New Yorker of the Week

We are very excited to announce that Gladney's own Gongzhan Wu will be featured in an upcoming segment of "New Yorker of the Week," which runs on NY1 weekly and also online. The show profiles New York's unsung heroes, who, through their careers or their volunteer activities, are making a positive difference on the world around them. Gongzhan will be recognized for the difference he has made in the lives of hundreds of children and their parents through his dedication to helping orphans in China find a permanent family.

The show is expected to tape on Tuesday, July 24 and air on NY1 on Friday, July 27. We will have a link to the segment in next month's newsletter.

Gongzhan with 7 1/2 year old You You who

was recently matched with a Gladney family.

Superkids Jewelry - China Love Pendant

Lisa Cohn, adoptive mom and studio jewelry designer, decided to apply her creative talents towards helping orphans after she and her husband adopted their daughter Lulu from China in 2004. Lisa couldn't forget the precious faces that she saw in China when they left to bring home their daughter, and after learning about Superkids Charity, she found a way to help the kids that were left behind and waiting to be adopted.

Pat Marcus during her latest Superkids trip in June

Lisa designed a unique Love Pendant that features the Chinese character for love. After learning about Superkids' work in South America, she also created a special Mayan pendant. The proceeds from these pendants go towards supporting the work that Superkids volunteers are doing in Asia and South America.

Lisa's lovingly handcrafted pieces are a beautiful way to support the work of Superkids and benefit children with medical needs whose biggest need is to have a family to call their own. You can learn more about the pendants here.

Dragon Boat Races

Look for a dragon boat festival in your area this summer!

The Dragon Boat Festival commemorates Qu Yuan (340 -278 BC), a Court Minister who was a poet and politician in ancient China. Qu Yuan was banished from his state by the King of Chu, who disliked Qu Yuan for speaking out about various state reforms. Unhappy and in deep despair, Qu Yuan roamed the countryside writing poetry about his love of the country and its people. Unable to bear his sorrow any longer, Qu Yuan drowned himself in the Mi Lo River.

Legend has it that local fishermen raced out to the river to save Qu Yuan, but could not. To prevent his body from being eaten by the fish, they threw rice dumplings into the water as an offering to his heroic spirit. Each year, on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, crews of paddlers re-enact that frantic rush to save Qu Yuan, by powering long narrow boats with the heads of dragons mounted on the prow through the water, to the frenzied, rhythmic beating of drums. This was the beginning of Dragon Boat Racing!

Dragon Boat racing was introduced to the world at large in the 1970s when the Hong Kong Tourist Board staged an international Dragon Boat Festival to promote Hong Kong culture. Since then, it has spread like wildfire around the globe with races being held in over 40 countries, with more than 50 million people participating in competitions held on every continent. It is often heralded as the fastest growing water sport in the US, and one of the fastest growing corporate team-building activities in the country.

Special Webinar! Superkids China Trip June 2012

Mei Mei draws a picture for Pat Marcus in Shanghai

Gladney will be hosting a special webinar featuring Pat Marcus on July 19th at 7pm EST for those who are interested in hearing about the recent Superkids trip to Shanghai and Jiangxi province and learning more about Gladney's partnership programs. Pat will be talking about her time in China and the kids that she met there who are waiting to be adopted. Gladney adoptive mom, Erin Martin will also join us to share her perspective on adopting her daughter from China through Gladney's China Waiting Child program!

Register for the webinar here.

Asia Programs Managing Director, Gongzhan Wu and Superkids volunteer/pediatric physical therapist, Pat Marcus spent time in June visiting waiting children in orphanages and foster care that are part of Gladney's partnership programs. Superkids trips are one of many ways that Gladney works together with our partners in China for the benefit of children with special medical needs who are waiting to be adopted into loving families.

Blog posts from the trip can be found on Superkids' blog site.

Pat checking out Zi Zi at Shanghai Children's Home

Many children have already been adopted by loving families through Gladney's Guang Ming Program! This program offers many opportunities for families to be matched with these precious boys and girls! Contact Judy Hayes at 432.563.3344 to learn how to get started.

China Heritage Tour Guides

One of the most important and memorable aspects of a China Heritage Tour is the visit to your child's birth province, city and orphanage. We are very fortunate to have guides throughout China who have years of experience working with Gladney and adoptive families; they are familiar with the adoption process and the orphanages in their area. Visit our website for an introduction to some of the guides who make the orphanage visit so special. Click here to meet them.

Gladney guide Jack Mao assists families in purchasing gifts for their orphanage.

Rainbow Kids founded by Gladney Mom, Martha Osborne

In 1996, while still in the adoption process for her first daughter, Martha Osborne was inspired to start a website to assist other families who were searching for information on how to adopt a child from another country. 16 years later, Martha is proud to say of her RainbowKids website "It has taken on a life of its own!"

Now the largest international adoption website online, RainbowKids Adoption Advocacy features special needs and older children throughout the world who are waiting to be adopted. Just this summer, a wonderful video was added to the website featuring over 200 beautiful children, now home in their families, who were once identified as "special needs". Here is the link to see The Waiting Child Video. We think it shows how adoption is changing the lives of waiting children as well as the families that are opening their hearts to the love lessons these little ones are teaching us daily!

Martha with her daughter Kate,

who was adopted through Gladney.

Recently in Taiwan Adoption News

Currently in the Taiwan Program, we have 2 families awaiting their final rulings. We have 4 families awaiting their civil rulings. 2 families with referrals are currently working on court dossiers. We have received one referral since June 1, 2012. As the summer progresses we will be working with several families to plan their adoption trips to bring their children home.

In next month's update, we plan to include a helpful 'step-by-step' guide to inform our families of the trip to the AIT office in Taipei for the processing of their child's U.S. visa. This is a straight forward and quick process, with most families able to receive the visa with same day processing!

We hope everyone enjoyed the July 4th holidays with their families!

Alec and Austin keeping cool in the pool!

2012 Summer Campaign for Guang Ming 光明

Advocating for Children Who Wait

Gladney's Asia Team is continuing the campaign to raise awareness of Gladney's Guang Ming program and Superkids Charity!

We are eager to spread the word further about the Guang Ming/China Waiting Child program and the children who are waiting for a forever family to call their own. We have been blogging, emailing, webinar-ing, tweeting and sharing our excitement with as many people as we can. We are so appreciative of our supporters and adoption advocates who are sharing their enthusiasm throughout their communities and beyond!

Follow us on Twitter @Gladneyasia and @Superkids_Pat for updates on the Superkids trip that happened this month! Pat Marcus, a volunteer pediatric physical therapist with Superkids has also been blogging about her trip. Click here to read her posts.

Featured Newsletter Photo

Do you recognize the location of the photo above? This month's featured photo was taken in Shanghai from the Bund looking across the Huangpu River to Pudong.

Each month we enjoy selecting photos taken in Asia for our newsletter. We invite our familes to share their landscape photos, taken during their adoption or heritage trips. Beginning this month, we will be placing the monthly featured photo in our blogs. Please email Lydia at ljjmacci@aol.com if you have a photo you would like to have featured.