Post Adoption Support and Education: Staff

WHFC has established a group of specialists, the WHFC Post Adoption team, to offer clinical and program support to local families. Each member of the team has extensive expertise in several of the following areas:

• Post placement counseling for all members of the adoption triad, including:
  • Birth parents - issues related to grief, loss and adjustment
  • Adoptive parents - issues related to adjustment and talking with children about adoption
  • Adopted adults - issues related to search and reunion
• Facilitating birth family/adoptee search and reunion
• Information and resources for homeland tours

Pat Hoopes, MSW, LICSW
Director of Clinical Services

Pat has over 20 years of experience in both domestic and international adoption. In her current role, she oversees the clinical staff in their work both preparing prospective adoptive families for the life-long journey, as well as counseling expectant parents during their decision-making. Pat also facilitates clinical training and education for our overseas partners. She speaks at local and national post adoption conferences attended by professionals and members of the adoption triad. Pat received an MSW from Simmons College. An avid traveler and photographer, Pat has accompanied many WHFC family groups as they first meet their children; and later in the adoption journey as families travel on a homeland tour.

CONNECTICUT STAFF

Christine Millette, MSW, LICSW
Social Worker & Post Adoption Counselor
Connecticut Regional Office

Christine's career has been devoted to child welfare services for over 20 years. She has held positions as a social worker, trainer, consultant and administrator in the field of foster care and adoption in both the public and private sector. Christine received an MSW from Boston College Graduate School of Social Work. She is the adoptive mother of a teenage son who was born in Chile.

Contact Christine:
Phone: 860.570.1740
Email: cmillette@whfc.org

MASSACHUSETTS STAFF

Betsey Barrett, LCSW, MSW
Korea Program Manager & Post Adoption Counselor
Central Office, Waltham, MA

Betsey has been in social work for over 20 years, initially working with at-risk children and families and later counseling children in an outpatient mental health center and schools. She joined WHFC in 1994 as a birth parent counselor and family social worker. Since 1998, Betsey has managed the Korea program, one of the agency's longest running programs. Her post adoption expertise focuses on facilitating birth family and adoptee search and reunions. Additionally, Betsey has traveled with families on homeland tours to Korea and India; and has accompanied WHFC's China adoption travel groups.

Contact Betsey:
Phone: 781.419.0338
Email: bbarrett@whfc.org

Deb Shrier, MSW, LICSW
Social Worker & Post Adoption Counselor
Massachusetts Regional Office

Deb has been involved in the field of adoption for over 15 years, and currently serves on the board of the Adoption Community of New England (ACONE). In recent years, she has provided in-country clinical support to families adopting from China as well as adoptive parents/children during homeland tours to the Philippines and Romania. Her areas of interest scan the adoption experience including pre-adoptive education, multiracial/multicultural issues and search/reunion with birth parents and adopted people. Deb received an MSW from Boston College Graduate School of Social Work. She is a parent through birth and adoption.

Contact Deb:
Phone: 781.419.4974
Email: dshrier@whfc.org

Nicole Stenke, MSW, LICSW
Clinical Supervisor & Post Adoption Counselor
Central Office, Waltham, MA

Nicole has worked with families and children for the past seven years. Prior to working at WHFC, Nicole provided psychotherapy for children in school, residential treatment and community health center settings. Her areas of clinical expertise include attachment, childhood trauma, and older child adoption. Nicole received an MSW from Washington University in St. Louis. Nicole experienced adoption early in life, as her younger brother is adopted.

Contact Nicole:
Phone: 781.419.0354
Email: nstenke@whfc.org

NEW HAMPSHIRE/ VERMONT STAFF

Barbara L. Drotos, LICSW, ACSW
Regional Manager & Post Adoption Counselor
New Hampshire & Vermont Regional Offices

Barb has been working with foster and adoptive families for over eighteen years. Her areas of expertise include special needs adoption, childhood trauma, parenting children with developmental and emotional disabilities, and post adoption services. Barb has supported families in the community as well as in a clinical setting. She has worked with adoptive children in residential and group care, as well as in the home. Barb received an MSW from Salem State College. In addition to her work, Ms. Drotos is the single parent of an energetic boy.

Contact Barb:
Phone: 603.792.2030
Email: bdrotos@whfc.org

NEW YORK/ NEW JERSEY STAFF

Cindy Geraghty, LMSW
Social Worker & Post Adoption Counselor
New York Regional Office

Contact Cindy:
Phone: 516.922.0751
Email: cgeraghty@whfc.org

RHODE ISLAND STAFF

Nancy Thompson, MA, LSW
Clinical Manager & Post Adoption Counselor
Rhode Island Regional Office

Nancy has worked with adolescents in specialized foster care, residential care, and adoption for over twenty years. Her area of expertise is older child adoption, and her personal and professional experience contributed to the development of the agency's pre-adoptive educational component in that area. She has accompanied families traveling to Korea during a homeland tour sponsored by the Overseas Korean Foundation. Nancy received an MA in Counseling Psychology from Assumption College in Worcester, Massachusetts. She is the mother of two sons by adoption.

Contact Nancy:
Phone: 401.421.4752
Email: nthompson@whfc.org

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