Jeanette Yoffe believes family is so much more than our blood relations. Her strong desire to become a trauma-informed psychotherapist with a special focus on adopted and foster care issues began with her own experiences of moving through the foster care system and being adopted. Jeanette lived with her birth family for the first year of her life until she was put into foster care due to her mother’s schizophrenia. Her father was not willing to take care of his two young children and when he later had a new family, he never told them about his previous children, continuing the cycle of secrecy and shame surrounding adoption. After living with a few foster families, Jeanette was adopted at seven and a half years old. Although she feels lucky to have joined a loving family who adopted more children, she still suffered trauma that led to mental health challenges.
In 1999, Jeanette took her New York theater background and wrote a one-woman play about growing up in foster care and adoption called, “What’s Your Name, Who’s Your Daddy” which was later turned into a book and audiobook. With a desire to create what she wished she could have received as a child, she began to work tirelessly to help other families. Now with over 20 years of experience, she provides mental health education and support as a psychotherapist, foster care social worker, clinical director, and trainer for L.A. County Child & Family Services and the Department of Mental Health. She teaches parents, social workers, and therapists all about adoption and foster care challenges, trauma-informed parenting, the impact of pre-adoption trauma, grief and loss, and open adoption.
Jeanette provides support to adult adoptees searching for long-lost family members as well as assists in family reunification. She is a Court Appointed Reunification Expert for Los Angeles Superior Court in cases involving children at risk for separation. She is also the Executive Director and Founder of Celia Center (named after her birth mother), a non-profit support center that meets the critical needs of all those connected by Foster Care and Adoption and all those who serve the community of Foster Care and Adoption in Los Angeles and beyond. She’s just published her first children’s book, “What is Adoption? For Kids.” Her YouTube channel, Jeanette-ically Speaking (with a J) is a fabulous resource for adoptive parents, biological parents, adoptees, and anyone looking to learn more about the foster care and adoption challenges and joys.
SHOW NOTE LINKS:
Jeanette-ically Speaking YouTube Channel
Children’s Book- What is Adoption- For Kids
What’s Your Name, Who’s Your Daddy- A One Woman Play About Growing Up in Foster Care and Adoption
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Hi Rachel. My husband is adopted and we found his birth mother last year. So much of this story is hitting home. The secrets and the process and the trauma and the shame. Thank you!
LisaP