Jeanette Yoffe, M.A., M.F.T. earned her Master's in Clinical Psychology, specializing in adoption and foster care, from Antioch University in June of 2002. She treats children, teens, and adults with serious psychological problems secondary to histories of abuse, neglect, adoption, and /or multiple foster care placements. She has specialized for the past 20 years in the treatment of children and teens who manifest serious deficits in their emotional, cognitive, and behavioral development.

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She is the Founder of Celia Center Inc, a non-profit organization in Los Angeles supporting all members of the foster care and adoption constellation which includes birth parents, foster youth, adoptees, foster and adoptive parents as well as professionals working in the field.

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She is also the Clinical Director of Yoffe Therapy Inc. A mental health center in Los Angeles provides services to families, children, teens, and adults connected by foster care and adoption. Learn more here.

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Jeanette’s desire to become a therapist with a special focus on adoption and foster care issues derived from her own experience of being adopted and moving through the foster care system. Her personal experience has informed her education and provided insight into the unique stresses involved with these issues. 

She is also Court Appointed Reunification Expert for Los Angeles Superior Court in cases involving children at risk for separation.

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In 2019 she published a one-woman show she performed back in 2000 titled "What's Your Name, Who's Your Daddy?"  now available on Amazon and is recorded on Audible. This is a great resource for families, support groups, and agencies, to listen and understand the child's point of view about growing up in foster care and adoption.

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During her five years as a professional social worker and therapist at Southern California Foster Care and Adoption Agency, Jeanette developed a series of groundbreaking interventions for working with foster and adopted children and presented creative workshops for parents as well as therapists and social workers in Los Angeles. Her first training was at the 2005 Child Welfare League Conference and the 2012 DCFS Conference. She was encouraged and inspired to publish her first mental health book of interventions titled, GROUNDBREAKING INTERVENTIONS: WORKING WITH TRAUMATIZED CHILDREN AND FAMILIES IN FOSTER CARE AND ADOPTION. This book contains structured treatment activities, the goals of treatment, materials needed, and a “how-to approach” for each methodology. A must-have intervention book for all professionals and parents working with children in foster care and adoption! 

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In 2006 she was awarded the Los Angeles Foster Care Hero Award for her dedication to children and families in foster care. 

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In 2009 she started the support group called ADOPT SALON CONSTELLATION SUPPORT GROUP for All members of the foster care and adoption experience including First-Birth Mothers and Fathers, Adult Adoptees, Foster Youth Alumni, Adoptive and Foster Parents. Learn more here at Adopt Salon VIDEO.

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In 2011 she created a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting the lives of the fostered and adopted and their families, named Celia Center, after her first birth mother, Celia. The center holds full-day mental health conferences, workshops, Adopt Salon support groups, and special events such as the Celia Center Arts Festival and "Howl at the Sun" Wolf Healing events throughout the year. Mayor Eric Garcetti recognized Celia Center with a Certificate of Recognition for the Facing Trauma With Truth Mental Health Conference in 2014 and Celia Center's 10-Year Anniversary Certificate. View here. 

In 2012, Jeanette created a YouTube Channel devoted to educating the world about foster care, adoption, and mental health called Jeanette-ically Speaking launching Hand Model of The Brain Video for kids. 

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In 2016, after learning that her first mother, Celia Barbosa, was a dancer and artist in Buenos Aires she wanted to connect the arts and adoption. Thus began Celia Center Arts Festival which features the works of artists who use their creativity to express their experiences as individuals who were adopted and/or in foster care across many mediums.  Entitled “Adopting Resilience, Fostering the Spirit of Creativity: The Voices of the Fostered and Adopted” The Adoptee Arts Festival gives the Adopted a spotlight with the hopes of deepening the adoption conversation in Los Angeles and worldwide. Festivals were held in 2016, 2019, and 2021. Watch the Arts Fest videos here.

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In 2019, she created 2 animations for children, parents and for social workers to help explain foster care and adoption. What is Foster Care Video and What is Adoption Video.
 

In 2021, she published her first set of children's books "What is Adoption?" and "What is Foster Care?"  in English and Spanish. 

 

Because of Jeanette’s life experience, she can more easily connect and relate to the children and teens she works with. She is an exceptional child-care worker who is dedicated to helping each of her clients reach their full potential through mental health therapy and make the difficult journey from despair towards resiliency and hope. 

 

Jeanette is frequently asked to speak on panels to prospective adoptive parents and social workers to help provide an understanding of the psychological and emotional impacts of multiple transitions for children in out-of-home care and provide tools for parenting adoptive and foster children.

She has also appeared on television as a guest, on OWN, TLC, and the Hope Network, as a Psychotherapist teaching about Adoption on the shows Raising Whitley, Long Lost Family, and Lifestyle Magazine.

Before becoming a psychotherapist, Jeanette was an actress and has appeared in plays, short films and commercials. Visit her IMDB profile here.