Gladney Blog

At just 7½ years old, Wren is already full of curiosity, kindness, and some impressive academic flair. She loves reading picture books using her phonics skills, confidently tackles double-digit addition, and is especially proud of learning her 9s multiplication tables (which she would be happy to demonstrate). At the grocery store, she enjoys counting money and takes the job very seriously. But of all the things Wren knows about herself, one rises above the rest: she wants gentle parents.

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.