Jeanette Yoffe, Psychotherapist at Yoffe Therapy, an Adult Foster Alum/Adoptee “wants to know she is not alone,” and creates a group called the “Adopt Salon Constellation Support Group” which begins at Vista Del Mar. It becomes a free monthly support group for all members of the Foster Care and Adoption Constellation (never heard of in LA!): Birth Parents, Adoptive Parents, Foster Parents (pre & post-adoption), Legal Guardians, Adult Adoptees and Former Foster Youth. Over 60 people attended the first meeting! The group runs every 1st Wednesday of the month. For the last 10 years The Adopt Salon has been facilitated by Founder, Jeanette Yoffe!

Mayor Garcetti Awards Celia Center with Recognition
HERE is a blog how it all began…

With the success of Adopt Salon, Celia Center is formed by founder, Jeanette Yoffe and named after her first mother, Celia and becomes an official non-profit 501c3 organization in the State of California. Her plans are to create a community center in Soutern California where all families connected by adoption and foster care are welcomed, educated and supported. Her plan is to host mental health conferences and special events to break the stigmas and mend the losses together, as a whole.

Pacific Palisades Family Adopt Salon Support Group begins! For families connected by foster care and adoption. Parents support group is led by Jeanette Yoffe and children’s support group led by Maureen Donley M.F.T. The whole family is supported developmentally.

November 2012_In celebration of National Adoption Month, Celia Center hosts first-ever ADOPT SALON CONFERENCE called “Mending the Losses, Becoming Whole Again” at the Skirball Cultural Center. 16 presenters, 10 sponsors and over 200 attendees! Watch opening ceremonies HERE

Celia Center partners with Five Acres to begin the Pasadena Adopt Salon Constellation Support Group begins! Facilitated by Adoption Competent Therapists Lesli Johnson and Angela Gee.

Single Parent Foster/Adoptive Adopt Salon Support Group begins! We find there are many single parents needing support. Being a single parent has different challenges. Every single parent has a unique situation that makes it easier or tougher for them and we meet the need.

Adult Adoptee/Foster Youth Alumni Adopt Salon Support Group begins! Adoptees and Foster Youth need a safe space without their birth or foster or adoptive parents to connect, bond, recieve psychoeducation on search, reunion and their mental health.

A full-day workshop is held for Teens connected by Adoption and Foster Care, to bridge healing, connection, and build coping skills called “It Begins With You.“  Each Teen received a “Toolbox” to take home which had 8 interventions for teens to use to express their feelings. Created and facilitated by Adult Adoptees, Sophie Bain, and Jeanette Yoffe.

Celia Center is a community partner with Mixed Roots Foundation at the ADOPTEE NIGHT at Dodger Stadium! Adoptees and Foster Youth of all ages attend with their families. They enjoyed watching the game, raising their rally towels with pride, and had a great time “going to bat for a child!”

Celia Center partners with Olive Crest Agency to begin the Bellflower Adopt Salon Constellation Support Group begins! With the success on the Westside of Los Angeles, families were requesting a South Bay presence. We made it happen!

In celebration of National Adoption Month, a wolf gathering event, “Howl at the Sun,” is held for Adoptees and Foster Youth Alumni at Wolf Connection, a home for rescued wolves and wolfdogs. The wolves help all who come in contact with them to learn how to focus on their impulses, feelings, and emotions in a constructive way. We arrived as our special “pack”, walked with the wolves, to learn about connecting, understanding the nature of human-animal relationships leading to love, support, and empowerment together! Watch VIDEO

Founder of Celia Center, Jeanette Yoffe is interviewed by the LA TIMES, article “Internet Lifts The Shroud of Secrecy on Adoption.” Read HERE

Celia Center tapes a support group for the TV show, Raising Whitley, on the OWN-Oprah Winfrey channel. The Adoption Constellation helps Kym Whitley understand why she needs to tell her son he was adopted, and she was highly encouraged to be in an open adoption with the birthmother. Watch the episode HERE

Celia Center is a community partner with Mixed Roots Foundation at the ADOPTEE NIGHT at Dodger Stadium! Adoptees and Foster Youth of all ages attend with their families. They enjoyed watching the game, raising their rally towels with pride, and had a great time “going to bat for a child!”

Celia Center holds its 2nd Conference, FACING TRAUMA WITH TRUTH at the beautiful Luxe Hotel in Los Angeles. Sara Culberson, “African Princess” is the Keynote speaker, 20 presenters, covering mental health treatment for the foster care and adoption constellation, 3 live performances, and a healing wolf-dog closing ceremony. Over 250 attendees! Mayor Eric Garcetti honors Celia Center with a Certificate of Appreciation from the City of Los Angeles for positively impacting the lives of many Angelenos. View certificate HERE.

Watch Opening Conference Keynote HERE

Celia Center partners with Skirball Cultural Center’s Family Program in Los Angeles and children participate in an art activity based on the book The Mulberry Bird, a story about adoption shown at the Celia Center Arts Festival HERE

Tween Adopt Salon Support Group begins for ages 9-12! We know tweens begin to ask the big questions about their foster care or adoption story and need a safe space to talk, connect, and support one anohter.

Founder of Celia Center, Jeanette Yoffe partners with Vista Del Mar Agency and presents a full-day workshop for parents called, “Truly, Madly, Deeply Understanding Your Foster and/or Adopted Child.” Helping parents connected by foster care and adoption understand the psychological and emotional needs of children with histories of loss and separation. Over 100 attendees! Watch TRAINING HERE

Adoption Kindergarten Play Group begins for 6 weeks. Group is educational and informative for kindergarten aged adopted children, and their parents facilitated by Ledette Gambini, Foster, and Adoptive Parent. Children make family tree nests with baby birds, talk about adoption, and read the story The Mulberry Bird by Anne Brodzinksy.

Celia Center holds it’s first-ever ARTS FESTIVAL called “Adopting Resilience, Fostering the Art of Creativity” The inaugural festival featured 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. Over 200 attendees! View the video HERE.
Visit the official website for information about the next festival HERE.

Voices From The Inside: THE REAL STORY ON HOW TO ADOPT DOMESTICALLY workshop led by Ledette Gambini, Foster and Adoptive Parent, and Carra Greenberg, Adult Adoptee, and Professional Lawyer.

May 2016_Celia Center tapes a support group for the TV show LONG LOST FAMILY. A show about reuniting family members separated at birth or beyond. Featuring our Adopt Saloner’s regulars First Mother Mimi Janes, Adoptee Ridghaus, Susan and Sophie Bain hosted by Jeanette Yoffe M.F.T. The show aired on TLC Channel in January 2017! WATCH HERE

2nd Wolf Gathering event, “Howl at the Moon”, is held for all families connected by foster care and adoption at Wolf Connection, a home for rescued wolves and wolfdogs. The wolves help all who come in contact with them to learn how to focus on their impulses, feelings, and emotions in a constructive way. We arrived as our special “pack”, walked with the wolves, to learn about connecting, understanding the nature of human-animal relationships leading to love, support, and empowerment together!

Adoption Film Screening Gala West Coast Premiere of  SIX WORD ADOPTION MEMOIRS and FATHER UNKNOWN with a wine tasting, and panel Moderated by Jeanette Yoffe with Filmmakers, Adoptees, and Birthparents. Over 75 people attend! What an amazing evening with Marcy Axness on our panel!  WATCH PANEL HERE 

3rd Wolf Gathering event, “Howl at the Moon”,  is held for all families connected by foster care and adoption at Wolf Connection. We invite all families, young and old, to connect with the wolves, find a deeper meaning of family like the wolves, where each member owns their role “in the pack” to support each other’s survival.

Origins Stories Teen Workshop. We empowered Adopted and Foster Teens, ages 13-18, to stimulate their creativity and inspire their imaginations through drawing and collaging while creating a story using visual prompts for guidance. Check out their amazing art. Thank you to Nicole Rademacher, Artist and Adult Adoptee for her talent and inspiration!

Ancestry Family Tree Workshop is held for all members of the Adoption Constellation to find long lost family members creating your family tree! For adoptees, first birth mothers and adoptive parents seeking their children’s families of origin. One of our adult adoptees finds their birth father!!!!
Watch a HOW TO VIDEO HERE on our Blog

Wolf Connection – Howl at the SunFoster and Adoptive Families. Our families love to visit the wolves and wolfdogs. They gain more understanding, how we all need each other. It’s not you or me, it’s we and us. We belong here, we matter and we can have purpose in our lives. We howl with the wolves and feel healed together. WATCH HERE

Celia Center holds a Foster Youth Alumni #NationalFosterCareAwarenessMonth HEALING CIRCLE in LOS ANGELES. We share stories, resuorces and everyone recieve’s copy of the book LISTEN: Stories We Carry With Us From House to House, created by the producers of Removed Film, a chidlren’s point of view moving through the foster care system.  “We cannot do things blindly, we need others to support us in this lifelong journey….for foster youth alumni they go into the wilderness alone.”

Celia Center holds an #ADOPTEEVOICES EVENT for National Adoption Awareness Month. The ideas is to create a community mural, showcasing the internal adoptee experience through art. Adoptees, young and adult, are paired together as one, to support each other, and fuel each others creativity for an art piece, collectively together.

Watch VIDEO HERE

Celia Center holds a book launch and gathering, for the new book by pioneer in adoption, Sharon Roszia, and Allison Davis Maxon, titled, “7 Core Issues in Adoption” defined by seven core vulnerabilties, for all members of the constellation. Helping everyone understand the psychological and emotional impact for all involved. Watch VIDEO HERE

We are still in the #COVID Pandemic, it’s May, AKA Foster Care Awareness Month. We decide to create a VIRTUAL Arts Festival featuring the voices of singers, artists, and poets all connected by Foster Care. They each speak with their hearts and their souls, through their medium of self-expression, for the world to understand their experience in a new light. Watch Arts Fest Montage HERE

A former foster youth shares his story HERE
A former foster youth shares her poetry HERE 

We are in the #COVID Pandemic and we are not able to see one another, so we decide to create an Adoption Constellation Blog so all voices within the constellation can be heard, seen, and received during this most vulnerable time. The voices featured are adoptees, adoptive parents in open adoption, birth parents wishes for adoptees, and conversations about how to integrate birth parents into an adoptees life. Read more HERE

In honor of National Adoption Month, Director Jeanette Yoffe, creates a Public Service Animation for Children to help them understand why any child is fostered or adopted, and provides mental health interventions, while educating parents how best to support their child. This is premiered at the Virtual National Adoption Conference presented during the COVID19 pandemic. Animations are:

What is Foster Care? Animation: HERE

What is Adoption? Animation: HERE

We are still enduring the #COVID Pandemic, and are not able to see each other in person, so we decide to hold our conference Virtual. Our support groups are all on Zoom, and we realize we can reach more people nationally. We produce a 2 day conference, with 18 presenters, all across the country, on all topics adoption. We include the Celia Center Arts Festival component, and showcase musicians, poets, and filmmakers, all members of the adoption constellation. It’s a great success. Over 200 people attend. We name our conference the National Adoption Conference.

We are still in the trenches of the #COVID Pandemic, and we host a small gathering at Wolf Connection. We have agreat time, finally seeing one aonther, for the first time in a long time, and together we chanell the strength and resilience of the wolves and wolfdogs. We press on matter what. The Wolf Way! @WolfConnection @CeliaCenterLA

We have an in person Film Screening in Venice! Re-opening the ELECTRIC LODGE for Brian Stanton’s @GHOSTKINGDOM A film about the adoptees search for self, and the endless search for a birth parent via Ancestry DNA test. Live Music by the film’s composer @jennialpert LIVE Q&A with @BrianStanton Filmmaker and Adoptee Extraordinaire after the screening! CEU’s Offered. Over 50 people attend! 

We have a Virtual Documentary Film Screening of “Home Is Where the Heart Is.” Live Music by the film’s composer, and Q&A with @jennialpert Adoptee Extraordinaire!

A biological reunion story of how she found, and reunited with her birth father Don for five years, who at the time, was homeless, running from the law, and addicted, yet a musician just like herself. Jenni shares the journey of their discoveries, unconditional love, and extraordinary partnership ultimately details this amazing transformation. Streamed live on Facebook. HERE

Celia Center begins again the FREE Adult Adoptee Adopt Salon Support Group on Zoom led by Associate Psychotherapist Intern and Adult Adoptee, Cathy Koley. Read more about Cathy on the Celia Center Staff Page HERE

Founder Jeanette Yoffe publishes What is Adoption? For Kids in Spanish and English as a way to help financially support the mission of Celia Center.

Founder Jeanette Yoffe publishes What is Foster Care? For Kids Series in Spanish and English as a continued way to help financially support the mission of Celia Center.

 

Jeanette explains “Foster care is important. A foster child’s life matters, a foster parents love mirrors, and a social workers attention is momentous.”

Celia Center presents a screening of the film Family Rewritten by Yasmin Mistry. Despite battling Cystic Fibrosis, Camilla, age 16, identifies as a typical middle-class American teenager until the thread that holds her family together suddenly snaps. Just months before her 18th birthday Camilla finds herself in foster care, but instead of being ashamed, she makes a conscious decision to not let her situation define her. Awarded Best Short Documentary, Winner, Best Director of a Short Documentary.

Celia Center starts a new FREE Monthly Adoptive and Foster Parent Support Group on Zoom led by Adoptive Parent, Phil Weglarz.

Read his Blog contribution Open Adoption Through a Fathers Eyes’s

An Adoption Competency Training was preseneted as part of our Continuing Education Program. This training is for parents and mental health professionals working with children/teens/families connected by foster care and adoption, as well as adoptees wanting to learn more about their experience. Learn the key components of Adoption and Mental Health best practice! Earn 5 CEUs! This can be viewed and purchased online in our Video Course library HERE

 

Celia Center starts a new FREE Monthly Male Adoptee Support Group on Zoom led by Associate Intern Psychotherapist and Adult Adoptee, Josh Beckman.

Read more about Josh on the Celia Center Staff Page HERE

Celia Center brings adoptees together to connect, socialize, meet new friends and feel less alone during the summer months at Dockweiler Beach in El Segundo.

Tweens  and Teens were gifted a sailing experience from LifeSail where they spent the day sailing on the Pacific Ocean. LifeSail helps navigate children through life’s challenges and build confidence learning how to steer their own ships. The adventure was led by Matt Schultz, skipper since 1974, served in the German Navy and many nautical apprenticeships. Watch our journey on Instagram HERE

Celia Center starts a new FREE IN PERSON Monthly Child & Family Adoption Play Group led by Adoptive Parent, Meredith Morton.

Celia Center holds a family event at the Adoption & Family Play Group by providing What is Adoption? Book Reading for Children and their families. Opening up the conversation about adoption with Psychotherapist and Founder Jeanette Yoffe.

Celia Center begins an Addiction and Adoption Constellation Support Group by Addictions Counselor and Adult Adoptee David B. Bohl. Read more about David on the Celia Center Staff Page HERE 

Read his Blog Contribution HERE