Reduction in Adoption Visa Application Fees

The U.S. State Department has reviewed fees associated with the issuance of various types of visas. While some visa application fees have gone up due to increased costs associated with the processing, the good news for adoptive parents is that the processing fee for your child's adoption visa has gone down almost $200! As of April 13, 2012, the fee to process adoption related visas is $230.

For parents adopting from China, this fee is submitted by the Gladney Center to the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou, China prior to the issuance of your "Article 5 letter' by the U.S. Consulate. Parents adopting from Taiwan will pay this $230 fee directly during their visa interview appointment at the AIT office in Taipei, Taiwan at the end of their adoption trip. Click here for the State Department notice.

Gladney Family Association's Annual Larchmont Picnic

Sunday, June 3rd was a beautiful day for the 14th annual Gladney Picnic at the Larchmont Yacht club in Westchester, NY. It was wonderful to see many families from the area enjoying their families and friends. There was no shortage of activities for kids of all ages!

If you missed this GFA sponsored event, but would like to join us for another activity -- please put September 22, 2012 on your calendars for the Fall Season GFA kickoff event for the NY Metro area. Click here for the GFA Event Calendar which lists GFA activities around the country.

Happy Father's Day

Frank Garrott with Gladney Dads and their daughters

enjoying a beautiful day at Yankee Stadium

On a sunny day in May, Gladney's President Frank Garrott joined Gladney families for a New York Area Gladney Family Association event at Yankee Stadium. The event began with a fun, picnic style lunch buffet in the Turkey Hill Ice Cream Picnic area. Then, off to watch the game where the Yankees played the Cincinatti Reds.

Beth Evans Shares Her Personal Adoption Story

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.

2012 Summer Campaign for Guang Ming 光明

Advocating for Children Who Wait

Gladney's Asia Team is thrilled to announce a new campaign to raise awareness of Gladney's Guang Ming program and the upcoming June Superkids trip to China!

Over the next six weeks, we will strive to get the news out about the Guang Ming/China Waiting Child program and the children who are waiting for a forever family to call their own. During this time we will be blogging, emailing, webinar-ing, tweeting and sharing our excitement with as many people as we can. Our hope is that the enthusiasm will continue to grow as you, our partners and advocates for adoption spread the word exponentially!

This month's Guang Ming webinar will feature Pat Marcus, a volunteer pediatric physical therapist with Superkids, as she prepares to leave for China this month to meet with children in Shanghai and Jiangxi province. Join us at 1pm EST on Wednesday, June 13th to learn more about Gladney's program and the important work that Pat does through Superkids Charity! To register, click here.

New profiles have been posted!

Gladney continues to receive profiles of children through our partnerships in China. Check our Asia Waiting Child blog for the newest profiles of girls and boys that are available through the Gladney Center for Adoption.



Run Run and her friends are

waiting for a forever family!

Recently in Taiwan Adoption News

As the month of June begins, there is one family currently in Taiwan completing the adoption of their little boy! Click here to link to their blog and share their experiences.

This week we also received one referral for a baby girl! This is Gladney's first referral since the June 1st implementation date of the Child Welfare Legislation in Taiwan. There are 5 families with court dates that occurred during the spring. These families are now awaiting their civil rulings.

Gongzhan will be travelling to Asia this summer and expects to be in Taiwan during mid-July. He plans to visit with all of our partner organizations in Taiwan: New Hope, Chung Yi and Cathwel. We will provide an update of Gongzhan's trip later this summer that will include any new information about the processing of Taiwan adoptions subsequent to the June 1st legislative implementation date.

If you are a family in Gladney's Taiwan program and approved and waiting to receive a referral, your caseworker may be contacting you about updating your home study during the summer. After families receive a referral in the Taiwan program, their dossier (which includes the home study report) is entered into court. While each judge has his/her own discretion in consideration of dossier documents, most judges request that the home study report be under one year at the time of submission to their court. You will be able to discuss your plans for updating your home study report with your caseworker based on the specific program you are in, as well as the length of time you have been waiting for a referral.