunity to serve the foster parents and children of Alameda County. In addition to serving as Treasurer, Torfeh is responsible for the ACFPA website design and content and is the Chair of the Scholarship Committee.

Membership Chair

Sheila Bracey along with her husband Charles, has been a foster/adopt parent since 2009.  They were blessed to adopt a baby girl who is currently seven years old and the joy of their lives.  Sheila is the membership chair for the ACFPA and enjoys helping to bring people together for a common cause.  When possible, her goal and motto is to, “Do what you love, and love what you do!”

Fundraising and Donation Chair

Joyce Ryder has cared for over 40 children in the 20 plus years she was a foster parent. In 2007 she adopted one of her special needs babies at 3 years old who she is now a caretaker for.  She is a widow and also has 3 adult children and 2 granddaughters. After 34 years she retired from a local Hospital Business office in 2012 and now devotes her time to fundraising and her passion of procuring donations for ACFPA clothing closet she established in 2015. She helped organize many ACFPA Christmas Parties and Back to School Picnics for children in care. She spends what spare time she has writing grants for ACFPA and planning event functions.  She currently holds the position of Fundraising/Donation Chairperson and was past Recording Secretary in 2013. She relocated to Monterey County in 2022 and continues to work online for ACFPA. 

Fundraising and Donation Co-Chair

Rendy Orlando and her husband Donald are parents to 10 adopted children, including 7 former foster children from the same family. When their foster children showed up to the house with the clothes on their backs and not much else, Rendy and her husband decided to dedicate their volunteerism to supporting adopted and foster children in need. As the Fundraising and Donations Co-chair, Rendy spends a lot of time networking on behalf of the Association and manages the Clothing Closet. She and her family are passionate about volunteering and were selected as finalists for Disney and Points of Light Volunteer Family of the Year. 

Soniya Mehra is a pediatrician by training and also has a Masters in Public Health, Maternal Child Health. She has worked in underserved clinics, & school based clinics, done home visits, taught & mentored health care trainees, and helped design health care curricula. She has not yet fostered, but has been caring for children in foster care for over 13 years through her work as a pediatrician. She has helped with ACFPA Backpack Giveaways, Annual Picnic, writing articles, and procuring donations. She hopes to find ways to better serve and advocate for foster and adoptive families.