About

Being a clinical social worker with adoption competency training is a journey. It starts with the adoption professional recognizing they need to be “out of the fog” and acknowledging adoption only happens because of loss. With this acknowledgment comes an awareness of the stereotypes and misinformation on birth/first parents, adopted persons, and adoptive parents as well as the business of adoption. Marie first became aware of teen adoptee struggles when she saw that adopted teenagers were overrepresented in the clinical population. This was the beginning of Marie Dolfi making a commitment to educating herself on the unique issues facing adoptees, birth parents, adoptive parents, and their relatives.

Since the 1990’s Marie’s professional development has included learning about relinquishment and adoption issues by attending adoption issues trainings, adoption conferences, reading adoption books, adoption research, and most importantly learning from adoption triad members themselves. Her adoption competency training includes the Center for Adoption Support and Education’s National Adoption Competency Mental Health Training Initiative for Mental Health Professionals. With adoption experiences often being traumatizing to adoption triad members, Marie has committed herself to professional development training on the treatment of trauma. Evidenced-based trauma therapies Marie has trained in include Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) and the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT/tapping). Marie’s initial EMDR training was with the Parnell Institute (EMDRIA approved). Marie has also participated in training for using EMDR therapy for individuals with complex PTSD. In 2023 Marie completed The International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation’s Level 1 Training on The Complexities of Complex Trauma.