Gladney Blog

Zach

PARENT QUOTE

We love reading adoption stories! Especially, when the story is about a Gladney Family. Recently, Lonnie and Michelle's adoption story was featured on the Humans of New York Facebook page. 

Sitting here at my desk at the same adoption organization my parents came to is so surreal.  Being a Social Work intern at Gladney right now is so special because it allows me to connect with where my new life with my family began.  As a future social worker, my goal is to help others on their adoption journeys and support all members of the adoption triad.  I just finished a big personal project of mine which was publishing my book called Through Adopted Eyes: A Collection of Memoirs from Adoptees – which includes my own thoughts and perspective on adoption as a Russian adoptee.  The book also includes the emotional and amazing stories of 50 other adoptees and talks about the best and worst things about being an adoptee and what adoptees wish others knew.  These adoptees of all different ages have differing backgrounds, perspectives, and adoptee insight. 

I hope you are all enjoying the holidays!  A fun story I thought I’d share.  Back in 1999, Gladney celebrated our 25,000^th adoption by buying a $25,000 bond as a scholarship for the child when they reach college age.  Well it happened!   

One of the many questions that people involved in adoption are frequently asked is, "What happens at an adoption placement?".  The answer is that each placement, just like each adoption, is unique and beautiful.

As you are exploring adoption as an option for your family, we are sure that you have many questions. One of those questions is probably about how you are going to pay the adoption fee. As a non-profit agency, we work hard to keep the process of adoption as affordable as possible while ensuring you receive premier service.  

When I was eleven months old, my sister and I were adopted from the Jiangxi province of China. My parents were only expecting to adopt one child at that time, and boy, were they surprised when they received pictures of two baby girls. According to my parents, and the packet of papers they received from the orphanage, my sister and I had been found together on the street at one day old, on April 1, 1999. From there, we were brought to the orphanage and soon after, brought into a foster home. Once we arrived in the United States, it was discovered through DNA tests that my sister and I were only three percent related. We had the same birthday, were the same age, and were together since they day we were born, but we weren’t twins like everyone had thought. Nothing else was known about who our birth parents were, where we were born, what time, and how we ended up together.

November is National Adoption Month (NAM). This is an exciting month for us at Gladney and for the millions of American's who have been touched by adoption in some special way. My name is Jennifer and I am an adoptive mother and a staff member at Gladney so NAM has a very special meaning to me. This is a time when me and my family celebrate and offer extra gratitude for the brave decision our son's birth mother made to place him in our family. Her selfless love made our family complete and there is not a day goes by we do not think of her with love and respect.