Meet Sebastian! {China}

Note: Since we are going to be traveling in Taiwan and posting about our trip but we also have so many files of children from China that we want to continue sharing about I will be putting China and Taiwan in the post title to tell you where the child is from.

Sebastian is a sweet 2 year old boy who is described as active and outgoing. We met him in October of last year. He was very attached to his foster mom and had fun throwing a pen on the floor over and over. It reminded me of when my boys were 1 and would intentionally drop a toy just to watch me pick it up!

Sebastian has mild cerebral palsy and hypothyroidism. He can pick up blocks and bang them together and can feed himself finger foods. He imitates sounds and says simple words.

October 2016

When we met him last October he was army-crawling all over the place. His file does not indicate if he is pulling to a stand or walking, but we are seeking this information and will update once we hear back from the orphanage. We do have a picture of him standing at a mirror, so that is good!

Sebastian needs a family! Could he be your son? Please contact us at superkids@gladney.org for more information!

Meet Maggie! {Taiwan}

Maggie is described as a kind, cheerful, energetic and lively little girl. She is always happy to lend a helping hand and gets along with well with all of her peers. Maggie likes riding her bike, flying kites, and kicking around a soccer ball. She also loves playing with Legos and even took a Lego class!

Maggie lives in a foster family and attends elementary school. Her teachers report that she does well in school and that she always has her homework and is never late to class.

Maggie is healthy with no medical needs. Maggie’s foster mother talks to her a lot about adoption and feels that Maggie has a good understanding of adoption. Maggie has expressed the desire for permanent, loving family and home. Could Maggie be your daughter? For more information on Maggie, please contact Taiwan Program Caseworker, Mary Chapman, at mary.chapman@gladney.org.  

Ready... And We Have Exciting News!

We leave for Taiwan this week! But before we talk about that we have some super duper exciting news!

Mia has a family!!

We met little miss Mia a couple of times and the last time we were in Taiwan we were able to get such great information about her. It helped her family make the decision to move forward with adopting her. And this week we get to go back to Taiwan and get an update for her family. Because that is what we do.

We will be repeating this amazing cycle for so many other kids! That is why we go. This is our mission and our goal. And we are {getting} ready...

T minus 4 days and counting...

One Week!

What is that you say? One week until...

We are on our way to Taiwan!

One short week. We have donations galore! In fact our whole long list has been reduced to 5 boxes of Legos still waiting to be purchased! Thank you all so much!

Our team consists of all experienced Superkids volunteers:

Gongzhan Wu - Gladney's Asia programs director

Mary Chapman - Gladney Taiwan caseworker

Nancy Dobson  - Pediatric Physical therapist 

Erin Martin - Photographer/social media manager/advocate

Michelle Snyder - Advocate

Nancy Dobson has been on several Superkids trips to China, but this will be her first trip to Taiwan. She is even bringing her husband, Joe, this time. How great is that?!

We leave next Friday, November 3 and will return home a week later on November 10. 

Please follow us here, follow us on Facebook, and join our secret Taiwan advocacy Facebook group. We will be posting during the day as much as we can and will try to get at least one blog post up each day. You won't want to miss it!

Lionel

Oh my! Are you ready for this?

Meet Lionel!

He is 15 months old, we met him when he was just 3 months old and he has only gotten cuter since then! He has microtia with hearing loss and a cleft palate.

He is walking, as you can see, and has the cutest little grin! These videos were just taken last week, so this is a good picture of how he is doing right now. He is described as very active and his file says that his caregivers have to keep a close eye on him or he will climb onto the table.

This little guy seems to be thriving! Could he be your son? Please contact us at superkids@gladney.org for more information.

Miranda {Taiwan}

With only 10 days until we leave for Taiwan we are posting about a sweet little girl whom we hope to meet while we are there. We are getting pretty excited! New photos and videos soon!

Miranda is a precious little girl who will be turning 9 years old in December. She loves drawing, dancing, singing, and playing with stuffed animals. She enjoys playing with other kids. Miranda lives with a foster family and her foster mother describes her as joyful and cheerful. She loves when the foster parents older biological daughter has school breaks, as she will often take Miranda on fun outings.

Miranda has mild intellectual disabilities. She attends a school where she is able to get individualized attention to help her learn in a way that is advantageous to her needs. She also attends occupational and physical therapy. She is able to take care of all of her self care needs. We have a detailed assessment of her needs available.

Could Miranda be your daughter? To review Miranda’s full profile, please contact Taiwan Program Caseworker, Mary Chapman, at mary.chapman@gladney.org.

Cecilia

Are you ready to meet a precious 1 year old baby girl who has Down syndrome!? We don't have good pictures, but I want to go ahead and introduce her anyway. She is soooooo sweet!

Cecilia has a $4,000 grant through Gladney. We are seeking an update and better photos for her and should get those soon. For now we know that she is 18 months old and she also has CHD (ASD).

She is a quiet, happy baby who only cries when she is hungry. She holds toys to play with them and babbles while she is playing.

We will post more about her as soon as we get updated information. Please contact us at superkids@gladney.org to learn more about adopting Cecilia!

Taiwan Here We Come!

Our fall trip to Taiwan is just around the corner! We have a group of experienced Superkids volunteers and we are really getting excited as the time for our trip gets closer.

We know how generous you all are anyhow much you all like to help us gather the supplies we need to make our time spent with the children as fun and productive as possible. So we have put together an Amazon wish list of things we would like to be able to take. You can see it here. The shipping address is already in and ready to go, so please order away!

We are taking little masks for the kids to decorate. This serves the purpose of giving them something fun to do and helps us to get pictures we can use for advocacy while still honoring the privacy laws of Taiwan.

Thank you for generosity and your help in making our trips a success!

Family Friday

It is a dreary, rainy Friday where we are today. But who cares when we have such bright, happy news to announce!?

Linus...

And Lachlan...

Have families!! Congratulations to all!!

We Got an Update For Leeza!

We got new photos, videos, and information! Watch this video and contact us at superkids@gladney.org for further information today!

Sanford

Sanford is a sweet baby boy who needs a family!

He is 20 months old and has Down syndrome. He lives in a foster home and seems very attached to his foster mom. We met him in October of 2016, he was only 10 months old at the time, so it was fun to read through the file and see how he has changed! 

He feeds himself and sits independently. He follows simple instructions and is crawling. He claps his hands when he sees his friends coming and likes to listen to stories. He waves good-bye. He vocalizes and says a few simple words. 

This sweet little guy needs a family! He has a $4,000 grant through Gladney. Please contact us at superkids@gladney.org for more information.

Darnell {Taiwan}

Darnell is a healthy 9 year old boy waiting for his forever family. He is described as being polite with a personable nature, and as someone who always takes care of others including small animals. His foster mother also states that he is sentimental and enjoys collecting things that bring him happiness. Doesn’t he sound like such a sweetie?!

Darnell works hard at school and always gets good remarks from his teachers. He sometimes needs a little extra assistance with certain subjects, including math. He gets along well with his peers and enjoys participating in group activities.  

As a reminder, we can’t share photos publicly of a child’s full face, but we do have photos of Darnell that can be shared privately! There is a photo of him in a football uniform, dressed up as a pilot, and posing with a cow – trust me when I say he has got some amazing photos! Join out Taiwan Advocacy Facebook group to see pictures!

Could Darnell be your son? Please contact Taiwan Program Caseworker, Mary Chapman, at mary.chapman@gladney.org to review Darnell’s full profile.

Meet Lamont!

Lamont is a precious little baby boy (ignore the pink ruffles!) who just turned 1 last week!

He is doing great with developmental stuff! He crawls and pulls to a stand. He can walk with assistance. He recognizes his name and turns when his name is called. He likes to play with toys and will play happily by himself for quite a while.

We will be happy to talk about his need with interested families.

He is described as an active, happy little boy. This sweet little guy needs a family! Please contact us at superkids@gladney.org for more information.

Family Friday!

We have matches to announce! Congratulations to the wonderful families bringing these sweet babies home!

Leeza {PLEASE SHARE!}

We posted about Leeza quite a while ago. We have had many inquiries, but her family still has not seen her and stepped forward.

We have met Leeza and she is a darling little thing who loves to be held and cuddled. I put together a little video for her to make it easier to share her information. Would you all please jump in and help us find Leeza's family? This sweetie has waited long enough!



Lets work together to change that today!

Scott

Today we're going to introduce you to a sweet 7 year old boy who is described as a brave and joyful little boy. We are calling him Scott, and he is a real cutie!

Scott has Down syndrome. He loves to draw and paint and is polite and well behaved. He lives with a foster family and enjoys helping with housework. He enjoys playing games, kicking balls, and playing with blocks.

Scott has a $4,000 grant through Gladney.

He sounds like such a great little fellow. He needs a family who can help him reach his greatest potential. Can you imagine the snuggles and giggles this great little guy would add to a family?

Please contact us at superkids@gladney.org for more information.

Aaron {Taiwan}

You know how Taiwan has privacy laws about showing a child's full face? Well, I have never been more tempted to just post a child's pictures than I am right now. My goodness! This little guy is soooooo cute! Be sure you join our Taiwan Advocacy Facebook group so that you can see his photos in the closed group!

Aaron just turned 3. He was born prematurely and was in the hospital for a while after his birth. He is now in foster care and sounds like a healthy little guy. He is receiving some appropriate therapies.

He is described as a sensitive child who prefers more quiet activities. He enjoys helping his foster father feed the family dog and the baby lambs (mind blown as i think of the cuteness factor involved here!)

In order to consider a family for this adorable (trust me!) little guy we need a family to have a homestudy. It does not need to be written specifically for Taiwan, but we do need current homestudy. To find out more about little Aaron and to see his pictures please contact Mary chapman at mary.chapman@gladney.org.

We hope to be able to meet little Aaron when superkids visits Taiwan in November.

October - National Down Syndrome Awareness Month

We always look forward to October around here! It is a time to celebrate and bring awareness our sweet children who are rocking that extra chromosome!

We will be sharing pictures, sharing stories, asking questions, and hopefully finding homes for some of the children in this little video.



We are continuing our grant of $4,000 for all of our children with Down syndrome, or any child from the shared list with Down syndrome adopted through Gladney.

Please share our posts this month and help us spread the word about the need for families to open their hearts and homes to a child with Down syndrome.

If you would like to share your family story of parenting a child with Down syndrome, whether by birth or adoption, please contact us at superkids@gladney.org. Together we can make a difference!