Gladney Blog

You are an important part of our strategy as we strive to make adoption better now … and in the future. 

For 136 years, the Gladney Center for Adoption has never wavered on one thing: our steadfast belief that every child deserves a loving and caring family.  

Adoption has evolved over the past century, and friends like you have enabled Gladney to adapt the ways we support those whose lives are connected to adoption. Thank you.

Your donation today will help us ensure each child we serve has the care and support they need to thrive. 

Do you ever plan something, then Mother Nature has other ideas? Well, this kind of happened with this week's activity. Initially, we were supposed to begin our first ever garden. I hyped the girls up by taking them to pick out different seeds, both flower and vegetable or fruit. That being said, the day before activity Thursday, the weather was not going to be garden friendly. Because of this, I had to come up with a new activity on the fly, but it wouldn’t have been the first time. For this week's activity I give the credit to one of the residential staff members. 

I wouldn’t consider myself to be the craftiest person, but when asked to come up with ideas for the residents in the group home, I thought to myself ‘challenge accepted’. Before starting my internship in the home, I created a PowerPoint of different activities for both indoor and outdoor. I used most of those activities for my planning, but others just came one a whim. This particular activity was one of those on-a-whim ideas. 

In 2019 Gladney opened our Gladney Home Residential program for teenage girls currently in foster care.  One of the things that we really desired for the Home was a Sensory Room for the girls where they would be able to have their sensory needs met and engage in sensory rich experiences.  We know the importance and impact that sensory integration can have for youth, especially youth that have experienced trauma.  In 2021, we are excited that we have been able to make the dream of our sensory spaces a reality!  Thanks to the generosity of the Sid W. Richardson Foundation as well as being able to partner with Stacy’s Sensory Solutions we have created 2 rooms for our girls in the Home to use. 

This year, maybe more than in years past, we are counting all of our blessings and giving thanks for everything we have - down to the simplest of things.  This week in the Gladney Home we took some time with our girls to talk about what things we are thankful for.  The answers ranged from food and laughter to our health and the people in our lives that we love and cherish.  It was a beautiful moment to be still and connect with each other. 

Today, the expectant mothers we serve have more complex needs than the clients we served 10 years ago, and we have adjusted our services to meet them where they are.

Expectant mothers experiencing unplanned pregnancies and mothers with young children who contact us considering making an adoption plan are sometimes coming from a challenging, vulnerable place. While some expectant mothers have a strong support system and access to resources, others may be in an abusive relationship, unemployed, experiencing homelessness, or have mental health or substance abuse treatment needs. The women Gladney serves range from teenagers to women in their forties, with an average age of 26, and 49% of the women already have other children. More than 70% of the women are from Texas, and the remainder of the women are from other states across the U.S., including 15 states outside Texas in 2019 alone.

As we shared in the 2019 Gladney Annual Report, Gladney transitioned the purpose of our residential home to be the Gladney Home for foster youth, serving girls between the ages of 11 and 17 who are seeking permanency through adoption. Our current referral partners are Child Protective Services, Our Community Our Kids (CPS Foster Care Region 3B - North Texas), Family Tapestry (CPS Region 8 - Bexar County), and 2INgage (CPS Region 2 - Northwest Texas).

As you may know, the Gladney Home is housing teenage girls currently in foster care. Like most, we are now on an extended spring break and practicing social distancing. This can be challenging, not only with little kids at home, but older kids as well. To avoid the lure of constant Netflix, iPhones, and screen time, here are some things that we have been doing to break up the day and keep everyone entertained.

When Gladney announced the exciting news about The Gladney Home last year, we knew we wanted to provide our live-in clients with a homelike family feel. Having a living place for 15 teenage girls can seem chaotic and overwhelming in the best of times so we were thrilled when The Container Store and The Organized Nest stepped in to help.