Gladney Blog

When I was eleven months old, my sister and I were adopted from the Jiangxi province of China. My parents were only expecting to adopt one child at that time, and boy, were they surprised when they received pictures of two baby girls. According to my parents, and the packet of papers they received from the orphanage, my sister and I had been found together on the street at one day old, on April 1, 1999. From there, we were brought to the orphanage and soon after, brought into a foster home. Once we arrived in the United States, it was discovered through DNA tests that my sister and I were only three percent related. We had the same birthday, were the same age, and were together since they day we were born, but we weren’t twins like everyone had thought. Nothing else was known about who our birth parents were, where we were born, what time, and how we ended up together.

November is National Adoption Month (NAM). This is an exciting month for us at Gladney and for the millions of American's who have been touched by adoption in some special way. My name is Jennifer and I am an adoptive mother and a staff member at Gladney so NAM has a very special meaning to me. This is a time when me and my family celebrate and offer extra gratitude for the brave decision our son's birth mother made to place him in our family. Her selfless love made our family complete and there is not a day goes by we do not think of her with love and respect.

As you are exploring adoption as an option for your family, we are sure that you have many questions. Once a month we ask Mike & Astra a question about their adoption experience.

Read the latest information about Gladney's China and Taiwan's adoption program in the Fall 2018 Gladney Newsletter.

The 2018 TCS New York City Marathon is coming up on November 4th. Between now & then, we'll be introducing you to Gladney's charity runners.

As you are exploring adoption as an option for your family, we are sure that you have many questions. Once a month we ask Thomas & Stephanie a question about their adoption experience.

The 2018 TCS New York City Marathon is coming up on November 4th. Between now & then, we'll be introducing you to Gladney's charity runners.

The 2018 TCS New York City Marathon is coming up on November 4th. Between now & then, we'll be introducing you to Gladney's charity runners.

As a young girl, and the oldest of five children, I always knew that someday I would be a mother. What I didn’t know, is that how I would become a mother would be one of the most important things I would ever do in my life. When I started dating my future husband in college, having children someday was a very quick conversation because we were on the same page. When we had been married for five years, the conversation went from some day to now, and then quickly became a conversation about how difficult it was going to be. Infertility was something neither of us ever expected, and while we were still on the same page about becoming parents, infertility treatments and adoption were not things we were prepared for, especially financially. We were in our early 30’s and we had just started building our future.

This internship has been so much more than I ever expected! I first heard about Gladney after I started the MSW program at the University of Texas at Arlington. When the opportunity presented itself to apply for an internship here I jumped at it, but I was not holding my breath on being one of the few lucky ones to be selected. Then, the much-anticipated e-mail came in…” you have been accepted as an intern at the Gladney Center for Adoption”. Intern at Gladney?! Me?! I felt like my eyes were deceiving me! I remember calling my mom to tell her and then quickly assuring both of us that it was too good to be true. I am so glad that statement was wrong!