Michael and I have enjoyed doing foster care for TLC now for the past five years. We adopted an 11-year-old boy in 2006 and are in the process of adopting two more children, ages 8 and 7. Since becoming foster parents we incurred much personal growth in knowledge and wisdom in helping children from different backgrounds. TLC has provided us with much needed understanding, guidance, patience and the tools foster and adoptive parents need in order to be successful. Michael and I are both gifted in passion and commitment to family and are glad and thankful to be working with TLC.
Foster Care and Adoption Directors
denise [at] tlc4kids [dot] org (Denise Miney), MSW, LCSW - Director of the Foster Family and Adoption Agency
With TLC since 2001
Education
University of Michigan, 1981, Master’s in Japanese Studies
San Francisco State University, 1986, Masters in Social Work (MSW)
Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) since 1989
Work History
Denise has 14+ years’ experience working for Marin and Alameda Counties as a C.P.S. Social Worker. She has extensive experience in every area of Child Welfare including emergency response, family maintenance, family reunification, permanent placement, licensing, and adoption. Denise worked for eight years in the Group Homes Unit in Alameda County where she saw many children languish in foster care without any significant connection to a caring adult. From this experience, she came to have a passion for permanence for children. Denise loves working with our wonderful families who give foster children a home and love. Denise would like to see support services to families and more homes for children, especially older kids and sibling sets.
TLC is a kid- and dog-friendly agency and folks soon meet Denise’s 14-year-old toy poodle, Sparky, and two-year-old mixed poodle, Sasha, who help her work everyday. Denise likes to stay active by going to the gym, walking, hiking, and biking. She loves to travel and study languages (Japanese, Spanish, et al.) and goes to Japan every so often to visit her son and daughter-in-law. Denise and her husband, Larry, live in Santa Rosa.
rvanleeuwen [at] tlc4kids [dot] org (Rolf Van Leeuwen), MSW - Regional Director of the Foster Family & Adoption Agency
With TLC Since 2009
Education
U. C. Berkeley —BA Philosophy, 1978
San Francisco State University —Masters in Special Education Learning Disabilities
Graduate Theological Union —Masters in Phenomenology of Religions
U. C. Berkeley —Masters in Social Work (MSW), 1988
Work History
Rolf has been working with children and families in foster care and adoption for 20 years. He feels adoption is “in his bones” since his mother was adopted, he was adopted and he adopted his oldest daughter (who is 27). His ultimate hope is that children in foster care will be adopted or find a permanent home in some form.
He has seen how healing and joyful it can be for a child to find a permanent family. He knows firsthand how much work it can be to help children through the traumas of losing their birth families and entering foster care. “Over the last 20 years, the foster parents I have worked with are some of the most amazing people I have ever known —many have become my heroes. I have seen them be willing to live with children in intense emotional pain, loving and caring for those children until they begin to heal. It is one of the most beautiful and courageous things I have ever seen.”
Rolf loves camping with his family and just being together, good conversation and decent food, strong coffee and good books —and gardening (which translates as “weeding”).
jeffk [at] tlc4kids [dot] org (JeFF Killebrew), MA - Regional Director Foster Family and Adoption Agency Mendocino Regional Office
With TLC since 1994
Education
Miami University, Oxford, Ohio; 1975 – BA with Honors in Psychology
Kent State University, Kent, Ohio; 1982 – MA in Social Psychology
Work History
Jeff has been working in residential care for children for over a quarter-century. He has always been interested in how families promote healthy individuals and relationships. Jeff grew up in a family that moved frequently and developed an early appreciation for the strength and importance of families, particularly in the face of life’s many transitions. His experience as a stepparent has given him a personal understanding of how foster and adoptive families blend unrelated people into a new family. Jeff finds satisfaction in supporting families involved in this very special process, and being able to see families help children find their unique strengths and talents is a constant source of inspiration for him. As he works with the many good people that assist in creating “forever families” for children, he remains very interested in further understanding issues that affect attachment and resilience.
Jeff also appreciates his many years of working with families that find rewards in caring for children when only a temporary placement in a foster home is required. In these cases, it is a powerful kind of giving that allows families to care deeply for children and to ultimately prepare them to leave their homes.
Jeff finds his own personal strength and feeds his creativity by spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, hiking and camping, and working with his wife on their country property. He enjoys the worst of puns and often finds relaxation with a cat in his lap.