Happy first Friday in May! I am happy to share some updates with you.
If you’ve been reading our updates for a while, you know that the monthly number of placements will fluctuate from one month to the next. In April Gladney ended up with three placements– all in Texas. Two of the children are Caucasian, the third is African American. Two of the three families’ wait times were long- over 24 months, and the third family’s wait time was much, much less. We are currently at 21 months of waiting!
Gladney is currently working with 47 expectant birth mothers at various stages of their adoption journey. This number includes a variety of statuses for their expectant birth moms. Some have placed already and remain clients for about 6 weeks after delivery, and some are already matched with a family. Right now 28 are not otherwise committed to other families (matched or placed).
There has been an increased trend in heavier substance exposure during pregnancy. Specifically, they’ve seen two categories: amphetamines/methamphetamine and opiates/methadone. They also continue to frequently see daily marijuana/cannabis use, either smoked or consumed as edible, but they don’t really consider this “heavy” drug use given the difference in the impact on the child. For anyone that is interested in learning more about substance abuse in pregnancy, Gladney has created a very helpful video called Assessing Medical Risks. In the video, the physician explains the immense difference between methamphetamine and methadone more elegantly than I can.
Gladney is expecting the next few months to be very busy for them. We are currently 7th in line!! To put that in perspective the top 10 families in line are offered every opportunity that walks through the door. Over the last few weeks we have received between 2-4 placement opportunities a week. These include opportunities we have passed on, who have chosen other families or have chosen to parent themselves. It is a very exciting and fast-paced time. We should be placed soon!!!.