Gladney Blog

Aldo is about to celebrate his 6^th birthday! He has a vibrant and tender personality and a great sense of humor. Aldo is medically and developmentally healthy. He is emotionally stable and usually feels joyful and happy. He has good comprehension in terms of learning, and his strengths lie within hand manipulation and physical activities. He is great at riding a two-wheeled bicycle and enjoys jumping on the trampoline and shooting hoops. He also competed in and finished the Spartan Kids race. Way to go Aldo!

This year, maybe more than in years past, we are counting all of our blessings and giving thanks for everything we have - down to the simplest of things.  This week in the Gladney Home we took some time with our girls to talk about what things we are thankful for.  The answers ranged from food and laughter to our health and the people in our lives that we love and cherish.  It was a beautiful moment to be still and connect with each other. 

We last met Kobe in Taiwan in November of 2019, and we are excited to announce we now have extensive updates to his file! Kobe is described as a sweet child who helps other children wipe their chairs and tables and is always ready to help his caregivers. We also know that he is a very curious boy who is quick to ask questions.

Going into the adoption process, I knew very little about how the process worked. One such area was with respect to birth mothers, who I now know are selfless, courageous, and steadfast women. Simply put, I unfairly assumed a birth mother must be an unfit mother, without ever even having met one myself. It was wrong of me to do so, and I would be proven wrong with all three of our daughters’ birth mothers.

Meet sweet Alyssa. Alyssa is 2 and a half years old. She has a quiet personality and likes to be cuddled. She has a ready smile and giggle, and rarely cries. Alyssa loves listening to music and enjoys sounds spoken to her. Alyssa is able to turn her head side to side while lying on her stomach and can raise her head and chest momentarily with forearm support. Recently she has been attempting to lift her body off the bed by moving her shoulders. You go Alyssa!

We are excited to introduce our newest sibling group, Abby and Amy! Abby recently celebrated her 7th birthday. She is a smart, healthy, and considerate girl with leadership qualities. We have many pictures of Abby so be sure to join the group mentioned below! Abby likes offering help to others, has a strong sense of honor, and will often please adults for compliments. She likes to play role-playing games such as pretending to be a teacher or leader. She also enjoys visiting the zoo, although she is afraid of cats and dogs. Abby’s overall development is comparable to children her age and she often receives praises from her teachers. She recently learned to draw star signs and is able to independently write her name in Chinese characters. Abby has no problem sharing and does well taking turns with her peers.

With the holidays coming up, we have started to hear from Gladney Friends asking about opportunities to get involved and give back during this season of gratitude, reflection, and service. Thank you for your interest and your desire to make a difference! Wherever you live, here are multiple ways you can join in:

1. Gladney Angel Tree – Each year, we organize our own Angel Tree, in order to provide gifts for some of our expectant mother and birth mother clients and their children (if they have other children they are parenting). The women we provide gifts for are either making an adoption plan for their baby or have already placed a child for adoption through Gladney, and they are in need of a little extra support for their families around the holidays this year, due to financial challenges. Our Angel Tree also provides gifts for our Gladney Home clients, who are teen girls in foster care seeking to be adopted. We need your help to make their holiday wishes come true!
   
   If you are interested in donating gifts, please email mary.ownbey@gladney.org  for more details. You can get information about a specific angel you can shop for, or you can donate gift cards or make an online donation to Gladney, and others will do the shopping for you. You can let us know what works best for you!
   
   Last year, we provided gifts for 60 angels (24 adults and 36 children). Typically, donors spend around $75 - $100 on gifts for each angel. All gifts will need to be delivered/shipped to Gladney by end of day Monday, November 30, 2020. Please do not wrap your gift donations — they will be wrapped by volunteers after we ensure the gifts we have for all of the angels are balanced and sufficiently meet their needs and wants.
2. Notes of Encouragement – These are appreciated during the holidays and any time of year! You can write messages for teen girls in foster care who are clients in the Gladney Home, prospective adoptive families, Gladney caseworkers, or Child Protective Services caseworkers. Read the instructions and get started.
3. Minted Holiday Cards and Gifts – Save 20% while creating your holiday cards and shopping personalized gifts, and Minted will donate 15% to Gladney! Use the promo code: FUNDRAISEGLADNEY. Start shopping on Minted. This promo code is valid through December 31, 2020. Send us one of your cards, so we can share in your holiday joy!
4. Adoption.com Heart Shop – Share your heart for adoption while you wear it! You can purchase Adoption Rocks Your Home t-shirts, sweatshirts, and tote bags as gifts for yourself and others. A portion of the proceeds will benefit Gladney. Browse the merch. Pre-orders will be taken through November 22, 2020, and orders will be fulfilled and shipped out by December 1, 2020.
5. AmazonSmile Shopping – Support Gladney as you shop for holiday gifts! Choose Gladney as the charity for your AmazonSmile account, login to AmazonSmile instead of Amazon when you shop, and Amazon will donate 0.5% of the price of eligible purchases to Gladney. You can find Gladney using our EIN #: 75-0917409. This is an ongoing give back opportunity throughout the year. Get started!
6. AmazonSmile Charity Lists – Throughout the year, we maintain lists of needs for clothing, personal care items, and recreation items. We would appreciate you helping with these ongoing, tangible needs, during the holidays and any time of year.
   • Gladney Home clients (teen girls in foster care): bit.ly/GladneyHomeList 
   • Expectant mother clients: bit.ly/GladneyExpectantMomsList
7. Gift Cards – One goal of our Gladney Home program is to provide the teen girl clients in foster care with normalcy, and some of the ways we do that are through group meals, activities, and shopping trips in the community. These are an ongoing need throughout the year.
   • WalMart, Target, Old Navy
   • Rosa’s Café, Panera Bread, Fuzzy’s Taco Shop, La Madeleine, Torchy’s Tacos, Potbelly Sandwich Shop, Chick-fil-a, Chipotle, Zoe’s Kitchen, Blaze Pizza
   • Tickets/Passes to Dallas/Fort Worth area events (zoos, museums, sporting events, etc.): Please email us to confirm dates and schedules before purchase.
   • Mail gift cards to: Gladney Center for Adoption, 6300 John Ryan Drive, Fort Worth, TX, 76132.
8. Financial Donations – You can support Gladney’s mission of Creating Bright Futures Through Adoption by making a gift online to our year-end giving appeal. Family is, and always will be, essential. We believe every child deserves a loving and caring family, and Gladney Friends are essential to our mission – we cannot do what we do and serve who we serve without you!

If you know of a company, faith community, social group, family members, or personal friends who are looking for ways to give back during the holiday season, please let them know about these opportunities. We appreciate you being Adoption Advocates and sharing about Gladney where you live! Thank you for not only having a compassionate heart, but for putting your compassion into action. We and the clients we serve are grateful. Happy Holidays!

Hopeland, an organization that finds better ways to keep children in families, and the Gladney Center for Adoption, which has been creating bright futures through adoption for more than 130 years, are excited to be partnering together to celebrate National Adoption Month. In this year of all years, we are faced with a crucial moment to highlight everyone who works to ensure every child has a safe, loving home.

Meet Alfred! Alfred is a super cute and healthy 8-year-old boy. To view his photos, please join the advocacy group mentioned below.

Meet 8-year-old Axl. Axl is an energetic, active, and curious young boy who is in overall good physical health. Axl loves to help out and actively offers help to his peers. He will also wait patiently for something he is very interested in.