Two years after bringing their son home, a Gladney mom returned to his birth country with her family - intent on honoring his story, not rewriting it. What unfolded during a visit to the orphanage he once called home was an unfiltered, deeply human moment she felt compelled to share with Gladney. This experience, offered in her own words, reveals the quiet realities many children know before adoption and the profound weight parents carry when they finally see those realities through their child’s eyes.

The family had returned to their son’s birth country in Asia two years after he was placed with them just shy of the age of 8. He was excited to walk around the orphanage, or as he referred to it as ‘my old home.’ The family entered the large bedroom with him. It was completely empty. The Mom just assumed the orphanage must have recently moved the current children into a different room, hence why there were no beds.

The Boy: “I slept there. Under that window.”

The Mom: “How many other kids slept in here with you?”

The Boy: “20”

The Mom: “What were your beds like?”

The Boy (pointing): “They are in that closet.”

The Mom paused. Until realization set in. The Boy continued…

The Boy: “We took our bed out of the closet every night and set it up. Then put it away in the morning.”

By ‘bed,’ the Boy meant a mat. He shared this sleeping routine as if it was the most normal thing in the world. And to him, it was. This was his life. This was his bedroom. This was how he slept from the time he left the metal crib until he came home with his new family. The tour of his ‘old home’ continued, with the Boy sharing many more memories and routines about life there. But the one that stuck with the Mom the most was the Boy pointing his little finger to that closet where his ‘bed’ was kept. The Mom held the Boy a little closer that night when tucking him in, whispering after he drifted off, “Never again will you not have a real bed to call your own. A safe place to land every night with me by your side.”