Dina enjoys hugs and cuddles and her caregivers say she is active, happy, persistent and easy-going.

She attends school and her teacher enjoys having her in class. Her teacher says that Dina’s favorite activity at school is to play in the sand and with water. She is improving in her development and shows an interest in class activities, makes eye contact with the teacher and uses hand gestures to engage in activities.

An ideal adoptive family should have excellent pediatric medical resources to support Dina as she grows. She needs specialized educational support along with occupational and speech therapy. The ideal family will understand the lifelong impacts of Down syndrome and have plans for providing Dina with the life-long support and intervention she will need.

We have more information about Dina that we’d love to share with any prospective adoptive families. Email our waiting child team at adopt@holtinternational.org to learn more!

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The post Dina Needs a Family appeared first on Holt International.

It often happens like this: A child with disabilities is born to a family living in poverty and the parents can’t afford their medical care. Or, maybe the child’s mother or father, or even both, pass away unexpectedly, and there’s no one else who can afford to help raise them. So the child goes to an orphanage.

It’s tragic and traumatic and life-changing no matter the circumstances. And it’s almost what happened to Nin and Manee.

Twin Sisters Born in Thailand

Twin sisters Nin and Manee were born to two loving parents in Thailand. But they came two months too early. Manee was healthy, Nin was not. Nin was diagnosed with Down syndrome, and they soon realized she had many other health issues as well…

After a month at the hospital, Nin joined her sister and parents at home, but she kept getting sick. She had high fevers and had trouble breathing. She couldn’t drink milk and frequently choked. After being diagnosed with pneumonia, she had a CT scan that showed something even more dangerous — her head wasn’t developing correctly, and it was affecting her brain.

The doctors said Nin needed a craniotomy. This was the only way her brain could grow like it should. And with loving parents devoted to her health, she would be OK. Even though her parents both worked entry-level office jobs and they were already were drowning in medical bills, they were determined to find a way.  

Their community came together. They held fundraisers and raised all the money they needed to cover Nin’s medical expenses!

In February 2021, Nin had her first surgery. It was successful — her brain would continue to grow as it should. At the same time, the doctor also inserted a feeding tube so that she could eat without choking.

Finally, life could become more normal for both Nin and Manee. They were reunited at home with their parents, Nin recovering in the love and care of her mother and father.

But then tragedy struck.

Orphaned at 1 Year Old

Just weeks after the surgery, the girls’ mom and dad both died in a tragic car crash. In a single day, their lives turned upside down. They had just turned 1 year old.

Immediately, Nin and Manee needed somewhere to go and someone to take care of them. For many children, the solution is often an orphanage. But fortunately, Nin and Manee’s grandparents took them in.

Kinship Care

Whenever possible, this is what Holt strives for — for children to stay in the care of their birth or extended family, instead of in an orphanage.

Orphanages rarely have the resources to care for a child with disabilities or complex medical needs, like Nin’s. And even for healthy children, an orphanage can never provide the level of nurturing and connection that a child needs to thrive. As a result, children are often developmentally delayed one month for every three months that they stay in an institution — missing critical developmental milestones, and making it harder for them to make secure emotional attachments to a future parent.

That’s why — while Holt works to elevate the standards of care for all children living in orphanages — we also maintain that a safe and loving family is the best place for every child.

“Keeping children with their birth families or extended families provides permanency and stability for the children,” says Thoa Bui, Holt’s vice president of international programs. “It helps them maintain family connections and a sense of belonging and acceptance.”

“Keeping children with their birth families or extended families provides permanency and stability for the children. It helps them maintain family connections and a sense of belonging and acceptance.”

But this can be easier said than done. Sometimes, loving family for a child exists, but that family might not have all the resources to care for the child right away. That’s why Holt has the kinship care program. Through it, extended families receive the resources and support they need to care for their niece or nephew, grandchild, or any other child in their extended family who needs a home.

It was kinship care — from their grandmother and aunt — that saved Nin and Manee from life in an orphanage.  

Safe With Family

Shortly after their parents passed, the sisters moved to southern Thailand and began living with their grandparents. It was the perfect solution at first — a loving place for these little sisters to grieve the loss of their parents and receive all the love and care they needed.

But Nin’s health issues are ongoing. She ate through tube feeding, needed expensive doctor’s appointments every two months, and even another surgery. Her grandparents couldn’t care for both girls on their own, especially in their current home.

Their grandma works as a cook, using her kitchen to prepare and sell meals all day long. It was too difficult to have two toddlers here — especially one with such involved medical needs. So, their aunt offered to care for Nin. This could work… except there was no way they could afford all of Nin’s doctor’s appointments and medicines.

Again, Nin was at risk of going to an orphanage. The sisters could have been permanently separated — their lives forever changed.

But instead, Nin received help from Holt’s kinship care program, carried out through Holt’s partner, Holt Sahathai Foundation, in southern Thailand.

Help For Medical Expenses

Nin moved into her aunt and uncle’s home — less than four miles away from where Manee stayed at their grandmother’s.

And Nin is thriving in their care! She received her second successful surgery in December 2021, and continues to attend all of her medical appointments. Her brain growth, nutritional needs and overall development are all being closely monitored by doctors and by her family.

“The aunt gives the child excellent care,” says Nin’s social worker in southern Thailand. “She’s constantly observing and monitoring her condition, while the uncle works very hard to support the family.”

Their grandmother receives a monthly stipend to care for Manee as well — and she’s even getting the funds she needs to repair her house.

Despite the short distance of four miles between the aunt and grandma’s homes, Nin and Manee are growing up together as closely as possible. They are both growing, learning and getting all the care they need — whether it be complex surgery, nutritious meals or nurturing love and attention.

The Best Place They Can Be

After losing their parents, Nin and Manee’s lives could have continued to take devastating turns. In an orphanage, they likely would have been separated due to their different levels of need. They would have grown up apart, without each other or the loving family that both of them needed so desperately.

But instead, thanks to loving extended family and the compassion of Holt donors, they have a better, different reality.

Today, they’re in the best place they can be — in the love and care of family.

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The post In the Loving Care of Family appeared first on Holt International.

Nin was born with a lot of health issues. She has Down syndrome, had to have a surgery on her head, and also had severe digestive issues. 

Her parents didn’t make a lot of money, but they loved Nin and took great care of her — saving their money and even holding fundraisers to give Nin the medical care she needed. 

But then, just before Nin turned 1, her mom and dad died in a tragic car accident. Suddenly, she was an orphan. And with such complex health issues, who would be able to take care of her? 

Thankfully, Holt donors are helping to make sure Nin gets the love and medical care she needs. 

Nin now lives with her aunt and uncle in southern Thailand, and she’s receiving everything that that she needs to thrive in their loving care. 

You’re also helping to provide the everyday items that Nin’s family needs to take care of her: infant formula, baby food, diapers and more. 

It takes a lot to care for a child like Nin. She needed critical and complex health care. But it’s also so critical that she grows up with her family. Because of you, Nin can have both of these things: medical care, and a loving family. 

Nin’s story started out tragic. But because of your help, she’s receiving all of the love and medical care she needs to thrive. 

Thank you for giving her the very best chance at life. 

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However, orphanages are often at-capacity and low on resources — especially the specialized resources needed to care for a child with medical or special needs.    

But every child deserves the medical and special care to be healthy and reach their fullest potential. That’s why we have the Molly Holt Fund. Named after the daughter of Holt’s founders, Molly Holt was a nurse who dedicated her life to caring for children who were sick and had special needs.

Today, Holt donors continue her legacy by helping to give children with special needs in orphanages the medical care, medications, therapies and specialized care they need to grow and thrive.

Here are just some of the most common special needs in orphanages — and the care Holt donors help provide to them:

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Have you considered adopting a child with Down syndrome? Learn more about this common special need among kids who are waiting for a family.

Most children with Down syndrome grow up to live long, happy lives — and many will hold jobs, live alone, marry and enjoy all the same things in life as any other person.

Children with Down syndrome tend to thrive in loving homes that help them access inclusive education, ongoing medical care, early intervention therapies and a community of accepting, positive friends and role models.

Some health conditions associated with Down syndrome include heart issues, sleep apnea and increased risk of seizures. In the U.S., life expectancy has increased dramatically for people with Down syndrome to about 60.

Some children with Down syndrome will become fully independent adults and some will need lifelong support. Most children experience mild to moderate learning or cognitive delays. All kids are unique, and will have different strengths, talents and characteristics.

Nearly every city in the United States has parent support groups, community organizations and specialized services for children and adults with Down syndrome and their families.

Many children with Down syndrome are waiting for the chance to be part of a family. Visit Holt’s waiting child photolisting  to read about children with Down syndrome in China, Colombia and SE Asia who are waiting right now! Could you or someone you know be the right family for one of these children?

Holt adoption grants are now available to help eligible children with special needs join the loving, permanent families they deserve. Learn more about the grants and Holt’s Families Not Finances campaign here.

Children with special needs are waiting for families!

Meet some of the children waiting for loving adoptive families. Could you be the right family for one of these children?

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The post 5 Things to Know About Adopting a Child With Down Syndrome appeared first on Holt International.

However, Down syndrome is not as embraced and supported in some countries as it is in the United States. People with Down syndrome often go without access to special education, therapies or other resources that they need to reach their full potential. While we always strive to find a loving adoptive family in a child’s birth country first, for many children with Down syndrome, international adoption is the best route to a permanent, loving family. If an adoptive family does not come forward in the birth country, children with Down syndrome become eligible to join a family through international adoption.

For some families, like the Hostetters and Presnell-Sekulas, the idea of special needs adoption was new territory. But they chose to push aside fears, worries and uncertainties and moved forward in trust and faith. For other families like the Butchers and single mom Sara Croasdaile, who adopted two children with Down syndrome, they knew they wanted to adopt a child with special needs from the beginning of the adoption process.

Each of these families has a different background. Some have experience with special needs and some none at all, and all of their adoption journeys are different. But each one is full of positive change, joy, patience and love.

Grants are available for eligible children with special needs through our Families Not Finances campaign. Learn more about the campaign here.

Children with special needs are waiting for families!

Meet some of the children waiting for loving adoptive families. Could you be the right family for one of these children?

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The post What It Means to Adopt a Child with Down Syndrome appeared first on Holt International.

Social and joyful George is waiting for a permanent, loving adoptive family.

At 15 months old, he holds up his head, rolls over and holds objects and toys himself! He is not yet using language and communicates through smiles and facial expressions. He loves to play with his caregivers, who describe him as active, extroverted and always ready with a laugh, especially when he is tickled and teased. He enjoys being around other people and thrives when he is accompanied by someone he loves.

The best fit for George is a caring family that is open to his special needs, including Down syndrome, and that can provide him with the support and resources he will need as he grows up.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, some adoption-related travel has been delayed. But the need for families is as great as it has ever been. If you are interested in adopting, don’t hesitate to request info or apply today!

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The post George Needs a Family! appeared first on Holt International.

For a child living in an orphanage or foster home overseas, joining an adoptive family often means finally receiving the medical care they need to grow healthy and strong. It means going to occupational or physical therapy to begin to catch up developmentally. It means receiving the love, attention and nurturing care that they went without for so long.

All children have the potential to grow by leaps and bounds with each passing year. But for a child who was just adopted, this growth can be even more profound.

When parents think back to when they first met their child, they often remember a child who was scared and grieving. Maybe their child was sick, or had a difficult time being handed over to people who were — at that time — strangers to them. But in just a year’s time, so many parents say they can’t believe their son or daughter is the same child. With a year’s worth of care and love, they are thriving.

Not everything in an adoptee’s life heals so quickly.

Many special medical needs require lifelong care. And trauma — whether from abuse, neglect or the trauma all adopted children experience from birth family separation and institutionalization — can take much longer, even a lifetime, to heal. But the one-year mark is a major milestone for an adoptive family. They’ve weathered so many “firsts” together, gotten to know one another, and parents have done the hard work of helping their child to heal.

“Most children make incredible progress physically and developmentally in the first year with their adoptive family,” says Marissa Robello, Holt’s clinical social worker. “It doesn’t all happen at once or at the same speed. The child’s age, prior care, medical needs, and genetics are a few of the many factors that determine the rate of catch-up and healing. But regardless of those factors, parents who prioritize building the relationship over developmental progress in the first year set the stage for the longer term growth and healing.”

This is why at Holt, we believe that a family is the best place for every child. Children heal and grow in families. If not their birth family or an adoptive family in their country of birth, then in a family through international adoption. Because there’s no real replacement for the love and care that a family gives a child.

Two families that hit the one-year mark recently are the Maynard family and the Presnell-Sekula family. While their children come from different countries and have faced different challenges, both of their mothers say that their first year home has been transformational.

Nighttime Grief and Bedtime Bonding

Laurel Maynard | Prai’s Mom 

Overall, Prai adjusted well to my husband and me and to the adoption in general. The greatest exception to that statement was the “nighttime grief” that she experienced. It started the night we took custody. I will never forget the sound of her screaming for her foster mother. Over and over and over. She wasn’t screaming and crying out of defiance, it was pure sorrow and heartache. These episodes occurred every night we were in Thailand.

When we returned home to the U.S., Prai transitioned so wonderfully during the day. She was bonding well, trying new foods and exploring new places. But as soon as she went to sleep, the crying and screaming began. She rarely woke up during the episodes but, as our social worker helped us understand, she was displaying her grief at night when she was most vulnerable. The nightly episodes continued for the first seven to eight months home. The only exception being that she was now crying out my name in place of her foster mother’s.

To comfort her, we let her sleep in bed with us and she usually slept on top of me — clinging to me with all her strength. Sometimes, I would awaken and find her laying on my back with her arms clasped tightly around my neck. We continued to show her love and reassurance during both day and night. As the months passed, the episodes gradually began to lessen, until around nine months home we no longer heard the screams.

Today, her bedtime routine is so important and a time that both Ryan and I cherish. It’s the same routine we began on our first nights with Prai, and have continued every night since then. We start prepping for bed with bath time, and end with Daddy reading Prai a story. Daddy always reads and even now Prai will say, “Daddy reads and Mommy rocks!”

Since Prai hasn’t let her dad be very hands-on with bedtime, using story time as his role has been crucial. She looks forward to reading with Daddy and it helps keep him involved. Once she falls asleep, we cover her with a light weighted blanket. I think the weight helps her feel more secure and she wakes up less, which ultimately means she sleeps deeper and more continuously. I swear by that blanket!

Now, after a year home, we only experience issues at night when we have been somewhere new or significantly deviated from our routines.

Despite the difficulty of those first months, the nighttime grief was so important for us as a family. Ryan and I were reminded that even though we witnessed laughter and smiles during the day, she was still adjusting and working through her grief.

For our daughter, the nighttime grief was so important because she finally allowed us to comfort her and to see that we were going to be there each and every time with open arms.

A Heart Full of Kindness and Compassion

Jade Presnell | Micah’s Mom

When Micah first joined our family at 5 years old, he didn’t have any school experience. So initially, he had a lot of trouble following the school routine and sitting and paying attention. He struggled to interact with peers in a positive way. And although he has always been social, he has worked hard to overcome his fears and build up his confidence to make friends.

One year later, Micah’s development has amazed us. He has worked so hard and has been an absolute joy to our family.

Now he is in kindergarten and absolutely loves school. He can sit for an entire lesson and loves to learn. He is working on mastering writing his name, can count to 5, and is learning his letters.

He was recently nominated for a value award at school. His teacher wrote, “Micah has a heart full of kindness and compassion. He is very caring and cheerful.” Micah has come a long way in learning how to be a kind and caring friend.

Micah’s language development continues to leave us in awe! He is putting words together and even recently started asking us questions, like, “What you doing?” and, “Why you laughing?” He is very talkative, works hard to express himself, and enjoys using his flashcards and music to learn new words.

He has had so many new experiences over the last year and is always up for an adventure! Micah enjoys boating, swimming, visiting the beach, riding bikes, playing in the snow, attending gymnastics class, listening to live music, and walking his dogs. He enjoys staying active and does not shy away from new experiences.

Micah’s independence has really grown over the last year. He enjoys doing things on his own and being a helper. At home he enjoys helping with feeding the dogs, laundry, dusting, wiping down the table, and putting his toys away. He also likes to independently brush his teeth, carry his backpack, put on his shoes, zip up his coat, and let the dogs in and out.

He has changed so much in just one year. 

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The post What a Difference a Year Makes appeared first on Holt International.

Children with Down syndrome, like Jyn, always wait much longer to be adopted. But after eight years of waiting, a donor-funded Holt adoption grant helped unite her with her permanent, loving family — just before COVID-19 shut down China and the rest of the world. 

When Sara Croasdaile traveled to China to adopt her son Cam, she already knew she’d come back.

Cam has Down syndrome and was 3 years old when Sara adopted him. To become the loving, permanent family to a child like Cam was something she had wanted to do her whole life.

“I say that I was called to adopt children with Down syndrome,” Sara says. And she doesn’t say this lightly.

Sara’s aunt had Down syndrome and passed away after heart surgery at just 3 years old. Although Sara never got to meet her aunt, she grew up in a family that was tightly connected to the Down syndrome community. Today, Sara works as a special education teacher, teaching and advocating for kids of varying abilities.

“I always said to myself, ‘One day!’” she says about adopting a child with Down syndrome. “And then my first child was born — and she was diagnosed with autism.” While Sara became a parent to a child with special needs in a different way than she expected, caring for her daughter only settled in her heart her conviction to adopt a child with Down syndrome — a developmental special need that is not as accepted and supported in some countries as it has increasingly become in the U.S.

“It never left my mind,” she says.

When her daughter turned 16, Sara started looking into international adoption. And when she saw Cam on Holt’s waiting child photolisting, he stole her heart. She went through the process, and in September 2018, as a single parent, Sara finally traveled to China to bring home her son.

Cam was just 3 years old and at first, a little unsure about Sara.

“But by the time we were back at the hotel that evening,” Sara says about the first day they met, “he decided that I was the one for him and we have been inseparable ever since. He is definitely a mama’s boy.”

But like a lot of adoptive parents, Sara was struck by the number of children in Cam’s orphanage in China who were still waiting, especially those like Cam. At the orphanage, she kept asking the staff, ‘What about the other children here with Down syndrome?’

At first, she asked about Cam’s foster sister — a little girl she had only seen in photos from Cam’s file. She learned his foster sister wasn’t eligible for adoption. But there was another little girl…

‘Will you please help us advocate for this girl?’ the orphanage staff asked Sara, telling her that she’s very high functioning but she’s being passed over because she’s older.

Sara left China committed to help advocate for this girl, named Yibao, to find a family.

“That’s how it started,” Sara says. Today, as Sara shares her family’s story, you can hear 8-year-old Yibao, now called Jyn,  giggling in the background. She’s playing in a nook under the stairs of their townhouse, and just thinks it’s the best thing ever.

Once home in the U.S., Sara decided she didn’t want to advocate for Jyn to find a family. She wanted to adopt her, too.

“I knew I had to go back for her,” Sara says.

While adopting a child with Down syndrome — or two children with Down syndrome — may seem like too much for some families, for Sara, it has been the perfect fit. In every way except financially.

“I live in California outside of L.A.,” Sara says. “As a single parent, I am the only breadwinner, and any savings I had were used [to adopt Cam]. I had nothing.”

While her finances posed a major hurdle, in all other ways Sara was more than equipped to parent another child with Down syndrome. She had experience, patience, compassion and love. She had access to medical resources and therapies her children would likely need. She could support three children financially once home. All she needed was a little help paying the fees and expenses to complete Jyn’s adoption. And for families like Sara’s, who are well equipped in every way to parent a child in need of a family, Holt never wants finances to stand in the way.

“The average cost of an adoption is an expense far beyond day-to-day care,” says Beth Smith, Holt’s director of services for China regional programs. “For someone like Sara, who is knowledgeable, successfully parenting a child with the same condition, and has all the resources — just not the financial resources — we were really trying to find a way to make it happen.”

Beth and Holt’s China team were dedicated to making this happen not only for Sara, but even more so for Jyn — who required extra homefinding advocacy  due to her age and special need.

Accepted again into the China program, Sara began moving forward. But more and more financial hurdles kept popping up.

“First, my car broke down, and it required about $1,500 in repairs,” Sara says. “Then, my daughter had some new medical issues crop up that we had to figure out. Then, my car broke down again! We were down to the wire.”

For a while, everything seemed against her — making it harder and harder to come up with the funds to cover Jyn’s adoption fees.

“For someone like Sara, who is knowledgeable, successfully parenting a child with the same condition, and has all the resources — just not the financial resources — we were really trying to find a way to make it happen.”

Beth Smith, Holt Director of Services for China

To make things even worse, many of the financial resources available to adoptive families simply don’t extend to single-parent adoptive families.

“As a single parent, paying the adoption fees on a single income is already difficult enough. But on top of that, single parents can’t apply for the majority of adoption grants available,” Sara says. “It really limits what’s available to us.”

Determined to adopt this girl who no one else had come forward to adopt, Sara exhausted every opportunity — applying for as many financial resources as she was eligible for. This included Holt’s Special Needs Adoption Fund (SNAF), now a part of the Families Not Finances campaign.

Designed to ensure that finances never stand between a loving family and a child who truly needs one, special needs grants are awarded to families who are in process of adopting children with special medical or developmental needs, older children or sibling groups — children whose unique needs make it more challenging to find the right families for them. Children like Cam and Jyn.

Both two- and one-parent families are eligible for these grants, which are funded by Holt’s generous donors. When Sara learned that she would receive one, it made all the difference.

“Literally, without Holt and the SNAF grant, Jyn wouldn’t be with me today,” she says.

The thought of this is scary for Sara, especially now. Jyn lived with a foster family in Wuhan, which is the epicenter of the new coronavirus outbreak.

“Because she has Down syndrome, she’s immune-compromised and more likely to get sick,” Sara says. “Her foster parents were much older, and the likelihood of her being sick in this mess right now is very likely.”

While no one could have known this medical danger at the time Sara was awarded the grant, without it, she believes Jyn would likely still be in China right now. The financial help from the grant helped Sara stay on track with her adoption expenses, and thus allowed her to bring Jyn home as soon as possible.

In the final months, Sara fought fiercely to bring her daughter home. And it was this tenacious love, as well as the generosity of Holt’s donors, that helped bring Jyn home.

Even apart from the current outbreak in China, Sara says that Jyn’s life in China would have been difficult if she wasn’t adopted. As a child — and someday an adult — with Down syndrome in China, Jyn would have had a very different kind of life.

“It’s not like it is here,” Sara says, referring to the support and resources available to people with special needs. “In China, they don’t have the opportunity for a future.” In an orphanage, there aren’t special education classrooms or developmental therapies or other resources that children with Down syndrome need to reach their full potential. She would also face stigma, and discrimination, because of this condition that she was born with.

Apart from Jyn getting her tonsils out and needing dental work, neither Jyn nor Cam have the complex medical issues that can be common for children with Down syndrome. But now that they’re home with Sara, they’re receiving the specialized interventions and education they need to help them grow and develop and become as independent as possible.

Jyn has already started school, in a special education classroom, and is loving it. She even has friends who speak Mandarin — although Sara says it’s been amazing how much English she has already learned. She now has the chance to be who she really is — exuberant and smart and a beloved daughter.

“I mean, [SNAF donors] essentially gave my daughter life. Without them, she wouldn’t have a life,” Sara says. “She’d live, but she’d have no chance at ever being independent, finding meaning in her life… They made that happen.”

Right now, Jyn is safely at home with her family. She narrates all of her actions across the house to her mom — she’s in the bathroom, she’s washing her hands, she’s talking to herself in the mirror. She shrieks with joy, communicating, “Mom, look at me!”  To which Sara responds as the loving and nurturing mother that Jyn has needed all along.

Although these tasks and conversations may seem like everyday life with kids, Sara knows that it’s extraordinary how far Jyn has come and how well she is doing. As a family, they are thriving.

“I never thought in a million years this is where I’d be, and I don’t want to be anywhere else,” Sara says. “And it’s thanks to Holt and SNAF donors — they brought me from start to finish for both of my children.”

Megan Herriott | Copywriter

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The post A Holt Grant Helped Me Adopt My Daughter appeared first on Holt International.

In honor of National Down Syndrome Awareness Month — and children with Down syndrome around the world who are waiting for their permanent, loving families — we want to share about Jaxon. This sweet 4-year-old joined his adoptive family eight months ago, and he has enriched their lives more than they ever imagined.  

When Amy Kalani first met Jaxon in China, she thought she’d have no trouble finding him a family.

Although now the director of Holt’s Korea adoption program, at the time, Amy worked with Holt’s China program. When she met Jaxon, she was in China visiting orphanages and meeting children so that she could get to know them — and better advocate for them individually upon returning home.

Out of the dozens of children she met, Jaxon stood out to her the most.

“He just has this giant smile and he’s infectious in the way he interacts with people,” Amy says. She remembers sitting in a room with him in the orphanage, watching him throw toys around the room, then joyfully chase after them.

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She was determined to find him a family in the U.S. Because, as a 2-year-old with Down syndrome, Jaxon would not likely go home to an adoptive family in his birth country.

International adoption was his only hope.

“In China,” Amy says, “Down syndrome really isn’t understood the way it is here.” In China, where adoption is a relatively new concept, it’s almost exclusively healthy infants who are adopted into families — not children like Jaxon. “He would have been in an orphanage his whole life,” she says.

In the past several years, Holt has seen more families open their hearts to children with Down syndrome. And as each of these families entered the China program, Amy told them about Jaxon. Amy even wrote a blog post about him, sharing about this special boy (whose waiting child name was “Declan”).

But over a year later, he was still waiting.

That is, until Jaime and Shawn Butcher learned about him.

“Jaxon’s smile was the first thing we saw and immediately fell in love with,” Jaime says. They also appreciated that Amy, because she had met him, could  tell them first-hand about his personality, health and development. “We knew he was our son because we both smiled back at his pictures in a way that already made him feel as though he was our son,” Jaime says. “Our hearts knew we were meant to be his parents.”

Fast forward to March 2019. At the airport in Eugene, Oregon, Jaxon comes off the plane in the arms of Jaime and Shawn — his permanent and loving family.

While Jaxon had to go through a lot before finally receiving the care and love he needed — before joining a family of his own — Jaime and Shawn’s journey to him was just as redemptive.

Jaime and Shawn started pursuing adoption after going through both infant loss and miscarriage. They grieved their losses, and after considering their options, they decided on international adoption as the way to build their family. They began to learn about the profile of children waiting in China — that almost all of them had some kind of moderate special or medical need. Parenting a child with special needs — whether a condition that can be corrected with surgery, or one that requires lifelong care — is a big decision for every family.

But in more than one way, Jaime and Shawn’s hearts were already prepared for this.

“We knew because of the need our daughter would have had,” Jaime says of the child they lost in infancy, “that adopting a child with special needs is something we were comfortable with.”

Jaime also works in the field of vocational rehabilitation. Every day, she helps people who have hearing impairments and developmental delays like Down syndrome. So when Jaime and Shawn began talking through the medical needs checklist, a step in the process in which adoptive parents note special needs they would feel comfortable with, Down syndrome immediately stood out to both of them.

And when Amy — back in the Holt office — learned about the Butcher family, she immediately thought of Jaxon.

“I got to call them with the news,” Amy says.  Both she and Jaime were in tears.

Fifteen months later, Jaime and Shawn traveled to China to bring home their son. When they met him, he was asleep on a couch in the lobby of their hotel.

“I rubbed his back until he woke up,” Jaime says. “He was a little groggy, but he smiled. It was such a heartwarming moment.”

The moment adoptive parents first meet their child rarely goes this smoothly. But as they soon learned, this was just Jaxon’s personality.

“He’s very happy, very compassionate,” Jaime says. “He feels what other people are feeling.” He loves giving kisses and hugs, snuggling and telling his family that he loves them.

It’s common for children with Down syndrome, especially those who have spent time in an orphanage, to have developmental delays. And at 4 years old, Jaxon only knew two words. But as Holt recommends for any adoptive parent — no matter their child’s special need — the Butchers focused on parenting to Jaxon’s “stage rather than his age.”

“A lot of what my work has taught me is to focus on abilities, rather than limitations,” Jaime says. And in just eight months home, Jaxon has amazed them with his abilities.

“He’s grown by leaps and bounds,” Jaime says. “It’s almost as if we don’t recognize the same little boy.”

Language was one of the first skills they focused on. Jaime is fluent in American Sign Language, and knew that for people with Down syndrome — who often experience language delays, and learn best visually — this would be a great tool for Jaxon. Sure enough, Jaxon’s language has blossomed. Today, Jaxon has a vocabulary of 250 signs, and 30 spoken words, which he can put  together into three-to-four-word phrases. And he’s learning more every day!

“I think it’s a matter of patience and understanding that [children with Down syndrome are] just as capable as a typically developing child,” Jaime says. “It’s just going to take longer to learn new skills before they commit them to memory.”

When Jaxon came home, his motor development was jerky and uneven. But today, he runs and bolts in every direction. He loves to dance and read books. Last May, he started going to preschool. And just like when he was in China, he loves to play with balls — throwing them across the yard, then chasing after them.

Because the Butchers also live in Oregon, Amy not only got to help welcome Jaxon at the airport, but she got to conduct their adoption post-placement visits — visiting Jaxon, Jaime and Shawn at their home in their first months together.

“It’s so cool to have memories of when he was little in the orphanage,” Amy says, amazed to now see him fully express himself within the love and attention of his family. “His family loves him so much.” This type of love and care is what she hopes every waiting child will have one day — including every one of the hundreds of children with Down syndrome still waiting in China, and around the world.

“These kids are just the sweetest kids,” Amy says.

Since Jaime is a professional who works with people with developmental delays, it may appear that the Butchers are the only type of family that is a good fit for a child with Down syndrome. But that isn’t the case.

“Most families don’t have any direct experience with Down syndrome,” Amy says. “The Butchers are literally the only family I can think of who has [adopted a child with Down syndrome and] already worked with people who have developmental delays or Down syndrome.” Just as some people feel comfortable parenting a child with a heart condition or a missing limb, or any other special need — it’s the same with Down syndrome. Most families who adopt children with Down syndrome aren’t experts. They’re just normal families who opened their hearts and minds to a child with Down syndrome, and who have equipped themselves the best they could.

And according to the Butchers, it’s this perspective that has led to their success.

“Keeping an open mind and open heart has been the key to our family,” Jaime says. “He’s fit so well in our family and made everyone’s life better.”

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