Gladney Blog

Having five episodes of the reFRAMED podcast published, we are thrilled that the subject reflects that this is a parenting podcast and yet so much more. Clinicians, educators, therapists, CPS workers, social workers, and other professionals can gain needed insight on how we need to lean in to the children in our lives in order to meet their needs.

If you have been following superkids for very long you have heard me say this before, and if you continue following I'm sure I will say it again, but I cannot get over the difference that meeting a child in person makes! I wrote bout Autumn here. I totally fell for her. Her little pictures, videos, everything. Then I met her in person, and y'all... she is the cutest, most fun, darling little 4 year old girl!

Deprive our darling child of his nap and stick him on a plane for 2.5 hours and he’s not so darling. He howled like a banshee nearly all the way to Guangzhou. He wet himself and peed on me. He threw a toy, a cup of water, a pickle covered in mayonnaise, and my phone. The toy beaned the nice man across the aisle. He screamed because he couldn’t go into business class. He screamed because he wanted a Coke. He screamed because he was being held. He screamed because he wasn’t being held. He screamed because the window shades were open. He screamed because he had a seat belt on. He screamed because a nice blanket was placed upon him. He stopped screaming long enough for deplaning and baggage claim. Then in the van to the hotel he lunged forward to grab the stick shift, so I had to hold him again, so he started screaming again. After about thirty minutes, he finally, finally fell asleep. It was 6pm.

Ronan is a darling 20 month old baby boy. He is currently in the Butterfly Home and is well loved and cared for by his caregivers there. His best friend is Hailey and they spend a lot of time playing together.

Like most people I love to peruse social media for news of the day or for interesting insights on subjects I care about.  Recently I read a very compelling and honest article titled, “Pipeline to Homelessness: Aging out of the Foster Care System.”   The article details the challenges teens face as they age out of the foster care system. 

Because of my work at Gladney, I was familiar with the very bleak outcomes associated with teens aging of foster care.  Outcomes including, homelessness, trauma and mental illness, unplanned pregnancy and criminal activity, but what I liked about the article was the call to action for hope.  And this is where I see Gladney.  We can work together and be the hope for these kids.  Because there is a surprisingly simple answer.  Find homes for children who need them.  Gladney believes every child deserves a loving and caring home.  I am very proud and excited about the focus Gladney is giving this issue.  New initiatives include:

We get used to children tugging on our heartstrings. It is to be expected in the work that we do. But I am going to say, these little girls embedded themselves in my heart in the time I spent with them! They are beautiful and sweet. They have known heartache in their little lives. In Taiwan we get a lot of birth family history and these precious girls have definitely been through hard things. But their love and affection for each other was immediately obvious.

We ended our trip to Taiwan on a high note. We did not see very many children our second day at Cathwel, but we had productive conversations with staff and feel excited about our continuing partner ship there! As we were leaving we saw one of our sweet little matched kiddos out for a walk in the stroller. When we asked where she was going they said to get her passport photo taken, which just seems so full of hope and promise!

Episode 5 of reFRAMED Podcast is now available for download! There's something about our children's brain development that catches Bill Porter's attention. He and Emily Morehead have a great conversation about the hope that adoptive parents have in writing ourselves into our child's brain.

We have continued to advocate for the belief that every child deserves a loving and caring family.  Every child. Everywhere. No one can make this happen alone. It will take the larger community of committed child advocates and parents, continuing to give a voice to the often forgotten children, in order get this message to the men and women in government and in the legislature.

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.