Adoption Counselor & Community for Adoptees, Adoptive Families & Professionals

Specialized Adoption Counseling and Support Services Rooted in Lived Experience

Healing within the adoption community asks us to hold many truths at once - grief and gratitude, longing and love, loss and resilience. At Root & Return Wellness, we honor the full spectrum of the adoptive family experience. This work inspired the founding of our practice and continues to shape the compassionate, integrative care we offer today.

Led by Rachel Forbes, LCSW, an adoptee and licensed clinical social worker, Root & Return Wellness provides therapeutic support, education, and guidance for adoptees, adoptive families, and professionals seeking to deepen understanding, felt belonging, and connection within the adoption constellation.

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For Adoptees

Reclaiming Your Story, Your Voice, & Your Belonging

This space was created with adoptees at its heart. Whether you are newly exploring your story or have spent years reflecting, Root & Return Wellness offers compassionate support at every stage of the adoptee experience.

We understand the complexity of living between worlds: navigating identity, origin, and belonging while holding grief, gratitude, and the protective parts that helped you survive. Our work is grounded in Internal Family Systems (IFS), Polyvagal Theory, and embodiment practices that help you connect with your Self energy, honor your emotions, and build inner trust.

For adoptees in Connecticut, this may include psychotherapy focused on trauma healing and integration. For those outside Connecticut, we offer consultation and coaching that provide education, reflection, and community support around themes of attachment, identity, and the adoptee experience.

Healing here means finding space for all parts of your story - the known, the missing, and the becoming - while learning to hold them with compassion and curiosity.

COMING SOON: Self-paced courses and group circles where adoptees can connect, share, and heal in community.

For Adoptive Parents & Families

Supporting the Journey Toward Connection & Understanding with an Experienced Adoption Counselor

Adoption weaves together multiple stories, each layered with loss, love, and longing. For adoptive parents and families, this often means learning how to hold your own emotions while supporting your child through theirs.

Root & Return Wellness provides guidance, education, and one-on-one sessions to help families strengthen connection, expand empathy, and deepen awareness of adoption’s lifelong impact. We explore themes such as attachment and nervous system regulation, grief and guilt, racial identity and advocacy, and creating safety through presence rather than perfection. Self-paced courses for adoptive parents and families are coming soon.

This work invites families to move beyond fear or uncertainty and into relationships built on honesty, compassion, and mutual understanding. Healing as a family means learning to listen with openness and to hold space for truths that can coexist.

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For Professionals & Agencies

Bringing Compassion and Competence to Adoption Care

Professionals and agencies play an essential role in shaping adoption experiences across generations. Root & Return Wellness offers both self-paced education and live workshops for clinicians, social workers, and organizations seeking to deepen their adoption competence and trauma-informed care.

Through psychoeducation, case reflection, and embodied practice, participants gain tools to:

Understand the emotional and developmental impact of early attachment rupture and loss
Honor the grief that exists within each part of the adoption constellation
Cultivate awareness of bias and systemic inequities in adoption narratives
Integrate IFS and nervous system–informed tools into their work

Our goal is to help professionals move from awareness to meaningful change, creating systems that honor truth, agency, and belonging.

Founder Rachel Forbes standing outdoors in autumn, wrapped in a large multicolored scarf, looking to the side with dry plants in the background.

Speaking, Training & Advocacy

Expanding Awareness Through Story, Education, and Community

Rachel Forbes is a passionate speaker and educator who brings warmth, clarity, and authenticity to conversations about adoption, identity, and belonging. Her talks, workshops, and collaborations invite both professionals and communities to engage with adoption as a lifelong, layered experience that calls for tenderness, understanding, and courage.

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Speaking topics include:

The lifelong impact of attachment trauma
Integrating IFS and somatic awareness into adoption support
Reframing “adoption as a gift” into “adoption as complexity”
Cultivating compassion, honesty, and curiosity in families and organizations

Rachel’s approach blends her professional background with lived experience, offering audiences education, insight, and hope. She also provides consultation for agencies, clinicians, and educators seeking to develop trauma-informed, adoption-competent frameworks.

Work With Rachel

Words from the Community

Reflections from Adoptees, Families, & Colleagues

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I had the opportunity to work with Rachel through her group therapy offering for adoptees. Rachel created the most affirming, supportive, and healing space through our 12 weeks together. She made me feel seen and heard, and helped to facilitate so much connection between members of our group. I would highly recommend her services!

A.B.

Adoptee

The adoptee group sessions that Rachel designed and facilitated were profound and healing. She is compassionate, dedicated, and talented. I’m forever grateful for her vision and support.💗

J.J.

Adoptee

Working with Rachel and her adoptee community was one of the most transformative collaborations of my facilitation career. It was a beautiful example of collaboration rooted in care, integrity, and shared purpose. She invited me to facilitate a constellation for her adoptee community, and from our very first exchange, I could feel how deeply she honors the complexity of that field, including the layered stories of belonging, loss, identity, and love that live inside adoption. What stood out most was Rachel’s presence. She brought such steadiness and heart to the process, holding her community with genuine respect while trusting the mystery of the constellation work to unfold. Our collaboration felt fluid and aligned. She offered structure and attunement while giving me full permission to follow the intelligence of the group field. For anyone considering partnering with Rachel, know that she is the kind of therapist who understands systems, family, cultural, and collective, and meets them with humility and wisdom. She creates spaces where people feel both held and free. It was an honor to work alongside her and to witness the depth of healing that became possible through her leadership.

Mattie Clark

Life Coach and Family Constellations Facilitator

Working with Rachel in NUMARU’s Deep Talk Series was such a nourishing experience. From the very beginning, there was an ease that felt honest, heartfelt, and full of warmth. Rachel brings both professionalism and deep authenticity. She embodies compassion in a way that instantly builds trust and safety, qualities so essential in this healing work. I am deeply grateful not only for our collaboration, but also for the personal connection that formed through it. Her presence, enthusiasm, and grounded spirit made this experience truly special. I would say yes to working together again anytime.

Sun Mee Martin-Klein

Adoptee and Founder of NUMARU

I was a client of Rachel’s during a wild time in my personal life and in the world. During the years I worked with her, Rachel served as a significant source of support, guidance, and healing. She possesses the kind of energy, even virtually, that instantly puts you at ease and makes you feel safe. She has a remarkable ability to make you feel seen, heard, and cared for. She balances validation with insight, perspective, and critical thinking. As a Korean adoptee myself, I cannot begin to express how our shared experience laid the groundwork for one of the most profound growth experiences of my life. Rachel is an exceptional provider and human being. She is deeply compassionate and nurturing, warm and inviting, funny with an appropriate sense of humor, and truly an incredible person to have the privilege of working with. Anyone who gets to work with Rachel in any capacity is beyond lucky, and I will forever be grateful for her.

Emily R.

Client and Adoptee

Frequently Asked Questions About Adoption Counseling and Support Services

What Is an Adoption Counselor, and How Is It Different From a General Therapist?

An adoption counselor is a licensed professional with specialized training and, ideally, lived experience in the complexities of adoption. While general therapists provide valuable support, adoption counseling goes deeper, addressing the unique layers of identity, grief, attachment, and belonging that are specific to the adoptee experience and the broader adoption constellation. At Root & Return Wellness, our adoption counselor brings both clinical expertise and personal understanding to every session. You can also find Rachel Forbes listed on Psychology Today, UConn Adoption Assistance Program’s Adoption Therapist Directory and Grow Beyond Words Adoptee Therapist Directory as an adoption-competent therapist serving Connecticut and beyond.

What Adoption Issues Do You Help With?

Our mental health services address a wide range of adoption-related concerns, including identity issues, attachment issues, grief and loss, trauma, self-esteem and self-worth, a sense of belonging, and the emotional weight of building and maintaining healthy relationships throughout the adoption journey. Whether you are an adoptee or an adoptive parent, we offer compassionate counseling and support services tailored to your unique experience. We also work with individuals and families navigating transracial adoption dynamics, open adoption relationships, and post-adoption adjustment.

Do You Provide Adoption Support for Families With Children From Foster Care?

Absolutely. Families formed through foster care or kinship care often face distinct challenges around trauma, attachment, and identity. Our work supports both foster children and parents navigating the emotional landscape of the foster care system, helping families build connections rooted in safety, honesty, and understanding. We also support families pursuing domestic adoption or infant adoption who want to be prepared for the emotional dimensions of the entire adoption journey.

What Adoption-Related Counseling Services Does Root & Return Wellness Offer?

Root & Return Wellness offers a range of adoption counseling services tailored to everyone touched by adoption. This includes individual psychotherapy for adoptees in Connecticut, consultation and coaching for those outside Connecticut, one-on-one family counseling sessions for adoptive families, and professional training and education for clinicians and agencies. Our therapeutic approach draws on modalities including Internal Family Systems (IFS), Attachment and Nervous System Informed Therapy, and Polyvagal Theory, depending on the needs of each individual or family. Coming soon: self-paced courses and group healing circles as part of our expanding support services.

Is Adoption Counseling Only for Adoptees?

No, our adoption counseling extends to the full adoption constellation, including adoptees, adoptive parents, families, and foster care communities. Whether you are working with adoptive families in a clinical setting or are personally touched by adoption, healing is rarely a solo journey. Our practice is built to support everyone involved in adoption at every stage.

How Do I Find an Adoption Therapist Who Truly Understands My Experience?

When looking to find an adoption counselor or therapist, it's important to work with an adoption specialist who has both clinical training and real experience in adoption. Look for therapists who specialize in adoption-related concerns and/or who have accredited training for adoption competency. At Root & Return Wellness, Rachel Forbes is a licensed adoption-competent therapist with lived experience as an adoptee, making her uniquely positioned to provide care that is both professionally grounded and deeply personal.

Do You Offer Adoption Support Groups for the Community?

Support groups are coming soon as part of our expanded offering for everyone adopted or in foster care, as well as for adoptive families. These group circles will provide a space for shared healing, connection, and community among those whose lives have been shaped by adoption-related experiences. In the meantime, our one-on-one counseling and support services are available to anyone seeking guidance and support today.

What Is the Difference Between an Adoption Therapist and an Adoption Specialist?

An adoption therapist is a licensed mental health professional who provides therapeutic services to individuals and families navigating adoption issues. An adoption specialist may refer to a broader range of professionals, including social workers, case managers, or consultants who specialize in adoption within agencies or legal settings. At Root & Return Wellness, Rachel Forbes is an adoption therapist who also offers education and consultation to those who work with an adoption focus, whether in a counseling center, agency, or private practice.

About Root & Return Wellness