National Council for Adoption | Where the Truth Lives: A Reflection & Growth Framework for Listening Across the Adoption Triad, by Francine Apy

Adoption weaves together many stories. Within those stories, truth often exists in the spaces between perspectives, between what is said and what is felt, between what we know and what we are still discovering.

One of the greatest lessons I have learned through more than two decades of parenting and professional leadership is this: growth begins with reflection, and reflection depends on open, honest communication. Whether in a family, workplace, or community, real connection starts when we create space to speak and to listen, especially when the conversations are complex and perhaps difficult.

When our family came together through adoption, I began drawing on the same tools I had long used in coaching and leadership development. These tools included reflection, open communication, and the belief that growth is always possible. Over the years, these practices have guided how I have navigated not only adoption but life itself. Adoption simply adds an extra lens through which to pause, see, and grow. I have learned, as my husband and I raise our family, that it is often worth pausing to ask: “Is this situation something that needs an adoption lens, or is it simply one of life’s many milestones that we all move through?”

Continue reading on the National Council for Adoption (NCFA) website: https://adoptioncouncil.org/blog/where-the-truth-lives/