Your North Texas Giving Day donation will support our Adoptions from Foster Care program and the Gladney Home.
Gladney's mission is rooted in the belief that every child, without exception, deserves a loving and caring family. Every means every, whether they are healthy babies, medically fragile infants, or toddlers whose birth parents need the option of adoption. It includes children who have endured loss, abuse, or neglect, waiting in state foster care or international orphanages. Our mission encompasses all 33,000 children Gladney has united with adoptive families since its establishment in 1887. In essence, every child deserves a place they can call home and a family they can call their own, forever.
Our commitment to advocating for waiting children in foster remains unwavering. We seek loving and resourceful adoptive families for children with medical needs, those who have experienced abuse or neglect, school-age children, and sibling groups. Unfortunately, the reality is that abuse, neglect, and trauma have profound effects on a child's development, behavior, and understanding of the world. This holds true for every child who has endured the foster care system. That’s why our pre-adoption training equips parents to understand trauma and meet their children's emotional, physical, and cognitive needs, fostering trust and connection within their families.
In addition, our Gladney Home program provides foster care and adoption advocacy for pre-teen and teen girls. Our objectives include ensuring security, nurturing, and normalcy for these girls, with the goal of finding adoptive families or helping them transition to adulthood. The girls actively participate in the process, empowered to voice their needs and desires.
Even with trained parents and nurtured clients, ongoing professional counseling is key to our families’ success. Accessing these services, however, can be a daunting challenge for our families. There is limited access available to trauma-informed, adoption-competent mental health providers who accept Medicaid and other insurance plans. Recognizing this pressing need, we launched a pilot program in the summer of 2022, offering counseling services to our clients. We currently provide post-adoption counseling for families adopting children from foster care and counseling for teen girls in the Gladney Home. The aim is to expand these services to birth parents, adoptive families, and adult adoptees, extending support to more children adopted from the foster care system.
As we look ahead, they are committed to building on our legacy of hope, helping children find permanent, loving homes, and providing families the support they need to thrive.
“I have learned so many things in my job--if I had to simplify it to one phrase, it would be, "Never underestimate anyone." Because of your support, I saw 24 children start healing from trauma they experienced in their past and 13 families go beyond what they thought they were capable of to meet the needs of their new children. ”
- Kara Leon, LMSW; Caseworker, Adoptions from Foster Care
IN 2022 |
|
35 |
children from state foster care were placed with Gladney adoptive families. |
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7 |
children in state foster care were placed with Gladney foster-to-adopt families. |
|
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12 |
teen girls in state foster care were served in the Gladney Home. |
|
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4 |
girls were placed with adoptive families. |
4 |
girls needed a higher level of care. |
4 |
girls are still living in the Gladney Home. |
"The Gladney Home staff are grateful for you!. You help us provide a safe, nurturing, and loving environment for all of our residents whoa re teen girls in foster care. Because of your support, our supply closet is stocked with essential items for each girl as their needs arise, and you enable us to give the girls new experiences through community events and social activities."
- Ann Spriggs, MAFP; Residential Supervisor, Gladney Home
Scroll down for more information and stories about futures made brighter through adoption.