In the following Q&A, Paul Kim, Holt’s director of Korea and Mongolia programs, reflects on the history and continued importance of this unique post-adoption service — and shares some of his favorite memories from the past 25 years of leading Holt’s annual heritage tour of Korea.

Q: How did the concept for adoptee heritage tours originate?

A: The idea emerged in the late 1960s and early 1970s when the first generation of Korean adoptees began reaching adolescence. At that time, adoptees were grappling with identity questions — who they were, where they came from, and what their heritage meant. Social work practices then focused on assimilation, encouraging adoptees to forget their birth culture and integrate quickly into American society. But as understanding of adoption evolved, it became clear that this approach was deeply flawed.

Q: It was in fact your father, Dr. David H. Kim, who pioneered the first heritage tour. Can you share more about what inspired him to create this unique service for adoptees? [Note: David Kim was the first employee Harry Holt hired in post-war Korea, and together they created the Holt Adoption Program. David also went on to become executive director of Holt International from 1980 to 1990.]

A: My father began receiving letters from adoptees asking about their origins and Korean history. Most people at that time, even after the Korean War, didn’t know much about Korea. He realized the best way of reintroducing them to their birth heritage is to organize travel back to Korea — to show their roots and give them an idea and an understanding of Korean life. In 1975, he organized the first “Motherland Tour” to Korea for a group of 18 adoptees, most of whom were biracial and part of the post-Korean War adoption wave.

Q: What was the impact of that first tour?

A: It was transformative. The adoptees really learned much more about Korea than anyone could ever provide them just by showing them pictures or reading out of books. … Back then, if you wanted to look something up about a country, you went and read an encyclopedia. There was no Internet, there was no Wikipedia. Even television was limited.

A lot of them also really had questions about identity. How do I fit in? And so the trip was a journey of exploration and discovery, but also one of self-understanding and growth and acceptance.

Q: How did the program evolve over time?

A: After the success of the first tour, Holt continued organizing annual heritage tours of Korea. In the 1980s, we began a second tour — the “family tour” — in addition to a tour for individual adoptees traveling by themselves. This was a tour that was designed to accommodate adoptive families whose children were not old enough to come on their own, but also for families that wanted to take this journey of exploration and discovery together.

Q: Did you ever join one of the heritage tours your father led?

A: Yes, I was part of the very first tour in 1975. I also joined subsequent tours during my teens and twenties.

Q: What are some of your memories from those early experiences?

A: Korea was vastly different back then. Today, it’s modern and technologically advanced, but in 1975, it was still deeply affected by poverty. I had an experience where we were out doing some shopping and a little boy, probably about 10-11 years old — about my same age — just appeared in front of me. His clothes were in tatters. He had no shoes. His face was all smudged with dirt. He just stood there standing in front of me with his hand out with palm up, asking for money, but he never said anything, just looked at me. … I think back on that and his face is still just burned into my memory. What I feel now is a deep sense of shame for not having done anything to help him.

The reason I I talk about this is that people need to understand Korea in 1975. This is a generation where a lot of adoptees were placed in the United States. Korea was so different then. There was so much poverty.

Q: You’ve made it your life’s mission to help orphaned and vulnerable children as Holt’s director of Korea and Mongolia programs. Did early experiences like that influence your decision to go into child welfare work?

A: It certainly is something that deeply affected me. However, growing up I never envisioned working for Holt or in child welfare. But it is funny how sometimes the universe has other plans for you.

Q: After your father retired from leading heritage tours, you took up the mantle. How many heritage tours of Korea have you led?

A: I’ve led every tour since 2000. That adds up to over 30 tours so far.

Q: How has the tour changed over the years — either intentionally or organically?

A: One of the biggest changes is the kind of information adoptees have access to. As Korean laws and recordkeeping have improved, more detailed histories have become available. Today, adoptees often have access to birth family information, hospital records and even the opportunity to meet birth relatives. This summer alone, several adoptees on the tour were able to connect with their birth families. And so the tour has really evolved from one of a tourist experience; it has moved away from being so focused on just learning about Korea to where it’s now more about learning about yourself.

Q: Has the structure of the tour changed as well?

A: Yes, we eventually decided to discontinue the “motherland tour,” and our tour is now more of a unified experience. It’s not just an adoptee-only tour and it’s not just a family-only tour. We have found that this mix of life stories, of ages, of experiences really enriches that journey for everyone.

Q: After 25 years of leading Korea Heritage Tours, what are some of your favorite memories?

A: One that I’ll never forget involved a young adoptee celebrating her 16th birthday during the tour. She had enough background information to visit her birth hospital. When she arrived, the staff asked if she’d like to meet the doctor who delivered her — and he was still working there, along with the two nurses who assisted.

They even took her to the delivery room, and she sat on the very bed where her mother had given birth to her. What made it even more incredible was that it happened on her actual birthday — 16 years to the day — and within an hour of her birth time. it was just amazing. It was the most serendipitous experience.

Q: Was she able to meet her birth mother?

A: No, she wasn’t. But even without that, the experience was transformative for her. It gave her a powerful connection to her beginnings.

Q: Are you present for birth family or foster family meetings during the tours?

A: Yes, I’ve actually translated and facilitated quite a number of meetings. It’s incredibly powerful. One of the things that I’m tasked to do during that process is to act as a bridge. I grew up in the U.S. but in a Korean-American family and I was born in Korea, so I have insights into both cultural perspectives. I help navigate the differences in expectations, emotions and communication between adoptees, birth families and adoptive families.

Q: What do adoptees gain by traveling on Holt’s Korea Heritage Tour instead of going on their own?

A: That’s a question we get a lot — and it’s one that’s been answered best by the adoptees who’ve taken our tour. Traveling overseas, especially to a country where you don’t speak the language and may be visiting for the first time, can be exhausting. You’re constantly navigating logistics: where to eat, how to get around, what to do if something goes wrong. On Holt’s tour, all of that is taken care of so adoptees can focus entirely on the experience.

On Holt’s heritage tour, you’re also traveling with people who understand the adoption story. Adoptees often face questions in daily life — about their families, their identity, their background. On this tour, there’s no need to explain yourself. It’s a safe space. And that is something that I cannot overstate. You’re surrounded by people who get it. That sense of belonging is incredibly powerful, especially during such a vulnerable and transformative journey.

Q: What kind of support does Holt provide during the tour?

A: Our staff and guides are with you every step of the way. If something comes up —whether it’s a logistical issue, a health concern, or an emotional moment — you have people you can count on. We’ve been doing this for a long time, and we know how to help adoptees get the most out of their time in Korea.

Q: Can’t adoptees just do a file review on their own?

A: They can, but the difference is in the ongoing support. If questions come up days later —about something in the file, or about processing the experience — who will be there to help? With Holt, our post-adoption services team is available before, during and after the tour. Whether it’s help packing, navigating medical needs or emotional support, we’re here for the entire journey.

Q: What’s the best age for an adoptee to join a heritage tour?

A: That’s one of the most frequently asked questions from adoptive families — and our answer is always: your child will tell you. We’ve had adoptees join the tour as young as 8 and as old as 70. Some are ready early, others much later. Even siblings adopted into the same family can feel differently — one may be eager to go, while the other has no interest.

Q: Should parents encourage their child to go, even if they’re unsure?

A: We always advise parents not to force it. Listen to your child. They’ll give you clues about whether it’s the right time. And it’s not uncommon for adoptees to return to Korea multiple times — once with their parents, and later with a partner or their own children.

Q: What else would you like to share about Holt’s heritage tours?

A: It is founded on the idea that when you place a child from a country overseas, you don’t erase that child’s background. It really is a disservice to the adoptees and their understanding of who they are. Since that time, many other organizations have begun their own tour opportunities, but it all sprang from that very first tour that Holt began in 1975, born out of the idea that we do have a commitment to the children we’ve placed through adoption. This is a lifelong relationship that we have with adoptees and adoptive families.

Travel with Holt on a Heritage Tour!

For adoptees ages 9 and older, Holt offers guided tours of China, Korea, Mongolia and Vietnam. Experience the culture and customs of your birth country and visit sites significant to your adoption story.

Learn About heritage Tours

The post Fifty Years of Holt’s Korea Heritage Tour appeared first on Holt International.

On the way home from Korea, I watched a movie called August Rush. It is one I had seen many years ago but had always loved the themes. (Spoiler alert if you haven’t seen it.) A child of musicians ends up in a boys’ home. He is always waiting for his parents to come for him and believes he hears them in the sound of the music he hears everywhere. He is made fun of for this. At some point he runs away and becomes a street musician, earning money for a bad person. He somehow finds himself at Juilliard as a child prodigy but is brought back to the street life by the bad person. But at the end he follows the music he keeps hearing and is eventually reunited with his parents at a concert in the park.

I never really understood why this movie spoke to me so much. And then I went to Korea on the Holt Heritage Tour. As a Korean adoptee I had always grown up with something that felt like a hole in my heart. It was not something I could explain. But I just knew that I was always looking and chasing after something. And when I made it to Korea, I felt this hole start to close.

It was not because I found my birth parents. That did not happen. I’m not sure it ever will. Even though I registered my DNA at the police station in Seoul (arranged by Holt). What I did find was a community. Others who were searching and trying to fill a hole just like me.

As I wrote in my blog, I had a popcorn moment. The Chinese and Korean way of making popcorn involves heating up kernels in a small metal popcorn container until it’s hot enough. Then releasing the steam and allowing the corn to pop all at once into a bag. I felt like my questions and pent-up emotions exploded and popped while on this trip to Korea.

All of the fellow adoptees on the trip had searched for these answers. Some starting the search early in their lives, others like myself beginning this journey of discovery much later. However, even though I was not actively looking as a young person, I always wondered about my birth family and my country of birth. My adoptive parents were not bad people, but they were different from my birth parents, not educated in Korean culture or the challenges of adoption. And they definitely did not understand the difficulty of being a Korean child in America. I knew this. I was reminded constantly because I did not look like any of my family members. I did not have the same color hair or skin. Other children were cruel at times and made fun of me. And although I know now that much of that was a learned racial ignorance that came from their parents, it still hurt.

I knew I did not feel like I belonged where I was. Thus, this journey. I tried to fill my heart hole with friends, family members, marriage, work, my own children, books, hobbies, etc. And although all these things provided something temporary, there was always something missing.

After I had my girls, I realized I had something all “my own.” Children who looked a bit like me. Had features like mine. Skin like mine. Hair like mine. As I fell in love with these girls, I started wondering how my birth mother could have made the decision to abandon me. But I was busy and my children needed me, so I just paused these questions.

However, as the feelings of abandonment and loneliness kept coming up for me, I went through intensive therapy. I started reading books about Korean adoptees such as “The Seed From The East,” an autobiography of Bertha Holt who — together with her husband, Harry Holt — started the Holt adoption agency which I was adopted through, and “I Wish For You a Beautiful Life,” which was a compilation of letters from birth mothers to the children they had given up for adoption. And articles such as “The Surprising Facts Behind Korean Child Abandonment,” which was published in the Huffington Post in 2017, “The Value and Meaning of the Korean Family,” published by the Asia Society, and “Group Resists Korean Stigma for Unwed Mothers,” in the New York Times.

It was through some of this research I started hearing about how difficult it was for young unwed mothers in Korea. And even if they were married, if they were poor, if they had a girl, they might give her up in hopes of having a boy. Even to the point that the baby could be thrown away. I was told by my adoptive parents that if I had been in an orphanage at five, I could possibly have ended up on the streets, so I needed to be grateful that I was adopted.

I did find out on this trip that the “aging out at five” was not true. However, Korea was not ready to handle all the babies and young children that were abandoned since the Korean War. Thus began international adoptions. If Korea wouldn’t accept these children domestically, there were families in other countries wanting a child and willing to accept a foreign child.

Post adoption services are critical, but when an adoptive family does not understand or is not willing to recognize the need for this support system, it creates an angst that the child must live with. This angst caused the hole in my heart to continue to grow. In the book “The Body Keeps the Score,” Bessel van der Kolk talks about how post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) impacts the body both physically and emotionally. Abandonment, moving multiple times in my formative years, and learning different languages and cultures were all things that caused trauma for me. I know I have experienced what trauma does to the body firsthand. Including unhealthy attachments because I was always chasing after love.

So, at the recommendation of my counselor, I wrote my own origin story. One based on my research. I also got a tattoo that said beloved daughter. I got this as a reminder that I know in my heart my birth mother loved me. And there was also never a time when God had not loved me, even when I ignored Him and walked away. I was always loved.

With this, I realized that the next step of the journey was to go back to Korea. To see if there was anything that I would connect to. That opportunity came when I saw an email from Holt International in September of 2024 announcing their Holt Heritage Tour in 2025. With the sale of our home in Oregon and move to Texas, there was a lot going on, but my husband and I also realized that I wasn’t getting any younger and this might be the best opportunity for me to go. I put my deposit down and started blogging about my feelings leading up to this next step in my journey.

I did not immediately remember things when I got off the plane in Korea. I did not recognize certain sites. Nothing looked or smelled familiar or like home.

What I did find was a sense of belonging. I found some answers to questions that I didn’t even know I had. Answers that started to fill that hole in my heart. I found a connection with other adoptees who had similar experiences to mine. And as I talked with the other Korean adoptees on the trip, I found that hole getting smaller and smaller. These fellow adoptees who may have had different journeys, but all found ourselves in Korea at this exact moment.

The emotions I felt just walking up to the Holt Korean Agency in Seoul. Those emotions were leaking out everywhere and I didn’t even know why. But having the hands and arms of other adoptees come around me to hold me, letting me know they understood, and it was ok was like having a family. It was the heaviest of days.

Even though there was precious little in my file, just hearing a post-adoption social worker provide some explanations filled the hole up further. Learning the name Park Soo Yung (박수영) was very likely given to me by my birth mother. Realizing that the birth story I had written, was possibly very close to the truth and that my birth mother loved me so much that she made a sacrificial decision. A decision filled with hope and trust that I would have a much better life than she could provide all just continued to fill that hole in my heart.

The tour included visiting different temples and learning about the history and culture of Korea. This included lesson about the different dynasties as well as the Korean War from our awesome tour guide.

I went to the top of Seoul Tower with a group of 10 others. Most people that know me will not be surprised that I got us a little lost on the way back. Or like my dad used to say, we took the scenic detour. We even saw the love bugs that were in the news and NO, we did not love them. But we did see the love locks as well. There was even a couple in our party that put a lock on.

Going to the Holt Ilsan Center was also full of emotion. This was where I stayed from September of 1969 to April of 1970 when I came to the US. On the wall was a picture of Harry Holt, made up of hundreds or thousands of pictures of adoptees. I also got to see a picture of what the building I likely stayed in looked like at that time.

Jeju Island, which is like the Hawaii of Korea, is beautiful and very tropically hot. Not only was there a beach, but there was a climb to the top of Sunrise Peak as well as exploring a lava tube. The lava tube was 20-30 degrees cooler. But the hike made up for it. I was soaked by the time I got to the top. We were blessed to have sun the entire time we were on Jeju Island. Something that isn’t a guarantee this time of year.

Seeing the site of the orphanage in Busan where I spent the first 3 1/2 years of my life made me feel like I was back in Oregon. I blogged about seeing the reindeer outside of this orphanage. Putting my feet in the water in Busan and seeing the Jalgachi Market (lots of live fish) were all experiences I appreciated. Many did try the live squid. I may or may not have tried it. Busan is definitely a place I will come back to.

We got to visit another temple in Gyeongju and learn more about the history and culture of Korea as well as see some ancient tombs and artifacts.

Probably one of the most meaningful experiences happened at the Holt Morning Garden women’s shelter in Daejeon. We got to hear the amazing story of the work done at this facility as well as celebrate their 20th anniversary. This was also where I got to visually see my name painted in calligraphic Hangul on a fan. And because I had previously received the blessing of owning my name and then learning the meaning of my name, another part of the hole in my heart was filled.

It was a very sobering moment to visit the DMZ. To see what humans are capable of doing to each other.

Attending a baseball game was a very unique experience. They have cheerleaders and cheers and the fans know them all. It was like being at a concert for hours. Apparently they like their fried squid about as much as Americans like their hot dogs.

I also loved wandering around and seeing the sights and sounds of Seoul and taking it all in. Oddly enough, on the last day, I actually had another foreigner ask me for directions and I was able to help her. So it’s like I’m almost a native Korean.

And the food. If I ever had any doubt I would not like the food or might not have enough, it was clear on day one that would not be an issue. So much Korean BBQ, rice, kimchee and all the other banchan (side dishes) including a favorite Japchae. And it was all family style, just like I wondered about before coming on the trip.

However, the piece that is making me feel like I am returning home as a whole person are the precious friends I have made. Lifetime friends who have the common bond of being adoptees from Korea. Some have found their birth families, many have not. But we found each other. And even though they don’t replace my adoptive family or my birth family, they add to that family. And for that I am so grateful. Seeing all these lovely people in their hanboks at the final dinner was amazing.

So, I go back to August Rush. The sound of the New York Philharmonic orchestra. Where all the musical instruments and sections have a part and without each one, the music is missing something. This boy found his family. My life has been a symphony. One that God has orchestrated and one where every single part of the journey has brought me here and let me know that The Detour really was the road to this place where I have started to feel whole and healed.

Susie Bechtle-Mason | Lago Vista, Texas

Read Susie’s further reflections on her trip to Korea in her blog “One Korean Adoptee’s Heritage Journey“

Did you know our team provides support to all Holt adoptees?

Every adoptee has a unique and complex life experience. Our team strives to support all Holt adoptees, by providing help with birth search, citizenship and more.

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The post Coming Home: One Adoptee’s Journey to Korea appeared first on Holt International.

China

After a 12-day journey that wound through China’s cities and countryside, the 24 participants of Holt’s 2024 China Heritage Tour — all Chinese adoptees and their families — concluded their trip in late June. This year’s tour was led by Jian Chen, Holt’s vice president of China regional programs, and tour organizer Lotus Travel. It was our first heritage tour to the region since 2018.

Participants on this year’s trip had the opportunity to visit some of China’s most famous sites, including the Great Wall and Summer Palace in Beijing, and travel to the ancient Chinese capital of Xian and the southern city of Guilin, known for its dramatic landscapes. They also spent the night in a farming village with local hosts, where they learned to make traditional Chinese dumplings. In addition, each family traveled for two nights to their child’s birth city, and one adoptee was able to meet her birth parents, which was quite an emotional experience!

Holt’s China Heritage Tour is open to families of children adopted from any province and through any agency. This year’s tour offered adoptees and their families a time to bond and support one another — and at the end of the trip, Holt presented each adoptee with a traditional Chinese outfit, called a qipao.

Since 1992, Holt has united more than 7,000 children from China with adoptive families in the U.S. While Holt’s China adoption program is currently closed, we encourage families to explore our two other adoption programs in the region — in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

India

Bangalore is a bustling city in southern India, with a population of more than 14 million people, many of them migrants in search of work. Holt’s partner organization, Vathsalya Charitable Trust (VCT), works with such families, operating a daycare center for children of migrant workers. VCT provides much-needed resources and respite for parents who often live in harsh conditions and work long hours for little pay.

This past June, VCT held a Father’s Day celebration to honor the fathers of children enrolled in their daycare programs. Fathers had the chance to relax with their children and share their fatherhood experiences with one another.

Thailand

According to recent estimates, some 120,000 children in Thailand are living in institutions, in places ranging from orphanages to government-run boarding schools. “The number of children living in institutional care in Thailand is truly disturbing,” says Kyungsun Kim, the UNICEF representative for Thailand. “Living in residential or institutional care, separated from family, can leave a lasting negative impact on children’s physical, cognitive and emotional development. That’s because in these institutions, particularly crowded ones, children often aren’t able to form stable attachments, develop social skills, or get the physical and emotional support they would in a family environment.”

Concerned with the number of children abandoned to institutions, the Thailand Department of Children and Youth (DCY) created a child abandonment prevention program and recently met with five child welfare organizations, including our local partner, Holt Sahathai Foundation (HSF), to discuss solutions. The DCY revealed that if vulnerable families were to receive an average stipend of 13,000 Thai baht per person per year, or the equivalent of $357, children would be able to remain at home and out of institutional care. (This amount is lower than the cost of care per child in an institution.) The data will be presented to policymakers in Thailand for further consideration.

Holt helped to establish our local partner HSF more than 40 years ago when we began serving vulnerable children and families in Thailand. Today, with the support of Holt sponsors and donors, HSF provides a broad range of services to help struggling families remain together and has provided a model of foster care that has remained the standard throughout Thailand.

Uganda

Bussi Island is located only 25 miles southwest of the capital city of Kampala, on the northwestern edge of Lake Victoria. But partly due to its geographic isolation, this once vibrant fishing community has experienced severe challenges. The island’s 30,000 inhabitants lack proper sanitation and clean water, have no electricity and suffer from overcrowded schools. (The government schools have a 100:1 student-to-teacher ratio.)   

Residents of Bussi Island also lack access to good medical care, as there are no government hospitals on the island and only three clinics with limited medical resources. In addition, health care is too expensive for most people to afford.

Recently, Holt Uganda worked with community health workers and government health officers on Bussi Island to provide more than 8,500 children with nutritional assessments, vitamin A supplements and deworming medication. Other local organizations supplied residents with food and clothing, HIV testing, dental and optical checkups, psychosocial support and career guidance for students.

Cambodia, China, Colombia, Ethiopia, India, the Philippines, Uganda, Vietnam & Thailand

More than 3,000 children and families in nine countries around the world participated in International Children’s Day celebrations on June 1 with support from Holt sponsors and donors, country offices and local partners. International Children’s Day is celebrated in more than 145 countries each year as a time to advocate for and champion the rights of children.

During this year’s celebrations, children at Holt-supported events played games, sang songs and took photos. With support from their sponsors, the children received gifts and enjoyed traditional foods like Khmer noodles in Cambodia and spicy snacks in India. The occasion provided a good opportunity for children to learn about their fundamental rights to protection and care — and for their caregivers to advocate for the rights and wellness of all children.

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The post Notes from the Field: August 2024 appeared first on Holt International.

China

On June 16, a group of 24 travelers — all Chinese adoptees and their families — embarked on Holt’s 12-day China Heritage Tour, our first heritage tour to the region since 2018! The trip is being led by Jian Chen, Holt’s vice president of China regional programs, and tour organizer Lotus Travel.

During their stay, adoptees and their families have the opportunity to experience China’s culture, customs and history as they travel from big cities to rural villages. Participants are able to visit some of the country’s most notable sites, such as the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, the Terracotta Warriors museum and the mountains of Guilin. They are also offered a comprehensive historical and cross-cultural perspective of China’s adoption program.  

The China Heritage Tour is open to families of children adopted from any province and through any agency. Whenever possible, adoptees have the chance to visit their former orphanage, foster family and/or sites significant to their adoption story and meet the people who touched their early lives.

Since 1992, Holt has united more than 7,000 children from China with adoptive families in the U.S. While Holt’s China adoption program is currently closed, we encourage families to explore our two other adoption programs in the region — in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Colombia

Since 2018, Holt has worked with partnering care centers and the government of Colombia to help children join loving families through international adoption. Many of the children waiting for families are older, part of a sibling group or have special medical or developmental needs.

To help these waiting children find permanent, loving homes, Holt offers U.S. families a unique opportunity to host an older child in their home for five weeks in the summer or three weeks in the winter through our Colombia hosting program. The program is designed for families who are considering older child adoption or who are interested in advocating for older children who need families. It also gives children a chance to experience family life in the U.S.

On June 29, 11 children from Colombia will travel to the U.S. to stay with nine host families. The children will have a wonderful summer of cultural exploration and family life and will remain in the U.S. until the first week of August.

Ethiopia

Food insecurity and malnutrition are a major concern in Ethiopia. The World Food Programme estimates that 20 million Ethiopians are currently experiencing food insecurity, meaning they are unable to access or afford the food they need to live a healthy life. About 7.4 million children and women are malnourished.

In line with Holt’s objectives to promote sustainable livelihoods and enhance food security, Holt Ethiopia and its local partners have distributed vegetable seeds to the families of 318 children enrolled in our Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) program. Additionally, routine health screenings were recently conducted for 400 children in our ECCD and primary school programs.

India

India is the world’s most populous nation with more than 1.4 billion residents. The Indian Association of Preventive & Social Medicine estimates that roughly 30 million Indian women are pregnant each year, but millions suffer from ill health during pregnancy and tens of thousands die due to complications.

In addition, India is home to 139 million internal migrants, including children. These include families who migrate to cities from rural areas to find work. Holt’s partner organization, Vathsalya Charitable Trust (VCT), works with such families in the city of Bangalore, operating a daycare center for children of migrant workers. On Mother’s Day this year, VCT held a celebration for parents. Children performed a song and dance to honor their mothers, while speakers encouraged the mothers to find some time for personal enjoyment. The event was a success, as the mothers expressed a sense of joy and relaxation and made a commitment to regular self-care.

Korea

The Holt National Wheelchair Basketball Competition is held annually to commemorate people in Korea with disabilities. This year’s tournament took place at the Holt Ilsan Center, with six Korean teams in competition.

The Ilsan Center was established in the 1960s by Holt’s founders, Harry and Bertha Holt, as a long-term care facility and home for children and adults with special needs. Today, the Ilsan Center is recognized around the world for its state-of-the-art therapy, independent living training, and special education and tutoring for children at a school adjacent to the property. For children in care, the services they receive at Ilsan help prepare them to join adoptive families in Korea or the U.S. For long-term residents, the services provide greater quality of life and help them live as independently as possible.

Vietnam

While Vietnam’s economy has grown stronger in recent decades, child poverty remains a concern in this Southeast Asian nation. Today, 37% of children are considered poor, with this number rising to 43% in rural areas. What’s more, about 12% of children — or more than 3 million children — in Vietnam are in need of mental health support services.

Recently, Holt Vietnam teamed up with a psychiatry expert to visit the Holt-supported Child Welfare Center (CWC) in Dong Nai province. As a result of a request from the CWC’s manager, Holt Vietnam set up a new counseling service room at the center. Support services in the counseling room will be aimed at improving the mental health of those living at the CWC, especially children.

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The post Notes From the Field: July 2024 appeared first on Holt International.

Over the summer, Holt led our first heritage tour of Korea since the pandemic! The tour included 37 participants, including 18 adoptees ranging in age from 9 to 70, along with their adoptive parents, siblings, spouses and/or friends.

“It was truly an amazing group to have for our first time back in four years,” says Paul Kim, Holt’s director of programs in Korea and Mongolia. Paul led the tour group on their journey across Korea, as he has many times before as the leader of Holt’s Korea program.

“Since 1975, when Holt listened to the needs expressed by adoptees and conducted the very first tour for international adoptees to the country of their birth, we have understood that this is a journey that encompasses much more than simply sightseeing. Reconnecting with their cultural heritage, and most importantly their birth history, is of critical importance to adoptees, and from the very beginning we have strived to provide answers and facilitate meetings whenever possible.”

Paul Kim, Korea and Mongolia Program Director

The participants traveled from Seoul to Jeju Island, Busan, Gyeongju, Daejeon, and then back to Seoul, visiting national and historic sites and learning about Korea’s rich cultural heritage. This tour included visits to the Korean Folk Village, the DMZ, lava caves and Sunrise Peak in Jeju, historic temples in Gyeongju, and large open-air markets. By traveling with Holt, the participants also had the unique opportunity to visit some of Holt’s longstanding programs for vulnerable children and families, including the Ilsan Center for children and adults with special needs, a children’s care center founded by Harry and Bertha Holt in the early 1960s. The participants also visited a Holt-supported shelter program that empowers single mothers to parent their children.

Adoptees were able to visit the Holt office in Seoul, where they had the opportunity to review their adoption files, and ask questions about their birth history.

“Since 1975, when Holt listened to the needs expressed by adoptees and conducted the very first tour for international adoptees to the country of their birth, we have understood that this is a journey that encompasses much more than simply sightseeing,” Paul explains. “Reconnecting with their cultural heritage, and most importantly their birth history, is of critical importance to adoptees, and from the very beginning we have strived to provide answers and facilitate meetings whenever possible.”

Over many years of Holt tours, adoptees have been able to visit their birth cities, former orphanages, birth hospitals, meet their foster families, and for some, meet members of their birth family.

“As one of the foremost international child welfare organizations,” Paul adds, “our dedicated post-adoption services team provides tour adoptees and their families with support and information — before, during and after the tour.”

Did you know our team provides support to all Holt adoptees?

Every adoptee has a unique and complex life experience. Our team strives to support all Holt adoptees, by providing help with birth search, citizenship and more.

adoptee support

On the summer 2023 tour, four adoptees reconnected with the foster mothers who cared for them while they were waiting to join adoptive families. Two adoptees were able to meet their birth families. And although unable to meet them while in Korea, two adoptees were also able to make connections with their birth mothers.

For some of the adoptees, the tour was their first time traveling back to their birth country since they joined their adoptive families in the U.S. — including two adoptee siblings who are now in their 70s.

Some adoptees choose to travel back to their birth country independently. When they do, Holt can also help facilitate birth searches and visits to people and places of significance from their past. But, as Paul explains, traveling with Holt’s heritage tour group offers certain benefits.

“Some adoptees and adoptive families debate whether to join a tour for their time in Korea,” Paul says. “Many are already experienced travelers, and may have visited Asia in the past. However, this journey can be one of great emotion, wonder and growth. Traveling together with fellow adoptees and adoptive families — individuals who all understand adoption and are supportive of one another — is an amazing experience. Also, not having to figure out each morning where to eat, how to get from place to place, and not feeling alone in a new country, can be quite liberating and allow our tour members to fully immerse themselves in the journey, without worry about the ‘how?’”

Holt’s heritage tour is open to all Korean adoptees and adoptive families, whether or not their placing agency was Holt. Learn more about the tour and join us in 2024!

Photos From the 2023 Holt Heritage Tour of Korea

Learn more about opportunities to travel!

Join us on a vision trip (open to anyone interested in Holt’s work) or a heritage tour (for adoptees and adoptive families)!

travel with holt

The post Korea Heritage Tour 2023: Photos & Highlights appeared first on Holt International.

I was considering adopting a child from South Korea therefore, I wanted to learn more about the culture. I was almost 40 years old. This was my first trip back to Korea after leaving there at age four. Holt Adoption Agency offered a “Motherland Tour” for any adoptees who were born in Korea and later adopted. Our trip started at the Seattle airport where there were around 40 of us. They took a group photo of us in our American dress. Later, they would take a photo of us in Korean dress. This was the beginning of learning more about myself and the cultural heritage which are my roots.

The jet we boarded was huge and had two stories. It was a long plane ride to Korea but comfortable. All of the airline stewardesses looked like clones of each other. Same height, body type and facial features. And of course, they all looked like models. Kind of weird but maybe that was how it was with Koreans. A standardized idea of beauty.

We traveled all over South Korea and saw old palaces, gardens and the country. We visited the regular tourist spots. Our first leg of the trip was staying at the older but clean orphanage in Seoul. When we arrived we could smell rice cooking and the distinct smell of Kim chi. During our stay at the orphanage we had 40 people sharing two showers. I was up by 4 am every morning so I could take a shower before the others woke up. We ate Korean food every day and had Kim Chi morning, noon and night. We started smelling like Kim chi. Good thing that I loved Kim chi. We slept on the floor on mats in true Korean culture. Some of the others complained but I didn’t care. Before the trip, I thought I would not enjoy staying at the orphanage but it was a blast. All of us girls slept together in one room and it was a week-long slumber party. We stayed up late and talked about life and dreams.

The highlight of that trip was going to the unwed mother’s home. This was heart rending knowing the moms would have to give up their babies. Visiting the home gave us insight into our own adoption. The mothers stayed here until their babies were born and then gave their baby up for adoption. Many of the mothers knew the sex of their baby without taking tests. A mom’s instinct is strong. A mother shared with us how happy she was to meet us and to see that we have good lives. Brought a lump to our throats and brought tears to my eyes. Even though they knew they would likely never see their child again they were appreciative to know the babies went to loving families.

Another special part of the trip was visiting the orphanages. Kids who have disabilities usually do not get adopted. While it was sad they would never have their own family the kids were lovingly treated at the orphanage. The kids were in classes for music, writing, math and art. Many of these kids were artistic. It made my heart feel good knowing they always had a place to live.

At one point, our tour guide, David Kim, said to me that during the time I was in the orphanage that many of the babies died. It stabbed my heart to think of the many fragile babies who never made it. Also, I felt very grateful that I survived. I have always been a survivor and a fighter. Realizing that God had a plan and a purpose for my life.

A gorgeous part of our trip was going to Cheju Island or the Hawaii of Korea. We flew there from the mainland and saw pristine, white sandy beaches. Modern, luxury hotels reached to the sky against a brilliant, blue sky. Such a relaxing and lovely place.

We visited the world’s largest Christian church which had one million members. This place was like a huge football field it was so big. The sermon was interpreted in several different languages. They even introduced our group over the loudspeaker which made us feel special.

A memorable part of our trip was the custom made Hanbok or Korean dress. We chose the colors and I chose pink and lavender. The tailor measured us so the Hanbok fit perfectly. There was a group photo taken and we looked so different from the first group photo when we were wearing our American clothing.

One night we stayed with a Host family. They fed us delicious, aromatic food until we could not squeeze in one more bite. The next morning as we were ready to leave the host mom had big tears streaming down her face. I was so touched.

This was the first time I had been around so many Korean adoptees at the same time. Many adoptees had loving families and a good life. Unfortunately, some were raised in abusive families or had very low self-esteem. I realized that I had been raised in a loving home.

LESSONS LEARNED: Learning about your cultural heritage gives you more insight into the culture you came from and what influences you as a person. Be proud of your heritage. Even though I was raised by German American parents, I gravitated towards all things Asian. I loved Asian food and design.

Ann Baron | Adoptee

The post Korean Adoptee Shares Her Holt Heritage Tour Experience appeared first on Holt International.

In July 2017, my son and I had the opportunity to join five other families from across the U.S. on Holt International’s inaugural Mongolia Heritage Tour. I adopted Zack in September 2003 when he was a year and a half, and this trip would be our first time back in Ulaanbaatar — UB. So many questions flooded my brain as I packed for the trip. How would my Mongolia-born, all-American-boy respond to the unanswerable and confusing questions that the trip would inevitably bring up? And most of all, would he want me to come with him?

Zack of course had no hesitation about this trip, or about me joining him. And thus began a two-week adventure that we will cherish for the rest of our lives.

This was Zack’s journey, and I was thrilled to be along for the ride. The first night in UB, I brought out the notebook that I’d bought for Zack to write down his impressions. He never opened it once. “I just want to experience being here,” he told me.

He had a point. Capturing something in writing requires distancing yourself from what you’re actually seeing or feeling. Zack wanted to immerse himself in the sights and sounds of his birth land, and in the profound and unique sense of kinship and belonging that surrounded him.

This trip provided Zack with a recognition of the complexity of identity, as well as a deep understanding of his early history in a way in which books and pictures alone could never equal. In a word, the trip was transformational. I saw my son, total teenager that he is, so totally at ease in a foreign environment — handling potentially challenging situations with composure and openness.

It might have started on the ride back from the UB airport, when Holt staff member Tsembel asked Zack if she could call him by his Mongolian name. Or during the visit to the National Children’s Sanatorium — the “Baby Home” — when Zack was suddenly hugged and kissed by a nanny who remembered him from more than a decade before. The Baby Home hadn’t forgotten them. The director and her staff prepared posters for each child, with pictures from their infancy and more recent ones from our annual progress reports. It must have been inspiring for the staff to see how our kids — who were once waiting for adoption like many little ones now being cared for — have grown into such beautiful, smart, self-assured individuals.

Yet another celebration was in store at the Mongolia Immigration Office. The kids were welcomed with the traditional aaruul (dried cheese curd) and morin khuur concert, and seated around a large table that was decked out in sweets and a special bread display in honor of the approaching Naadam holiday. Each child sat at a seat indicated by their Mongolian name, and while enjoying the treats, were presented by Minister Murun with a very special gift: a specially prepared binder with their adoption paperwork, along with a personalized book. Towards the end of the reception, we watched our teens transform into adoption ambassadors as they shared information about their life in the U.S. and their feelings about Mongolia on Mongolian TV. 

We rode camels in the “mini-Gobi” desert outside UB, where we were treated to a concert of traditional Mongolian music along with a performance by a 10-year-old contortionist. (How does she do that???) We slept in a ger and rode ponies at the Ger Camp at Orkhon River. We had the thrill of watching the opening ceremonies and other festivities for the three-day national holiday, Naadam. Zack developed a taste for khuushur and buuz. We learned about Mongolia’s early history at the Karakorum Museum, which marks the area where Chinghis Khan first established his headquarters. At the neighboring Erdene Zuu Monastery, the boys spun every single one of the prayer wheels for good fortune. They learned how to hold an eagle on their arm, while some of us scoured the shops for souvenirs. The U.S. Embassy also welcomed the kids with a special picnic and meeting with Ambassador Galt.

But amid all the fun and festivities on this trip, our most cherished memories are the times when we were able to “give back” to others in need. With generous support from the Clark Family, we helped a destitute family build their own ger. The kids also shared a soccer game and taught frisbee to kids at the Red Stone School, a Holt-funded school serving the poorest district in UB. A helping hand, sports and candy — truly international languages.

From start to finish, Holt International created an unforgettable and meaningful journey for each of us. In-country Holt hosts May, Tsembel, Gantuul and Tungalag answered our many questions and took care of our needs with a smile and understanding. And Holt tour leaders Paul and Beth Kim provided expert guidance, especially for those of us on our first trip back to our children’s birth land. We are grateful for the experience, and ready to go back.

Karen Myers (mother to Zachary Nathan Sukhbaatar Myers, age 15) | Acton, MA

The post July Under the Eternal Blue Sky appeared first on Holt International.

Stepping off the bus and into Seoul is surreal. “I’m home,” I think absently, even though it’s really just another big city, and I remember nothing of this place. The thought is more of a reflex than a fact, I believe, and that makes me vaguely sad, though I don’t really reflect on it until bedtime.

In 1999, I was born in Busan, South Korea. Fast forward, and I’ve finally returned after many setbacks. We reach the international port of Korea, bursting with interesting people and street vendors. Our tour group goes to the international fish market, and it’s huge — tank after tank stacked up and overflowing with more fish than I’ve ever seen in a single aquarium back in Iowa. Those with strong stomachs get fed live octopus. In the evening, we sing in a karaoke room until the late hours of the night. It’s nice. Beyond nice. Amazing. Incredible. Liberating.

I feel free here, beside the ocean and among the bright lights.

I come to realize that Seoul is the only city that feels right to me. I feel as if I can belong somewhere, finally, and I hear similar sentiments bounce back to me from the other adoptees.

Later, in my hotel room, I sit on my bed and think, for a long time, about what home means to me, what defines who I am. Is it the place I was born? Where I grew up? In psychology class we talked about nature versus nurture. Which one makes up a person? My mom teases me about my strong love for kimchi, and despite residing in small-town Iowa, I have always gravitated inexplicably toward big cities — Chicago, D.C., New York. Is it because I was born in a city, or is it just another facet of my personality, my likes and dislikes?

I come to realize that Seoul is the only city that feels right to me. I feel as if I can belong somewhere, finally, and I hear similar sentiments bounce back to me from the other adoptees.

As the days pass, my new friends and I acquaint ourselves with the streets surrounding our hotel until we can navigate through them almost seamlessly, laughing when we take a wrong turn or get lost. To me, the unfamiliar streets are just new areas to learn, to memorize until I know them almost as well as I know the ones in my neighborhood back in Iowa. Time passes by languidly, tricking me into thinking that I have all the time in the world in this country. It’s felt like one endless day, but eventually we arrive back from Jeju, and the knowledge that there’s only one more day left after this sits heavy in my heart.

Outside of an airport near Seoul, I turn to my friend and say, “We’re home,” without a second thought.

“I’m glad,” she says, and does a happy dance.

When did Korea become home?

True, Korea has always been home, in the sense that it is where I originated from. But initially, that is all it was. A starting point. But it seems bigger than that now, more significant. By the end of this trip, my feelings about returning to Seoul are so much different than how I felt that first night, when I cried and thought I would never have a place here. “What am I doing here?” I thought. “I don’t belong. I know nothing. I can’t call myself Korean.”

Except home and comfort come with familiarity, or at least they do to me. And I suppose — somewhere between the days — I’d been able to accept things, become comfortable with them.

My physical home might not be in Korea, but Korea is a home to me. Home-home. I am Korean-American.

And Korea is a part of who I am, that I can say with confidence and pride now. However, I still have questions, as not everything I had hoped to happen did on this trip. I wasn’t able to meet my foster mother or birth mother. But I received good advice, words that helped more than I think this person knows. They said, “Things will happen when your heart is ready. It might not be right this minute, but that doesn’t mean it will never happen. Everything in its own time.”

My physical home might not be in Korea, but Korea is a home to me. Home-home. I am Korean-American.

Everything in its own time.

It’s surreal, too, to think that I might have been familiar with these streets and way of life here had I lived in Busan for 18 years instead of in America. Thinking back, it’s funny. Going on this trip was in part due to the hope that some of my questions about my parents and my identity would be answered. But I ended up asking even more questions and wondering so many things to myself throughout the couple of weeks. It’s okay, though, because I want to come back. And I don’t think my journey will stop here. If anything, it’s prepared me for when I return. I believe that because of this trip, and through the help of Holt, I’ve allowed myself to become what our tour director calls the people of South Korea: strong-willed, perseverant, determined, proud.

Calli Tilson | Holt Adoptee

Normally at this time of year, families and adoptees would be traveling on Holt Adoptee and Family Tours. Because they were canceled due to COVID-related travel restrictions, we’re revisiting some of the blogs that adoptees have shared while traveling on these tours over the years.

Interested in traveling to your country of birth? We can help arrange visits to important adoption landmarks like orphanages or adoption offices. Email us at pas@holtinternational.org to learn more!

The post When Korea Became Home appeared first on Holt International.

In 1993, Holt began placing children from China in loving families in the U.S. Here, our staff reflects on 20 years of international adoption and child welfare work in China — including the many Chinese adoptees who are now coming of age, graduating high school and beginning the bright futures we always hoped for them.

Every year, Jian Chen leads a group of adoptees on Holt’s annual heritage tour of China. Most of them she hasn’t seen since the day their parents took them home from China to the U.S. — since they were just babies among thousands of other babies waiting for permanent, loving families. With few exceptions, all of them are girls from China’s first generation of adoptees, placed within the first ten years. Some came home as early as 1993, the year that Holt began placing children from China. The following year, Jian joined Holt’s staff as an assistant and interpreter. She now serves as Holt’s vice president of programs in China.

“I wanted the opportunity to bring them back,” Jian says of the children she helped find homes for in the 1990s. “To escort them back to China and see how healthy and delightful they are — how strong and positive about their life — that touches me.”

Three years ago, on the 2010 tour, Jian reunited with yet another group of girls adopted from China. As usual, Jian was struck by how radiant and full of joy they all were. But on this tour, one girl in particular stood out to Jian. Like the other girls, she was quite beautiful, with shiny black hair, high cheekbones and a lovely smile. But that’s not what struck Jian most. Although 15 years had passed since she last saw her, Jian vividly remembered this girl. She remembered that as she handed her to her mother for the first time in 1995, Jian was saddened to see several giant boils on the scalp and chin of this otherwise beautiful baby.

Like so many of the children Holt placed from China in the early 1990s, this girl suffered from the poor care she received in an orphanage. At the time, China was experiencing the highest rate of abandonment since the government first implemented its one-child-per-family policy in the late 1980s. Historically, families in China were very large — with a typical family having as many as ten children. “People are encouraged as a culture to have more children,” explains Jian, who grew up in the southern province of Guangxi. But as China’s population began to grow out of control, the government developed the one-child policy as a solution.

“One or two children were coming into the orphanage every day, sometimes four or five. Orphanages became overwhelmed with children, most of them infant girls laying two or three to a crib. Overcrowded and underfunded, the orphanages soon became breeding grounds for infection. Boils, skin rashes and scabies were common, and often exacerbated by malnutrition.”

Jian Chen, Holt’s vice president of programs, China

While reasonable in theory, the one-child policy had one very unfortunate and unintended consequence. Instead of having fewer children — and facing extreme consequences if they failed to comply with the policy — families abandoned children that would not in time support their family. As parents in the countryside traditionally rely on sons for retirement support, they preferred to keep children born male.

“One or two children were coming into the orphanage every day, sometimes four or five,” Jian says. Orphanages became overwhelmed with children, most of them infant girls laying two or three to a crib. Overcrowded and underfunded, the orphanages soon became breeding grounds for infection. Boils, skin rashes and scabies were common, and often exacerbated by malnutrition.

In January of 1995, when Jian first traveled with Holt, she saw for herself the child welfare crisis occurring in her native China.

At Holt, our nascent China team began feverishly recruiting families to adopt from China — often with little more information than a name and a picture of the child. “There was such a hurry to get them out,” says Jian. Many of the children were so sick and malnourished when their parents came to China to bring them home, Jian worried they might not survive. “Sometimes,” she says, “I would lay in bed at night and wonder…what if they don’t make it?”

Before Jian joined Holt’s staff in 1994, she knew very little about international adoption. After coming to the U.S. in 1986 on a college scholarship, she settled with her family in Eugene, Oregon — the small college town where, in 1956, Harry and Bertha Holt founded what has become the world’s largest international adoption and child welfare organization.

At the time that Holt began recruiting for a Chinese interpreter, Jian was busy raising her children and not interested in full-time work. But at the urging of a friend, she responded to the ad in the paper. When Holt called her to set up an interview, Jian was shocked to discover a link between this little town where she lived in the U.S. — and the small city where she grew up in China. “When I told the person on the line that I was from Nanning, he screamed!” she says. Holt’s first adoption program was in Jian’s hometown.

“I knew this city inside and out,” she says. “I knew the government officials, had all the info. I knew this was something meaningful for me.”

What Jian did not yet know, however, was how huge an impact Holt would have on the lives of thousands of children in China. To Jian, international adoption was still a foreign concept. “I didn’t know adoption. I hadn’t seen enough,” she says. Although Holt’s social workers had identified loving families who were all well equipped to parent, Jian felt exceedingly protective of the children. In the beginning, when Holt staff united children with their adoptive parents in China, she wondered if they were going to have a peaceful life in the U.S.

Despite misgivings about displacing children from their birth culture, Jian knew all too well what it feels like to be separated from your family. Jian was just 8 years old when the Cultural Revolution swept through China. To avoid the fighting in the city, her parents sent her to the countryside to stay with distant relatives. “It was painful,” she says. “That kind of feeling — of uncertainty and fear — it was carved in my bone and my heart. I don’t want any child to have that kind of feeling.”

In the decade that followed Holt’s first rush to find families for children from China, the process became much more smooth and systematic, and families throughout the world began opening their hearts — and homes — to “China’s lost girls.”  Because of Holt’s history and experience with international adoption, the Chinese government sought Holt’s assistance when refining their process. “Early on, China reorganized and became a pretty efficient process,” explains Susie, who from 1995 to 2005 worked as a member of Holt’s China team.  “China felt like a country really committed to finding families for kids.”

While many children found families through adoption, orphanages in China continued an ongoing struggle to care for the many more children who came into care every day. Food and other resources remained scarce, and caregivers few. But gradually, as Holt developed a stronger relationship with China’s government, our staff began allying with local officials to improve the quality of care for children living in institutions.

Early on, Holt recognized the importance of developing a solid in-country staff. “We realized it was more effective to have a local staff versus ex-pats working with the orphanages,” Susie says. “Not only did they speak the language, but it wasn’t an outsider coming in and telling them what to do.”

In 1996, Holt helped Guangzhou orphanage develop a special baby care unit where infants at risk of dying received urgent medical care. Two years later, Holt helped the orphanage in Nanchang establish their first foster care project — providing a family-like alternative for children in institutional care. In the ensuing years, Holt replicated this model for children throughout China — a model of affectionate, attentive care to nurture children’s growth and development while they wait to join permanent families. “Getting them out into the community and finding foster families to care for them was truly transformative for the children,” says Susie.

“They loved the children, and were so proud — every family,” says Holt’s director of adoption services for China, Beth Smith, of her first visit with foster families in 1999. “They provided total care for the children.”

Still, Jian worried. While the quality of care improved for children in China, Jian worried about the children who had joined families in the U.S. “Like parents worry,” she says, “I worry.” Through the years, Jian had seen and interacted with many young Chinese adoptees at Holt family picnics and other gatherings. Her worst fear never came to pass; not only did they survive, they were now thriving in their families. “I saw the children are happy — always running around,” she says. But what about when they are older, she wondered. How will they feel about abandonment? How will they feel about adoption?

Between 2002 and 2006, more than 30,000 children from China joined adoptive families overseas. By this late date, news of China’s abandoned girls had become widespread among hopeful adoptive families. But during the same time period, a dramatic shift began to occur.

Due to greater family planning and compliance with the one-child policy, families began to have fewer children — causing fewer overall cases of abandonment. Meanwhile, China’s growing economy (along with high rates of infertility) helped spur a rapid growth in domestic adoption — allowing children in care the opportunity to grow up in the country and culture of their birth.

At Holt, it might have seemed as though our work in China was done. As a result of these changes, many more children either remained in the loving care of their families or joined adoptive families in China. But it soon became clear that despite a rapid decline in abandonment and growth in domestic adoption, many children remained behind — growing up without a family in one of China’s social welfare institutes.

The children who now need international adoption to have a family are often older or have special medical needs, many of them minor conditions that can be managed or corrected with surgery. Ironically, many of the children now living in China’s social welfare institutes are also boys.

With increasing fervor over the past five years, families have come to embrace the changes in China adoption — welcoming children with special needs into their homes. As Beth recently wrote in an article on the changes in China adoption, “To see families shift their vision from a ‘little girl with pigtails’ to a 2-year-old boy with a cleft lip or an infant with a minor heart condition, and report back eight months later that they’re completely in love with their child, is truly amazing.”

In many ways, Holt’s China staff was uniquely equipped for the challenge of finding families for children with special needs. Since the early 1960s in Korea, Holt has made extra effort to find loving homes for children with mental, physical or developmental needs. When our programs expanded to other countries, including China, we did the same. “At Holt, we placed special needs kids from the very beginning — whenever there was an opportunity,” says Jian.

“Over 95 percent of the children were healthy girls,” Beth says, “but there were always a few with special needs.” Today, Holt places hundreds of children with special needs from China every year.

Looking back, Holt’s China team is proud of the work they have accomplished over the past 20 years. Many of the programs Holt staff developed have had a tremendous impact on homeless and vulnerable children, and today serve as models for other child welfare organizations working in China. But the focus will always be on the children who still need our help. “Group homes and foster care are working,” Jian says, “but China still has a long way to go in caring for children.”

As our adoption program has evolved to meet the needs of children with special needs, so has our child welfare work shifted to care for children now in greatest need of support — children living in poverty outside of China’s social welfare system. “That’s the group of children we are reaching out to now because there are fewer children in the orphanage, and government support for the orphanages is so much stronger,” Jian says. For these children, Holt provides educational support to help them reach their full potential — as well as resources needed to remain in the loving care of their birth families.

Jian may never stop worrying about children in need in China. But 20 years after she first tentatively placed a child in her adoptive mother’s arms, Jian no longer worries about whether that was the right decision. She feels absolutely confident that adoption was the best solution for that first generation of Chinese adoptees, as well as those placed in the years since. Every time she meets another vibrant group of adoptees on a heritage tour, or looks through the graduate issue of the Holt magazine, she grows more and more certain. “They may have issues down the road,” she says, “but now I know, their adoption was very positive.”

The post A Generation Lost and Found appeared first on Holt International.

The adoption agency suggested that I write you a letter. And while I know I’m supposed to keep this brief, I just can’t. I have so many things to share with you. Did you ever have a friend who you only saw every now and then but you loved each other so much that time and distance didn’t matter? And that when you finally did see that friend you had a laundry list of things to share with her? That’s exactly how I feel right now.

Mom, I’m really happy. I graduated from college. I have a pretty fun career. I lived in New York City for close to ten years. I have a sister who is my best friend. I have two psychotic dogs. Mom, I’m married. He makes me smile and laugh every day. When I annoy him he says my name three times in a row. And when he knows I’m thinking about you he just holds my hand and lets me get lost in thought.

Mom, if you ever think of me, you should know that I forgive you. Maybe you’re not looking for forgiveness, but still… I forgive you.

The adoption agency that suggested I write you a letter could only answer a few questions for me. For example, I know now that you and my father were 23 when I was born. I know now that you were students at the same university. I know now, after 28 years of wondering, that I was born in the morning. That I was born as K88-576, and that my social worker assigned me the name Kim Hee Yung, and that I liked to drink barley tea as a baby and I “smiled spontaneously” in my sleep.

Mom, if you ever think of me, you should know that I forgive you. Maybe you’re not looking for forgiveness, but still… I forgive you.

This is an excerpt of a longer post that appeared on Holt’s blog in June 2016, and originally appeared on  Krista’s blog, Adopted and Korean. 

The post Mom, I Forgive You appeared first on Holt International.