How many people have heard like this? More than you think.

For nearly 140 years, the good people of the Gladney Center for Adoption have been helping to build families by honoring the legacy of one woman who almost single-handedly changed adoptions in the United States.

Edna Jones came to Fort Worth in 1904 to live with her aunt and uncle. She was not planning on staying in Texas long, but fortunately for so many children, she did. In 1906, an engaged Edna met Sam Gladney, and they eloped two days before Edna was supposed to marry her (now former) fiancé.

Photo courtesy of Gladney Center for Adoption

The Gladneys lived in Wolfe City for a couple of years before settling in Sherman. Sam bought a flour mill, and Edna went to work inspecting local markets and public facilities for cleanliness. During one inspection in rural Grayson County, Edna came across the Grayson County Poor Farm, a dumping ground for the unwanted: people with mental illnesses and disabilities, the physically disabled, the homeless, and unwanted children.

Horrified by the conditions at the Grayson County Poor Farm, Edna helped to remove the children to the Texas Children’s Home and Aid Society in Fort Worth, on whose board Edna served. She also established a free daycare for the children of women working as part of the war effort. It was one of the first daycares in Texas, and the City of Sherman continued to run it until 2008.

When Edna and Sam returned to Fort Worth in 1921, Edna continued to work with the Texas Children’s Home and Aid Society. She was named superintendent of the Texas Children’s Home and Aid Society, a position that she held until 1959. She was a tireless advocate for children and unwed mothers. Through her efforts, Texas led the way in adoption legislation.

Photo courtesy of Gladney Center for Adoption

In 1936, Texas removed the word “illegitimate” from adopted children’s birth certificates. In 1939, Texas passed a law that sealed an adopted child’s original birth certificate and issued a second birth certificate with the child’s name and the names of the adoptive parents. In 1951, adopted children were granted the same inheritance rights as biological children. None of this would have happened without Edna’s lobbying and advocacy.

The Texas Children’s Home and Aid Society bought the West Texas Maternity Hospital in 1950. Now known as the Edna Gladney Home, in recognition of Edna’s tenacity and love, the organization was able to provide pre- and post-natal care for birth mothers and their infants. Edna died in 1961, having changed the lives of countless families.

Photo courtesy of Gladney Center for Adoption

Fast forward half a century, and the Gladney Center for Adoption (the name was changed in 1991) continues to create families through domestic adoptions, international adoptions, and foster adoptions and continues to lead the way in memory of Edna Gladney.

Gladney is licensed in 12 states and 11 countries, and since 2000, has helped the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services place children waiting in the foster care system with loving, forever families.

“We’re in a big growth stage right now,” said Holly Yarborough, Gladney’s Marketing & Communications Manager. “This is such a special place, but so many people here are unaware of how many people Gladney has impacted over the years.”

Photo courtesy of Gladney Center for Adoption

Holly was excited to tell me about their new program for international adoptees. “Kids from domestic adoptions usually know about their birth family, but until now, it’s been hard for kids who were adopted from another country to find out anything about their birth families.”

To change this disparity, Gladney has created the Heritage Experience. Licensed counselors will accompany adopted children and their families to their country of birth. “Adopted children usually get really curious about their roots,” Holly said. “We’re the only adoption agency sending a licensed counselor along on these trips to support our families emotionally. This really is a labor of love, like everything we do here.”

In 2027, the Gladney Center for Adoption will celebrate 140 years of creating loving families. To celebrate, “Project 140” will share 140 stories to celebrate and honor everything that Gladney has accomplished. Adoption has come a long way since Edna Gladney began her life’s work, and Gladney continues to lead the way, ensuring that more children find their families.

Oh, that memory at the beginning? It’s my story.

The first photo ever taken of the author, taken on the way home from Gladney
Photo credit: Robert N. Virden (author’s dad)

The post Thank You, Mrs. Gladney first appeared on Tanglewood Moms.

Most of you have likely heard about the Gladney Center for Adoption. You probably know that it is a well-respected adoption agency here in Fort Worth. You might even know that it has been a part of our community for many years. But unless you have a personal involvement with Gladney, you may not know exactly what an amazing place it truly is.

The Gladney Center for Adoption has its roots in the Orphan Train movement of the last decades of the nineteenth century and first decades of the twentieth century. A supervised welfare program, “Orphan Trains” transported orphaned or homeless children from the big cities of the East Coast to the farms of the Midwest, the idea being that the children would have better lives out West. Between 1854 and 1929, over 200,000 children were relocated.

Reverend I. Z. T. Morris, a Methodist minister, and his wife, Isabella, started taking in train children who arrived at the end of the line in Fort Worth without being taken in by families along the line, attempting to find homes for them. This lead to the formation of the Texas Children’s Home in 1896. In 1910, Edna Gladney (née Edna Browning Kahly) joined the Board of Directors of the Texas Children’s Home and began to widen the scope of the Home’s services to include helping unwed mothers and providing adoption services for their babies. She was appointed the Home’s Superintendent in 1927.

Under Mrs. Gladney’s leadership, the Home continued to grow. Mrs. Gladney lobbied the Texas State Legislature to remove the word “illegitimate” from the birth certificates of adopted children, succeeding in 1936, making Texas the first state in the Southwest to remove the stigma of illegitimacy from adopted children. In 1949, she helped get a bill passed that gave adopted children the same inheritance rights as biological children. To thank Mrs. Gladney for her continued service, the Board of Directors renamed the agency the Edna Gladney Home. Mrs. Gladney served until 1959, placing over 10,000 children with adoptive families and revolutionizing adoption practices in the United States. Her legacy continues in the work of the Gladney Center today.

In 2017, the Gladney Center serves birth parents, adoptive families, and adopted children through an extraordinary array of programs. Domestic adoptions. International adoptions. Adoptions of older children and children with medical needs. Training and educational programs for adoptive families. Outreach programs for doctors, high schools, and family support services. Gladney not only places children with loving, caring families, it supports the birth families, adoptive families, and adopted children throughout their whole lives. And Gladney is expanding their services to include all adoptive parents, not just those who are part of the Gladney family. The Gladney Center for Adoption continues to be the place where hope is born.

Mrs. Gladney considered all the children she placed for adoption to be her children. The Gladney Center for Adoption is proud to continue her legacy and in the spirit of Mrs. Gladney would like to invite you to the 53^rd Annual Blossoms Luncheon (named in honor of the 1941 highly fictionalized biopic Blossoms in the Dust, starring Greer Garson as Edna Gladney) in celebration of the 130^th anniversary of the Gladney Center on Tuesday, April 18, at the Omni Hotel. The Flower and Gift Market opens at 9:30 am. Sip mimosas while you shop the latest trends. Then enjoy a lovely luncheon while Gladney families, from children to grandparents, strut the runway in the latest fashions. The event will be emceed by NBC5’s Deborah Ferguson and will honor Alicia Taylor, the 2017 Leslie Amend Award Winner.

To register for Blossoms, please click here. Join in celebrating 130 years of placing children with loving, caring families and help to start the next 130 years of the Gladney Center for Adoption in style!

Lee Virden DuBose is a proud Gladney Baby. She is honored to be a part of Mrs. Gladney’s legacy.

The post Blossoms: Continuing Edna Gladney’s Legacy first appeared on Tanglewood Moms.