Gladney Blog

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. 

James is almost 3 and is as cute as a little button! He laughs easily and is always smiling.

MATCHED!!

Sweet, sweet little Magnolia! Her little smile was worth every bit of effort it took to coax it out of her. She was a little shy at first but warmed up with a little effort on our part. And her little face lights up when she sees someone she knows.

The Chinese New Year is China's most important festival and holiday. Tuesday, February 5, 2019 begins The Year of the Pig.