Gladney Blog

A Day in the Life of a Gladney Intern

My connection with Gladney began two years ago when one of my classes required that I do volunteer work for a non-profit organization. While volunteering I learned they needed a driver for the expectant moms living in the dorm so I decided to apply. Over the last two years I developed an appreciation for the culture and commitment Gladney has to help those in need. I wanted to understand other ways that Gladney positively impacts lives and so I decided to do my Internship with them.

While Gladney has offices throughout the US, Domestic Infant Orientation occurs at the Fort Worth Campus. Families from all over the U.S. attend this invitation-only event to learn more about Gladney and about the Domestic Infant Adoption Program. 

Every child deserves a loving, caring family, including children in other countries who have been orphaned. The adoption community-waiting families, adoptive families, adopted adults, licensed agencies, faith communities, child advocates, and support organizations-believes that connecting children with families provides the best opportunity for many of these children to live healthy, cared-for, productive lives. There are millions of children waiting, many dying, and most aging out of orphanages, with little hope for the future. And there are many thousands of families in the U.S. waiting to offer themselves to a child needing a family.

As Gladney families begin their adoption journey, I have the privilege of helping them navigate the financial side of their decision.  Families that elect to pursue a Domestic Infant Adoption frequently have questions regarding financial resources that are available to them along the way.  Questions regarding the Adoption Tax Credit, Employer Reimbursement Plans, grants, loans and fundraising websites are all topics that should be understood and researched early in the adoption process. 

You can support Gladney while you shop! Whether you're buying groceries, gifts, books, clothes, or more AmazonSmile provides you the opportunity to give back to Gladney.

I love to say that I’m from Fort Worth, Texas, even though I only lived here for two weeks after I was born. Another thing I love to tell people is that I was found in a newspaper. This one always throws people off and then I have to explain that my parents placed an ad in various newspapers stating that they were looking to adopt, and that I wasn’t actually found wrapped up in the newspaper. After speaking, briefly, with different birth mothers and birth fathers, my dad spoke with my birth mother who was willing to travel to Texas to finish out her pregnancy and place her baby (me) for adoption. At this point neither my birth parents nor adoptive parents knew if they would be matched with one another or with other families, BUT… they ended up being matched and now I have one giant family.

With over 130 years of creating bright futures through adoption, you can imagine that Gladney's Post Adoption Department gets asked the same questions many times.

As you are exploring adoption as an option for your family, we are sure that you have many questions. Once a month we ask Mike & Astra a question about their adoption experience.

The Gladney Center for Adoption is very saddened and troubled by the separation of children from parents at our nation’s borders.  Research demonstrates children who are suddenly and without cause separated from their parents experience significant trauma with long-lasting negative impact on growth, emotional and mental health. To learn more about this issue please click here to read the American Association  of Pediatrics’ statement. Gladney is a child centered organization and we advocate for children around the world.