Gladney Blog

Ash is a sweet, clever 10 year old that we had the pleasure of meeting last month. It truly was a pleasure spending time with him – he did every task we threw his way, and he did them well! He completed all of our hard puzzles and was so gracious with everyone – us, the social workers, the other kids in the room. Ash is in the 5th grade where he gets good grades and told us he has lots of friends. He is learning some English in school and we could tell he was very proud to answer our questions in English when he could.

Have you heard the wonderful news?! The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services announced that "new state figures show more children are leaving foster care for safe, permanent homes than are entering the child welfare system, as adoptions surged past 6,000 for the first time."

One month ago today, 8 runners finished the 2019 TCS New York City Marathon, representing Gladney with each step. In addition to that once-in-a-lifetime experience and physical feat, they raised more than $42,000 in donations to support Gladney’s mission and serve others. We are so proud of and grateful for #TeamGladney!

Meet sweet, spunky 7 year old Kelsey! This was our first time meeting Kelsey and we all had fun getting to know her. She did well on all of the tasks asked of her. She even did some simple multiplication!

Last week while in Taiwan we met Kade for the first time. We had recently received his file and were excited to meet him to learn more about him. In his file, it states that he may be on the autism spectrum. However, our team unanimously agreed that we aren’t sure that is an accurate diagnosis – let me tell you why. Kade is a bright, personable, and fun almost 5 year little guy. He participated in our activities well, answered our questions, and generally acted like a typical energetic little boy.

Each week Gladney's Team of adoption professionals receives and answers many questions. This week our pros answer the question from an adoptee about visiting Gladney's Campus.

Giggles, excited screams, somersaults, and painted faces greeted two judges and an abundance of amazing volunteers at our Third Annual Gladney Adoption Day. November is recognized as National Adoption Month around the country, and Gladney hosted a Texas-sized celebration. Conference rooms were converted into court rooms, and our usually quiet campus became a festival of bounce houses, kid-friendly activities, fun food, and a surplus of photo opportunities.

We have a group going to China to spend time with children who are available for adoption! We are so excited to be able to facilitate this trip! You can read all about the trip here.

I could tell by her pictures that she was super cute and had a big personality, but I'm not sure I was prepared for just how sweet little Melody actually is in person! I love meeting children that I've read about and seeing their little personalities out-shine anything that could be written about them.

"It went by so fast!" We say it, we hear it every time. "It just went by so fast." Again, here we are, heading home. The week has flown by. And now we will spend weeks and months processing and sharing the information we gathered.