A Day in the Life of a Gladney Intern

I have loved every moment I have worked as an intern at Gladney. I only started interning here a few weeks ago and have already learned so much! One of the amazing things I get to do is make Facebook pages for couples who want to adopt through Gladney. I put their pictures they submit to us in an album and also put their letter to the birth mom in the captions to help them further their chances to be chosen as new parents! Another task that I do which is very fulfilling is making informational packets to send to men and women inquiring international adoption! I am always happy to make these packets because I know that these packets help these men and women decide on whether they really want to adopt and if they do want to adopt, where they will be adopting their child from. Working here at Gladney has been very fulfilling and know I will continue to love working here!

I recently joined Gladney as an intern.  I was given the opportunity to participate in Pathways training that is offered to the adopting parents.  I was extremely impressed by the information presented in the training.  Clearly an enormous amount of time and effort was invested in this presentation.  Gladney is providing invaluable tools to ensure success for these families.  As a parent myself I had many "lighbulb" moments that helped me see myself and my child in a new way.  Any parent would be lucky to have this type of information in their parenting toolbox.  Thank you Pathways team.

Beth Evans is a social worker acting in a volunteer capacity to provide additional support to Gladney families during their adoption process in Taiwan. An Asian adoptee herself, Beth was raised in Michigan and has been living in Taipei since May, 2011. Recently, Beth shared her personal adoption story which was published in "Centered on Taipei", an online magazine for the international community of Taiwan. Click here to read Beth's article on page 20.

There have been very few times in my life when I could say that checking my email was anything other than a chore to get through as quickly as possible. My time at Gladney has been one of them. As a legal intern, I don't have as much client interaction as the social work interns. I was lucky enough to witness a relinquishment and subsequent placement of a baby girl with her new parents of my second day of work, but for the most part I've got my nose in the books preparing for our Hague re-accreditation. Fortunately, for every papercut I've gotten in the process I've received at least two or three joyful emails recounting stories of parents united with the children they've been waiting for. Reading these updates (and often getting to see pictures of the happy families!) puts a smile on my face every time. It's a wonderful reminder of the important work Gladney does--and of which I am blessed to be a small part. So every morning when I get to the office, ...