Gladney Blog

My name is Heather Beasley, and I lead our Human Resources efforts at the Gladney Center for Adoption. My 15 years at Gladney have flown by, and I can truly say I have enjoyed every minute. Gladney is unlike any other place I have worked. Our staff are so passionate and driven toward the work they do, and that is not something you see often in the field of human resources. I have had the privilege of working on several initiatives here at Gladney, such as becoming a Blue Zone Approved Workplace, planning and implementing the Disney Institute's quality standards into the foundation of Gladney culture, being named one of the best places to work in Fort Worth, and now, helping to facilitate the efforts of Gladney's I.D.E.A. Corps.

Volunteer Transitional Care Families are often a crucial part of the adoption experience through The Gladney Center. This is especially true when the baby being placed for adoption enters the world facing medical challenges. In the hospital or at home, Transitional Care Parents provide a loving daily touch to babies in need of a family to help nourish and prepare that baby for a heathier future.  

The Gladney Center’s Transitional Care Services benefits the triad of clients involved in the adoption process. Birth parents do feel more comfortable once they witness the love and attention given to their baby by these supportive volunteers. Adoptive parents benefit from the knowledge and nurturing provided through the transitional care updates, and of course the baby benefits by receiving all the attention and extra love provided before placement day.

2020 is a year full of defining moments that will be reflected on for years to come . . . challenges faced, losses grieved, lessons learned, flexibility shown, creativity generated, and new connections celebrated. As Gladney begins our new fiscal year, we feel hopeful and are balancing that optimism with realistic, strategic decisions and plans. Gladney is not immune to the challenges many individuals, families, and organizations are currently facing. Just as family will always be essential to our mission of Creating Bright Futures Through Adoption, you will always be essential to Gladney—we need you.

Sitting in church this past Sunday our associate pastor was delivering a message taken from the movie Frozen 2.  I’ll admit that it took me about two years to see the first Frozen and I have yet to see the second, however I did YouTube what she was talking about.  In the movie there is a song that Anna (Kristin Bell) sings called The Next Right Thing. Even though I haven't seen the movie, this resonated with me because the message seemed to be about overcoming adversity or tackling big problems by doing The Next Right Thing. 

As I reflect on the past year and look ahead to the future, I want you to know your support matters. I’m writing on behalf of women, children, and families who feel grateful for you during this season. Although they do not know you, I do, and I want to share this message of appreciation with you: Thank you for choosing to get involved with Gladney and giving towards our mission (and towards their lives).

“There’s no place like home for the holidays,” the classic line by Perry Como that sets the tone for the holiday season (I bet you just sang it in your head). Home means fun holiday memories, I’m sure a few laughs, and maybe even a few tears. We all have our home for the holiday traditions. Who is hosting the festivities at their house? What will we bring? Who will be there? All of these make the season great! 

The Gladney Center for Adoption Acquires Adoption.com

This will expand Gladney’s reach to vast national and international audiences and enhance Adoption.com’s role as a trusted and safe resource for the adoption community.

The impact of giving

Whether you are a Gladney client or donor, we want to hear how those within the Gladney Community have changed your life! We are going to create a video to show the generational and community level impact of adoption and how every one of you plays a part.

Dear Gladney Family,

For 132 years, Gladney’s mission has been Creating Bright Futures Through Adoption. During the last few decades, we have seen many changes in the adoption world: international adoption reaching a peak of placements into the U.S. in 2004 and then on a steady decline to this day; domestic infant adoption continuing to be the backbone of our organization, but every day providing new challenges as to how we introduce the option of adoption to an expectant mother; and the need for raising awareness for placing children from foster care continues to grow at a rapid rate. At the core, our mission has remained the same and is reflected in every aspect of our organization, from programming to our wonderful campus; a setting that has provided memories of comfort and joy to so many of our families and children over the years and will continue to do so for generations to come.

However, as our world evolves, we must evolve, too! A few weeks ago, we hosted the Gladney Center board on campus. We concluded our Monday meeting with a deep discussion on the use of our residential home. Over the last decade, the need for the residential home for expectant mothers has declined, and we have been able to serve these clients in their home communities in an equally effective way. Over the past 6 months, we have been evaluating different opportunities for the home and ultimately determined the greatest need in our community is housing for teen and pre-teen girls who are currently living in foster care. Beginning in April, we will open our doors to meet this need in conjunction with Our Community Our Kids (OCOK), the foster placement contract holder in this region of Texas. During this year-long pilot project, we will house up to 15 female youth who are currently in foster care, available for adoption, basic to moderate level of care, and actively seeking adoption. Our success will be measured in many ways, but a primary one will be adoptive placement for the youth. Following the first year, we will evaluate the potential to grow the program to 30 youth (the max capacity of the home). Let me stress that adoption is the ultimate goal, but in the event we can’t find a forever family for each youth, providing teenage normalcy, preparation for life after foster care, and support for healing from their past trauma will be key areas of focus. As more details are finalized, we will share them, but for now, please know a tremendous amount of work has gone into making this decision. I’m confident we will be successful in year one and for many years to come.

This move does not diminish our focus on domestic infant or international adoptions; however, this is a big step for Gladney and a departure from our recent history. For the past 70+ years, we have operated a maternity home on our campus – this is the end of an era. It’s also a return to our roots. We began our story 132 years ago by bringing vulnerable, neglected, and abandoned youth into our home. This step will widen the impact Gladney will have on children and families across Texas and beyond because every child deserves a loving and caring family, and every means every.

Sincerely,

Mark Melson
Gladney Dad, President, & CEO
Gladney Center for Adoption