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BLOG ENTRY #3: Settling In

This week I learned I am going to be working in Family Services with Camille. So that I would know more about the agency, we took a tour. Gladney is a large facility, the tour must have taken 30 minutes! But I was able to meet the majority of the staff, see all of the different departments (Family services, Domestic, International, New Beginnings, ABC, Post Adoption), and view the vault to learn about the involved filing systems.  Everyone has been so nice and welcoming here, I am very excited to begin work!

I was notified last week that there would be a conference on Thursday morning where all of the interns would have the opportunity to meet the President of Gladney, Frank Garrott. I may have been a bit nervous at first but after meeting everyone, I felt like I was really a part of the agency. The President Frank Garrott took a keen interest in learning who we all were and where we were coming from in our lives. He even told us a little bit about his own life and how he got to be the President of Gladney. It was a really good meeting, and to top it off we got bagels! J

At the end of the meeting, Mr. Garrott mentioned we may want to attend an orientation coming up. It was an orientation for domestic adoptions, and at the end of the orientation there would be a panel of birthmothers who had volunteered to speak about their situation and perspectives.  I jumped at the opportunity to hear a real-life story from a birthmother who is going through the adoption process, to hear her side of the whole thing and to get to learn her feelings.
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