Gladney Blog

MATCHED!!

We were able to meet with sweet, 10 year old, Archie again during our visit in the fall. Archie has been living in the same foster family since he was an infant, and it’s clear he has a good relationship with his foster mother. She told us that he is a polite, considerate, gentle boy who helps to care for the younger foster brother in the home.

We were able to meet brothers Kyle (10), Kristopher (9) and Kirk (5) during our trip to Taiwan in the fall. These brothers are full of fun!
Oldest brother, Kyle, is a little shy but warmed up and enjoyed playing ball games with us. He told us that he likes PE class and especially likes playing badminton. He is very close to Kristopher and often likes to find him at school during free time so they can play together. Kyle told us his favorite animals are dogs, birds, elephants, rhinos, and dinosaurs! Kyle is in the 5th grade and attends special education classes. Kyle lives in a foster family with Kristopher. Kyle has G6PD and delays.

Thank you to everyone in the New York City area who came out for our annual Chinese New Year celebration at Jing Fong restaurant! We had an excellent turn out on Super Bowl Sunday and everyone had a great time! The children made crafts and loved interacting with the dancing dragon.

We have another cute little boy to introduce today! His name is Jonathan and he recently turned 3. He enjoys interacting with people and is described as active and happy.

Celebrate Black History Month by offering your child an opportunity for dialogue, self esteem and engagement with the following must have books on their bookshelf!

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.

We love educating people about adoption and Gladney. Below are the Top 5 questions Gladney's Team were asked in January:

“Mommy, why doesn’t my hair look like yours?!”

I turned on Sesame Street and found a beautiful episode that gave dialogue to this dreaded age-old question.  NPR reported that Joey Mazzarino a head writer for Sesame Street, who is an Italian Father of an adopted Ethiopian daughter, wrote this episode to help teach his daughter to embrace her beauty after watching her play with her doll.

While watching this episode with my son I quickly fell in love with the catchy song  “don’t need a trip to the beauty shop, ’cause I love what I got on top….”. As well as the message that promotes self-love, acceptance and awareness that we are all different.

I'm grateful for this father starting a dialogue that our society needs. His creativity ignited conversations in homes, schools and playgrounds around the globe. Continue the conversation by catching Gladney University's video on demand training led by author and speaker, Rhonda Roorda entitled "Embracing the Heart, Mind, and Spirit of Transracial Adoption". 

Want to learn more about Mazzarino? Check out his interview on NPR.

This past weekend at Gladney's January Board Meeting, we celebrated the career of Ellen Wilson, Gladney's CFO for 19 years.