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, ...

Creating parent profiles is one of the best parts of my job because I love learning about the families! Check out some of our awesome families online profiles! Meghan and Matt " Thank you for taking the time to read a little about us. We hope it gives you a glimpse of our life and who we are and will allow you to see all the love that we have to give a child. We believe there isn't just one way build a family. We know raising a happy family is the most important thing we will ever do. To us, being parents is a special gift that comes with tremendous responsibility." Mike and Amy "Hi! We are Mike and Amy, and we are honored that you are taking the time to get to know a little about us. We know we can’t fully relate to what you are going through, but we admire the courage, love and thoughtfulness you are putting into your decision. Please know that we are praying for wisdom and peace for you at this time. We hope this profile gives you a glimpse into w...

“Jesus loves me”: Not all post placement visits go as smoothly as my first visit. I just returned from another post placement visit I went on with a co-worker of mine. She thought it would be a good learning experience for me to come along on this particular visit because she had known the family for a while and they have been through some tough times recently. Once we arrived we were introduced to their children, two of which were quite hyperactive and excitable. During the visit they did not listen to directions particularly well and made it difficult to proceed with the supervisory report because of the interruptions. I watched the parents as their children would interrupt and beckon for attention..   they were SO composed and patient with them! I was floored by their ability to calmly reprimand the children (maybe even provide them with a task for their child to focus on) and then continue seamlessly with our interview. It turned out that their children had sensory issues ...

Emergency cases: In adoption, there are sometimes cases we hear about or are working on that require special attention and care from the Gladney social worker.   Since I have been an intern here, there have only been a couple that I have heard about; cases where the child may have experienced trauma prior to adoption or where the parents are truly struggling. Unfortunately, it is not always the picture-perfect version of adoption that some parents may think of. Not all children are adopted from infancy, not all children are born with perfect health, some may even have had experienced some level of trauma before they were adopted. All of these possibilities are real, but just like in biological child birth, there is no such thing as a “perfect” baby… but it is the belief of Gladney that for every child there is a perfect match of adoptive parents, parents who will love the child in the way that nurtures them and accepts them.   And as long as parents are patient and acc...