14 Gladney Adoption Facts You Might Not Know

The Gladney Center for Adoption is 130 years old this year! We want to celebrate all year long by sharing fun and interesting facts about our history and culture.  Check out these 14 facts that we put together in March.

1. The New Beginnings Program started in 2000. Through the New Beginnings Program, Gladney actively recruits secure and loving families for children who are available for adoption through the Texas State foster care system, older children and toddlers available for direct placement from the birth families, as well as children born with special medical needs. Learn more about this program. 
2. The Gladney Center received Hague Accreditation by the Council on Accreditation(COA) in March 2008. The Hague Convention is a set of internationally approved standards for countries involved in intercountry adoptions. The Hague Convention protects children and families against the risk of unregulated adoptions abroad and ensures that intercountry adoptions are made in the best interest of the children. The Convention also protects against unethical, unlawful and inhumane adoption practices among adoption providers.
3. The Tarrant County Auxiliary was founded in 1964. The annual Blossoms in the Dust luncheon began in Fort Worth in 1965, when 500 guests came to hear actress Greer Garson speak. The 53rd Annual Blossoms Luncheon, Fashion Show, Flower and Gift Market is scheduled for April 18, 2017 at the Omni Hotel Fort Worth.
4. In 2013, Gladney celebrated the 1,000 placement from our China Adoption Program.
5. In 2016, there were 113 domestic infant placements,  85 New Beginning placements and 71 intercountry placements.
6. In the Spring of 2014, Gladney developed and began presenting a new high school classroom curriculum called AdoptED. The program is designed to address the problems of teen pregnancy and school dropout rates by providing students with the opportunity to learn about adoption as an option in an unplanned pregnancy and to learn about goal setting, decision making, and healthy life choices. 5,097 students in approximately 40 DFW schools participated in the AdoptED program in 2016.
7. Gladney Adoption Center recognized as an Angel in Adoption in 2015. The Angels in Adoption™ Program is CCAI’s (The Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute) signature public awareness campaign and provides an opportunity for all members of the U.S. Congress to honor the good work of their constituents who have enriched the lives of foster children and orphans in the United States and abroad. 
8. While we can’t wait to see Belle in “Beauty and the Beast” which opens this month, our heart and thankfulness rests in Belle Morris.  Belle succeeded her husband, Rev. I.Z.T. Morris, as the State Superintendent of the Texas Children’s Home and Aid Society upon his death in 1914.
9. In December of 1953, Mrs. Gladney was featured on the television show, "This is Your Life," where she was honored for placing 10,000 babies over a career that spanned 43 years.
10. As we celebrate the first day of Spring today, we are reminded that Mrs. Gladney's favorite flower was the gladiola. She made it the official flower of the Home.  
11. Today is World Social Work Day.  We have been blessed over the last 130 years with amazing social workers that have been part of the Gladney Team.  That team included Edna Gladney who was a social worker in Sherman, TX.  
12. Gladney continues to be the subject matter of many local, regional and national news reports. Since 1988, Gladney has been featured on the CBS News show 48 Hours, Good Morning America, MTV's 16 and Pregnant, Good Morning Texas, and many others. 
13. Edna Gladney retired in April, 1960, at the age of 74. She died from complications from diabetes on Oct. 2, 1961.  T
14. News reports have been written about Gladney Center for Adoption  in Town & Country Magazine, Reader's Digest, New York Post, Fort Worth, Texas Magazine, Teen Magazine, New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, The Dallas Morning News and Fort Worth Star-Telegram, and numerous European newspapers and magazines.