Gladney Blog

We at Gladney along with the rest of the world have been following along with the devastating news about the Russian invasion of Ukraine. We know this may bring up tough questions and feelings, particularly for our Russian and Ukrainian adoptees. Below are some resources that your family may find helpful. The first are some guidelines for how to support and discuss these events with your child, and the second are resources for providing support to Ukraine if your family wants to take some action and doesn’t know where to start.

Parenting these days comes with a free side of comparison. We can’t help it. Maybe in our parent’s time they compared us with the other kids in our class, or in our neighborhood. But in the age of social media, we are comparing with every other person we see on the internet. Looking at all those highlight reels, its easy to think we aren’t doing well. That other people have their lives together while ours is falling apart. And if you’re parenting a kiddo with a history of trauma, the trap of comparison can hit extra hard.

In 2013 my family completed the paperwork that would allow us to open our hearts and home to a child in the state foster care system who needed a loving and caring family. With eyes and arms wide open, we eagerly did all the things … the trainings, the reading, the home study, and book making. We were already rocking parenthood with our two little girls, so this was sure to be a cake walk, right?!  Um, no.