Welcome
I’m Jean Luyt—a clinical psychologist, adoptive mother, and lifelong advocate for stable, loving homes for all children in South Africa. Since 2008, I’ve walked alongside adoptive families, helping parents grow in confidence and skill as they navigate the beautiful complexities of adoption, and offering adoption-competent therapy for adopted individuals and their families.
Adoption brings deep rewards, but also complex challenges for everyone involved. It affects family dynamics, individual well-being, and the connections between parent and child.
Prospective Parents May Face
- Coming to terms with infertility
- Handling negative reactions from friends or family
- Weighing the impact on your immediate household
- Navigating the screening and approval process
- Managing the anxiety of waiting for placement
- Navigating complex parenting demands
Adoptive Family Dynamics
- Challenging attachment patterns
- Complex sibling relationships (all adopted or mixed families)
- Increased visibility adding everyday stress
- Impact of loss and grief
- Adolescent adoptees wrestling with identity and belonging
Adult Adoptee Experiences
- Revisiting adoption later in life
- Balancing ties to birth family and adoptive family
- For transracial adoptees: facing racism and identity conflicts
- Impact of adoption on intimate relationships
- Discovering adoption later in life carries unique challenges
Services offered
Cape Town Adoption Support (CTAS) aims to offer support to the adoption community in South Africa in a range of ways, including sharing information about adoption, supporting adoptive families psychologically, increasing the awareness of the public about adoption and networking with relevant stakeholders to collaborate on important campaigns including lobbying and research.
Therapeutic services are offered by me, Jean Luyt Clinical Psychologist, to individuals, couples and families in the adoption community. I offer support and adoption-competent therapy for adoptive parents, adoptees and biological family of adoptees. Adoption competence means that the approach is strenghts-based, contexually based in a life-cycle approach to emphasise the validity of adoption as a family form and destigmatise all members of the adoption constellation.
For adoptive parents, my goal is to demystify the adoption journey every step of the way: from the time you are considering adoption as a way to grow your family, being screened for adoption, preparing your family for a new arrival, navigating in the trenches of daily family life, supporting an adolescent through identity work, launching your child into adulthood and growing your relationship with them later in life. Adoptive parents are offered empathic support and clear guidance, expert parenting techniques, and strategies to anticipate your child’s needs around attachment, heritage, and belonging.
Adoptees of all ages can expect a deep understanding of the unique challenges of being adopted, particularly struggles with self-image, relationship intimacy and identity development, which is particuarly challenging those transracially adopted.
I counsel those considering placing a child for adoption, or birth parents who have placed a child for adoption, particularly after reunion. Those facing a crisis pregnancy are supported to make the best decision for them and their child. Those who have placed a child are supported to come to terms with their decision, and supported to grow or maintain a relationship with their biological child – and their adoptive family – if they choose to.
Most of all, I believe none of us should face adoption challenges alone. Seeking professional guidance or joining a support group can ease these challenges and strengthen everyone’s sense of belonging. That’s why I create safe, welcoming spaces—both informal get-togethers and therapeutic groups—where adoptive parents and adoptees share stories, learn from each other, and build lasting connections.
Individual psychotherapy
For those in the adoption community, individual therapy can be useful for those considering adoption, being screened for adoption and parenting adopted children.
Individual therapy is also helpful for adults or adolescents who were adopted and who want to process their life experiences and make life-affirming choices. Individual psychotherapy is a useful treatment for mental health disorders such as depression, bipolar disorders, anxiety, PTSD and personality disorders which are sometimes present in adoptive families. It is also helpful to manage stressful life experiences and life transitions for adoptive families including relationship difficulties, parenting stress and work and academic pressures. Individual therapy is also useful in processing stressful or traumatic events, which may be part of an adoption story.
Individual therapy is also useful to support members of biological family of those placed for adoption, whether they have no contact with the adopted family member or where they are in reunion.
Couple psychotherapy
Couple psychotherapy is a conjoint therapy with both partners in a relationship. Couple therapy is also useful for adults considering adoption and going through the screening and placement process and parenting adopted children, who want to ensure that their relationships remain healthy during these stressful experiences. In many instances members of a couple have differing views on adoption and conflict can be reduced during the decision-making stage if these discussions are medicated by a mental health professional.
Going through the screening and placement process is very stressful and demanding. Getting additional support at this stage can reduce anxiety, alleviate frustration, and support good decision making for the couple. Parenting adopted children presents additional challenges, and accessing additional support for the couple improves the chances that the intimate relationships remain healthy during these stressful experiences.
Parenting support
Parenting support is particularly helpful for people parenting adopted children. Parenting an adopted child presents many additional challenges and requires deliberate and thoughtful action.
Family therapy
Family therapy is particularly useful when adoptive families are going through stressful life events or parents have concerns about children’s behavioural or emotional difficulties. Family therapy can be very useful in enhancing attachment relationships and is the evidence-based best practice for adoptive parents and adopted children, especially in adolescence.
Family therapy can be useful to navigate relationships between adoptive and biological family, and can be helpful is the adult adoptee is considering searching for or making contact with their biological family.
Family therapy is considered best practice therapy modality for supporting the adoption community. It addresses behavioural and emotional difficulties in families and focuses on how to manage family relationships, focussing on building the attachment relationships in adoptive families. It is a systemic approach, which aims to support the family as a whole, or to support a family to help an individual member of the family who is struggling. It is a strengths-based approach which aims to leverage the existing strengths in the adoptive family for the best outcome for the adopted individuals.
Family therapy can be useful to navigate relationships between adoptive and biological family and can be helpful is the adult adoptee is considering searching for or making contact with their biological family.
Group therapy
One of the biggest challenges for people in the adoption community isolation and being misunderstood by those with no experience of adoption. Groups offer the opportunity to share adoption-related experiences with others in the adoption community. This reduces the isolation, normalises the challenges and offer opportunities to develop interpersonal relationships and to get support to face daily challenges. This is why group therapy is often the most effective support available, for adopted individuals and adoptive parents.
Groups on offer
Parenting adopted children requires expert parenting, and the ability to anticipate the needs of the child in relation to their adoption. I have been working with adoptive parents for many years, supporting them to grow their parenting skills and increase their awareness of the complexities of raising an adopted child, particularly a transracially adopted child.
I run online adoption support groups on Tuesday evenings 7:15 – 8:30 pm for prospective adoptive parents (those considering adoption and being screened for adoption), adoptive parents (parenting adopted children and adolscents), adoptive parents launching their adopted child into adulthood and adoptees (adolescents and adults).
Please click here or email me for more information about available groups.
Social support and online services
Cape Town Adoption Support supports a range of groups and organisations in arranging events, as well as in-person and online support, for adoptive families. Information about these events are shared via our online platforms and a monthly newsletter.
Cape Town Adoption Support runs a public Facebook page which acts as a hub for sharing relevant adoption-related resources, relevant to the South African community.
Cape Town Adoption Support also runs a closed Facebook group called Passionate about Adoption. The group offers social support and sharing of information and advice to those considering adopting or parenting adopted children.
Joining the Passionate about Adoption group requires answering some questions about your interest in adoption and agreeing to abide by the group norms.
Please note that we do not allow women experiencing crisis pregnancies to join the group. This is to ensure that no informal arrangements can be made between hopeful adoptive parents and expectant mothers. All adoption placements need to be facilitated by an accredited adoption social worker. All those wishing to place a baby for adoption are referred to appropriate crisis pregnancy services.
CONTACT US
25a Cedar Road, Newlands
CAPE TOWN