It is with profound sadness that we announce the death of our beloved friend and partner, Patricia Fenton who died on July 4, 2025.

The three of us, Patricia Fenton, Betty Ann Streeter and Michaele-Sue Goldblatt, met in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. Over the many years since, we initially came to know each other as Social Work / Child Welfare / Adoption Practitioners and developed tremendous respect for each other. As time went on, we formed warm friendships with each other.

In 2017, we decided to join together and formed Milestones & Transitions, a social work partnership wherein we could work in our individual practices, while consulting and relying on one another for collegial consultation of the highest quality and order. Since February 10, 2017, we have met weekly to discuss our work and share our expertise and inform each other’s practice. In addition to our weekly meetings, we spent many work weekends and days together as we attended conferences virtually, took courses together and continued to learn from each other.

Patricia was diagnosed with cancer in 2022 and following intensive treatment was given two years of relative good health. In April 2024, her cancer returned. Despite further treatment, her prognosis was not good. In June 2024, she began to wind down her practice and in September 2024, stopped accepting new clients. However, being as committed as she was, she continued working with her existing clients and remained a resource to them, to us and to others working in Adoption.

Patricia died on July 4, 2025 at her home in Toronto, Ontario.

We three [Pat, Betty Ann and Michaele-Sue] had the privilege of spending many hours together over the past 8 weeks. We are so grateful that we were all able to tell each other how much we meant to each other. The three of us, in addition to our professional and personal affection, shared a profound sense of spirituality. No words were left unsaid. On our very last visit, Pat held our hands throughout as we said goodbye.

We admire and respect Patricia Fenton for her professional excellence, for her care of her clients and the Adoption community at large. We are profoundly grateful to her for giving us the wonderful gift of her friendship.

We know that Pat’s passing will be felt by many as an unfathomable loss and we extend our condolences to those who are grieving along with us.

The Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services has also posted a tribute, Read more.

About Us

We are three clinical social workers who have consulted and worked with each other for many years. We have sat on committees together; we have consulted to governments regarding policy, legislation, and regulations; we have run practices and agencies serving individuals, couples, families, and groups.

Each one of us has a Master of Social Work degree and is a Registered Social Worker. Each one has presented at various conferences, workshops, and seminars in addition to teaching at universities, colleges, and hospitals. We began our work together in the field of Adoption and Child Welfare. Over the years, we each developed specialties as we continued to serve individuals and families throughout their lives.

We strive to meet your needs, so will make ourselves available to you when schedules permit. We offer daytime, evening and weekend appointments.

For further information and how to reach each practitioner, please click on the practitioner’s name.

Michaele-Sue Goldblatt

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Betty Ann Streeter

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Patricia Fenton

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Michaele-Sue Goldblatt

Michaele-Sue Goldblatt, MSW, RSW
Clinical Social Worker

Michaele-Sue Goldblatt is an experienced clinical social worker with extensive experience in supporting adults facing stress, anxiety, sadness, and uncertainty in their lives.

Professional Background

Michaele-Sue has a Masters of Social Work degree and is a member of the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers. She is committed to her ongoing professional education and has both taken and given many courses and seminars over many years.

Areas of Specialization

Loss, Grief & Bereavement

Michaele-Sue provides compassionate support to adults grieving the loss of a family member or friend. She also offers guidance to parents of children and teens coping with loss. Her expertise includes working with individuals and families involved in M.A.I.D. (Medical Assistance in Dying) and supporting parents who have lost children to drug overdoses or suicide. In her grief practice, she creates a safe and sensitive environment for the bereaved to express their emotions, including sadness, despair, and anger. Additionally, she has a sub-specialty in infertility, miscarriage, stillbirth and neonatal loss.

Post Adoption Services and Adoption Reunion Support

Michaele-Sue began her career in Child Welfare, dedicating many years to Foster Care and Adoption. She continues to offer valuable services to birth parents considering adoption, adult adoptees and their families, focusing on adoption reunion processes.

Coping with Illness and Senior Support

Michaele-Sue assists individuals dealing with illness and provides support to seniors and their families.

Services and Fees

Fees: $195.00 per hour. Services may be offered at a reduced cost based on need.
Insurance: Most employee benefit plans cover the services of a Registered Social Worker. Please consult your benefit plan. No HST is charged on counselling services provided by a Registered Social Worker. Unreimbursed fees can be claimed as a medical expense on your CRA return.
Virtual Sessions: Michaele-Sue offers virtual counselling throughout the Province of Ontario.
Complimentary Consultation

Contact Michaele-Sue for a complimentary 15-minute consultation to discuss your needs and how she can assist you.

[email protected]416 271 1770

Michaele-Sue is dedicated to providing empathetic and professional support to help you navigate life’s challenges.

Betty Ann Streeter

Betty Ann Streeter, MSW,
Dip in Adv Social Work, RSW

Betty Ann Streeter is a registered Social Worker with much experience in private practice as an Approved Adoption Practitioner and as a Transition Specialist.

Professional Background:

Betty Ann completed a Master of Social Work Degree and a Diploma in Advanced Social Work. In addition to clinical practice, her experience includes college teaching and providing “field instruction” to social work students in clinical settings.

Betty Ann provides services, including the SAFE adoption home study, preparing for and adjusting to adoptive parenthood and post placement support. Counselling is also offered to parties of an adoption as they experience the changes in the lifelong adoption journey.

As a Transition Specialist, her work focuses on assisting clients preparing for and adjusting to significant changes in their lives. Whether change is developmental, predictable or unpredictable, it is always accompanied by losses and gains. These are frequently unrecognized or unacknowledged and leave individuals with mixed and frequently conflicting emotions. The process of identifying and understanding the gains, losses and emotions being felt by the individual supports the individual’s adjustment to the new state.

Betty Ann’s expertise also includes other examples of significant change considering a life changing decision, adjusting to infertility, becoming a parent for the first time or reaching a new stage in parenting.

Areas of Specialization

Adoption Services

One focus of her practice is providing service to parties to an adoption. Ontario residents who are applying to become adoptive parents work with her through the process of completing the required SAFE adoption homestudy. Betty Ann assists her client in identifying the kind of child they can best serve and in adoption options which appear to be open to them. She will offer post placement support and supervision as is required.

Infertility, Preparation for Adoption including SAFF HOMESTUDY, Adoption Options and Networking, Considerations of Adoption Proposal, Supervision of Placement and postplacement support.

Loss and Grief
Loss of loved one, of health , of employment or of community. Identifying emotions and the grieving process; receiving support.

Transitions and Adjusting to Change

Providing counselling and supportive services to individuals who are coping with significant change and the consequent losses, gains and anxieties involved form another focus of Betty Ann’s practice. Examples of transitions would be from student to employee, from single to couple and vice versa, from not being a parent to being a parent, or from employment to retirement.

Change in spousal/marriage state. ie from single to couple, uncoupling; change in state from not being a parent to achieving parenthood. Identifying emotions, losses and gains, and challenges and setting new goals in navigating the changed personal landscape; Change in emotional state such as ANXIETY….understanding anxiety from past and present ; and from inside out; strategies in dealing with anxiety.

Loss and Greif

Betty Ann offers counselling and support through the grieving process and the navigation of the altered landscape.

FEES

Betty Ann offers an introductory call, conducted over phone or Zoom, to explore the fit between the caller’s needs and her areas of specialization. The call lasts about 15 minutes and is free of charge to the caller.

Social Work Services are offered at $175.00 per hour and may be offered at a reduced rate depending on need. Counselling services are not HST attributable are covered by many insurance policies.

The fee for an adoption consultation which provides a detailed overview of the adoption process is $250.00. Questions will be answered. The consultation usually lasts between one and to two hours. The fee for the completion of the SAFE Homestudy is $4,000.00 for a couple and $3,500.00 for a single applicant. The Homestudy fee is HST attritutable.

[email protected]647-966-7930

Patricia Fenton

As of September 1, 2024, Patricia Fenton is not accepting any New Adoptive Applicants.

Patricia Fenton, MSW, RSW, was one of the Founders of the Adoption Council of Ontario and served as its first Executive Director. In 1999, after several years of adoption education, support and advocacy, she became an Approved Adoption Practitioner and has worked with many adoptive families and their children. She has worked as a trainer for PRIDE (Parent Resources for Identification, Development & Education), and also for SAFE, the assessment/home study method now used across Ontario and in other jurisdictions. Later she joined the Ontario Ministry of Children & Youth Services and worked at first as an Adoption Officer and then as Acting Co-ordinator of Private and International Adoption. Subsequently, she returned to private practice in adoption as her first love is to work more directly on behalf of children and youth in need of a permanent family.

In addition to her professional work in Adoption, Patricia is herself an adoptive mother and also a birth grandparent. As a strong proponent of open adoption relationships, she, along with her husband and daughters, is part of a large extended family that includes her daughter’s birth family as well as her birth grandson’s adoptive family.

At Milestones & Transitions, Patricia specializes in Adoption Services: consultation, home studies, working with birth parents, and post placement services and support. For over 30 years, before COVID interfered, she co-ordinated Families in Adoption, one of Toronto’s longest running support groups for adoptive families. She is actively involved in sharing her adoption expertise as a Mentor for social workers in training to become Approved Adoption Practitioners.

[email protected]416-271-3432