Alumni Spotlight – Marie Dolfi and the Adoption Triad
With the new year comes new laws. New York State now allows adult adopted persons and their descendants to request and obtain the adoptee’s original birth certificates. With this new law, the amount of adoption reunions may increase. Alumna Marie Dolfi, LCSW, is an Albany-based adoption counselor who works with all members of the adoption triad – adoptees, birth parents, and adoptive parents. Through her work with all members of this triad, she notes that adoption searches and reunion relationships are extremely complex and emotional, often leaving adoptees and birth parents overwhelmed in one of their most important life experiences.
There is a growing need for professionals, like social workers, to be more informed about these complexities and how to address them. In an effort to increase those competent in this area, Marie gives trainings to professionals on this topic. She will be at the School of Social Welfare on February 7th for a day-long training titled, Adoption Search and Reunion: A Clinical Perspective. The areas that will be discussed are key elements that Marie addresses every day in her work with clients, such as the reasons an individual does a search and reunion, key factors of successful reunion relationships, and understanding a clinician’s role in working with clients.
Social work is a broad profession, with experts who work in an array of settings and with different populations. Marie is an example of one of our alumni who is working to raise awareness and train other social workers about an area of social work practice where more specialized professionals are needed.