February 2019 Newsletter
Children and dancers at the 2019 NYC annual CNY party.
Thank you to everyone in the NYC area who came out for our annual Chinese New Year celebration at Jing Fong restaurant! We had an excellent turn out on Super Bowl Sunday and everyone had a great time! The children made crafts and loved interacting with the dancing dragon.

A special  thank you  to Maria Bonta de la Pezuela, Amy Lee and Jane Hoffman for the finishing touches that made this event unique and fun! We also want to thank the Maas family for putting together the goodie bags! If you would like to become more involved volunteering with local events – please contact the NY Gladney Family Association co-president Maria at mbpezuela@gmail.com .

If you couldn’t celebrate with us for the Year of the Pig . . . there is always next year . . 
The Year of the Rat!
Congrats to Jake one of our big raffle winners at the CNY party !
Great App Alert!
The Cardtalk app is a tool for communication. You can change the language to Chinese or English. Create your own picture cards and use visuals to aide in communication with your newly adopted child. You can find it here . 

Have you used this app or do you recommend a different one for communicating with your child upon arrival home? If so, let us know! Contact  leslie.winston@gladney.org

China & Taiwan Program News
China
We’ve received one LSC and one TA so far this month! We have several families awaiting LSCs and TAs so they can travel this spring. We are looking forward to having approximately 7 families travel to China before the summer! 

Recently CCCWA reviewed postplacement reporting compliance by agencies and adoptive families. If any missing reports were identified, agencies have been notified. Gladney has been in communication with any families that need to submit missing reports. We appreciate everyone's quick responses and attention to helping us be compliant with CCCWA's requirements. If you are a Gladney family and have any questions regarding your post adoption reporting requirements or schedule for China - please contact Gladney Post Adoption at postadoption@gladney.org.
 
Taiwan
Our Taiwan program continues to have a lot of exciting developments! One of our New York families traveled to Taiwan and came home with their 6 year old son just in time to attend Gladney's Chinese New Year Party! In January, we received a direct referral of two sisters from one of our partner agencies and the chosen family is excited to accept this referral and work on their dossier! We also had two families approved for matching to waiting children! January was just an all-around exciting month!

We currently have 18 families matched with children. It’s looking like spring will be very busy with families traveling to Taiwan for court hearings or to take placement of their children. Add in our Spring Superkids trip to Taiwan and and you are going to want to watch the Superkids blog closely to keep up with everything that will be happening!
 
Cathwel Service will be doing a “Roots-Finding” trip for young adult adoptees from July 29 th  – August 12 th . Anyone interested in participating should visit Cathwel’s  website  for more information and the application. The deadline for applications is February 28 th .
 
If you haven't already, don't forget to join our private Facebook group where we share photos and videos of waiting children from Taiwan! If you’d like more information on any waiting child, please reach out to  mary.chapman@gladney.org .
Superkids Family Story
Over the next few months we are excited to include in the newsletter an intimate and exciting recounting of one family's recent adoption experiences. The author, a father along with his wife are now parenting two boys from China. They adopted David in 2016 and they returned home with Roy earlier this year.

We hope you find this heartfelt writing informative, helpful, and encouraging - wherever you may be in your adoption journey.

Part 1:
Tomorrow will be an exceptionally difficult and frightening day for our little boy. As he sleeps, as I write this, in his final night in the orphanage, he has no idea what is to come in the morning. Orphanage staff here typically do not do much by way of preparing these children for their adoption. They are awoken, told it is time for them to go, and they are given away.

This is what happened to our son David who we adopted from China two years ago. He was told one morning that it was time for him to go, that it was time for farewell, and he was driven to a strange place with strange people. He was, as far as he was concerned, abandoned for a second time: first by his family, and then by the orphanage. He was stunned and in anguish, and he is still in many ways working through it.

This is what is going to happen in just over twelve hours from now. A little heart will be broken. I will feel joy to see him, but he will probably only feel confusion, fear, and grief to see me — and that will only grow once he realizes he is never going back.

It is better to be in a family than an orphanage. We can know this, and we can know little Roy will be so much happier as a son than as an orphan — but it will not matter tomorrow. The price is so very high. This new life for him begins with great sorrow, and great pain.
Welcome Home!
Michelle and Thomas, who just turned 3 this week, bonding in IL after a long trip home from China.
Stefanie, Zach and kids at home in TX after a big family trip to China to bring home two year-old Daniel.
Bob and Michelle welcomed home Lian from China, who just turned 8 years old this past weekend!
Andrew and Katie welcomed 6 year old Kai home from Taiwan right before the Chinese New Year holiday!
Featured Waiting Children
Magnolia has cerebral palsy. She is 3 years old. She turns when her name is called. She cannot yet speak but obviously understands what is said to her. She can sit propped up if placed in a sitting position. She uses a wheelchair to get around. She goes to a special education preschool and loves toys with music. Read more about her here ...
Jonathan is from China and recently turned 3. He enjoys interacting with people and is described as active and happy. He has hydrocephalus and some developmental delays, but he is making some great progress. Read more about him here...
Upcoming Events/Announcements
Family Photos Needed! Do you have a professional quality photo of your family that you would be willing to share with Gladney? We are looking for great family photos to use for upcoming projects. If you are interested in sharing, please e-mail  Natalie.bowen@gladney.org.
 
Upcoming events:

You still have time to head to NYC’s Chinatown this weekend to join Families with Children from China as they March in the parade! Read more about this event here !

Do you have a child adopted through Gladney who is graduating high school, vocational school or college this spring? If so, and your family would like to acknowledge and celebrate this milestone - Gladney's Bright Futures publication is an annual yearbook that celebrates our children and their accomplishments. If you would like more information about being included - please use this link for both questions and submissions by March 4th.

Gladney Night at Six Flags- Arlington is on April 26, 2019 – This event is a blast (the park is reserved for Gladney Families and Friends only -- NO LINES!!). If you live in the DFW area - how could you miss this!? It's also a great excuse for families living outside the area to travel -- perhaps a reunion trip?! See more details here !