Funerals and Mourning in the Time of Covid

As a clinical social worker specializing in Loss, Grief & Bereavement, I work with individuals and families facing and experiencing…

Adoption Practice Goes Virtual

Adoption Practice Goes Virtual As with many services during Covid 19, a move to online service has become a part…

Electronic Options In Providing Counselling And Therapy

I so welcome being able to offer my clients the option of providing service to them virtually. Initial resistance to…

Teletherapy: Does it Work and Will it Become a Permanent Part of Psychotherapy?

I'm a clinical social worker and have been seeing some clients via various technology vehicles, such as Zoom, Skype and…

Grief Therapy vs Grief Counseling

Lately, I have been thinking about some of the differences between Grief Counseling and Grief Therapy.  As we [all of…

What strange times we live in

Yesterday, I attended my first virtual funeral. It felt strange but also strangely beautiful. The deceased was a woman I…

Neonatal Loss

Miscarriage, Stillbirth and Neonatal Losses are devastating for parents and their families. The estimated figure is that miscarriage happens in…
mother and daughter

ADOPTION REUNION !

Ancestry.com; 23and me;  AND ME !!! Genealogical websites like ancestry.com and 23andme.com have transformed the Adoption world.   Years ago, an adopted person wanting to…
Private Life

Private Life – Movie Review and More…

Movie Review and more….. I watched Private Life on Netflix last night.  Painful, very real drama, of infertility, reproductive technology,…
Senate of Canada

Response to the Senate Report on Adoption Practices in Canada in the 1940’s – mid 1960’s.  An apology is long overdue!

In July, 2018, The Senate of Canada released a report on the Child Adoption Practices in  Canada during the 2…
Living in Open Adoption

A Birth Family Perspective on Adoption Part 4 – Living in an Open Adoption

By Grandma Elaine Placing her baby for adoption, and especially those first few days after coming home from the hospital,…
Clinical Social Work

Is Milestones & Transitions an Adoption Agency?  If not, why are they writing about Adoption?

Is Milestones & Transitions an Adoption Agency?  If not, why would M & T focus on Adoption Awareness Month? Milestones…
mother and baby fingers holding

A Birth Family Perspective on Adoption Part 3 – The Birth & Leaving the Hospital

by Grandma Elaine It was almost a week past the due date when the first signs of labour started.  At…

The Adoption Homestudy: You Do It For Your Child

As an adoption practitioner, I wonder how prospective adoptive parents may feel as they approach the adoption homestudy process. Some…

Donor Sperm, Donor Eggs and Anonymity: Have we Learned Nothing from Adoption?

By:  Michaele-Sue Goldblatt, MSW,RSW 23 November 2018  In yesterday’s newspapers and on Facebook, I saw no less than three articles…

A Birth Family Perspective on Adoption Part 2 – Choosing and Meeting the Prospective Adoptive Family

By Grandma Elaine With about two months to go until the birth, my daughter was eager to find a couple…

A Birth Family Perspective on Adoption – Part 1: Unplanned Pregnancy

                 -- By Grandma Elaine “Mom…….I’m……..pregnant.” Still in her late teens, and in school, my daughter knew she wasn‘t ready to…

Birth Family’s Loss is one aspect of Loss in Adoption

When a birth parent or parents makes an adoption plan for their child [usually a newborn or infant], for most…

Loss as Part of Adoption

by:   Michaele-Sue Goldblatt, MSW,RSW, Milestones & Transitions Not all prospective adoptive parents come to Adoption because of Loss, but many do because…

Adoption is ALWAYS complex and has elements of Loss

Stephanie Drenka, born in Korea in 1986, was placed for adoption at the age of 3 months and was adopted…

“Instant Family” – Movie Review

Review by Betty Ann Streeter, MSW, RSW, ADV.DIP.SW of Milestones & Transitions Informed by the author/director’s experience of being an adoptive parent…

Post Adoption Depression

We are pleased to present this important article by Debbie Hoffman and Robin May, Ontario social workers who have done…

What Makes a Good Adoptive Parent?

Understanding of the uniqueness of adoptive parenthood Comfort with and full acceptance of parenting a child not born to you…

To Search of Not To Search?

This can be a very big question.  There is now widespread social and legal  recognition of the adult adoptee’s need and…

What Makes a Good Adoptive Parent?

Understanding of the uniqueness of adoptive parenthood Comfort with and full acceptance of parenting a child not born to you…

One Very Important Definition of Adoption

In 1988, Kenneth W Watson defined adoption as: “Adoption  is a means of meeting the developmental needs  of a child by…

Tips for Talking with Your Child About Adoption

Start early.  Start right away, even if your child doesn’t yet understand what you are saying. It is good practice…

Developmental Trauma and the Adopted Child

Many children moving into adoption have experienced some form of developmental trauma.  Understanding what the effects of early trauma are…

You Must Love Your Work…..you make people happy by ‘giving’ them Babies’

How many time have I heard that phrase?  Frankly, too many times.  Yes, I do love my work but not for the…

Adoption Reunion and Other Family Reunion

All three of us, Betty Ann Streeter, Patricia Fenton and Michaele-Sue Goldblatt, have years of experience in all aspects of…

Talking And Walking With A Friend Who Has Been Diagnosed With Cancer

Talking and walking with a friend who has been diagnosed with cancer from the perspective of a person who has…

This is What Our Family Looks Like Now

Families, like people, come in all shapes and sizes, all colours and heritages, all religions, various types of sexual orientation…

Coping With Illness

Illness has an uncanny way of interrupting our plans and we, at Milestones & Transitions, can help you make new…

Attachment And Separation, What Does It All Mean In June 2018?

This article is difficult to write. The topic is so painful, the feelings it evokes, the memories it calls to…

‘As If Born To ‘ and ‘The Stain of Illegitimacy’

These two concepts were prevalent in Adoption in the 1930’s, 1940’s, 1950’s and even in the 1960’s. Adoption agencies sought…

Coping with Illness Program

35 year old single mom of a 7 year old boy, arrives in Toronto to take up an exciting promotion…

Services for Seniors

Steve, age 62, Barb, age 60 and Sheila, 56, contacted Milestones and Transitions in regard to their 86 year old…

Marriage Preparation Program

Stan and Lisa, both 32, are engaged. Lisa was raised in a Roman Catholic home; Stan was raised in a…

Adoption Services Program

Ariel, 38, and Patrick, 39, have been married for 10 years and have been trying to have a child for…

Specialized Parenting Programs

We consulted with two women in their late twenties who recently got married after having lived together for the past…

Communication and Conflict

We recently met with a man who has one daughter from a previous marriage and his fiancée who has one…

Loss, Grief and Bereavement

Recently, we worked with an 87 year old widower who three months previously had lost his wife of 62 years.…