Tselmuun is a 4-year-old girl who lives in Mongolia with her family. She was born with cerebral palsy, a condition that impairs her body movement, muscle tone and coordination. Tselmuun is small for her age and has trouble feeding herself and eating certain foods. But thanks to your generosity, she is now getting all the help she needs to grow and thrive!

These days, Tselmuun attends a wonderful daycare center near her home, where the staff has received Holt’s Child Nutrition Program training. Because of your support, the teachers have learned how to properly feed and nourish children with disabilities, as well as help them eat and drink on their own. While Tselmuun is in their care each day, her teachers ensure she gets balanced and nutritious meals to support her optimal growth and development.

Tselmuun enjoys going to daycare and engaging with the other children. She plays with toys and listens to music, often trying to sing along and move rhythmically. Even though she has trouble speaking, Tselmuun smiles and uses short phrases to express her joy and happiness.

Tselmuun shares a strong emotional bond with her family members, who provide her with consistent love and care. Both she and her family are grateful for all the support Tselmuun receives from her sponsors, and to thank them, Tselmuun created a colorful finger painting!

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The post Tselmuun Is Growing Strong, Thanks to You! appeared first on Holt International.

India

Bharatiya Samaj Seva Kendra (BSSK), Holt’s long-time partner in Pune, recently organized a successful tree planting drive, which allowed children and staff to plant a variety of saplings in and around BSSK centers. The initiative emphasized the importance of environmental responsibility and encouraged hands-on learning and teamwork. From digging in the soil to watering the young plants to watching them grow, every step of the process was filled with enthusiasm, care and a shared sense of purpose!

China

Children living at a Holt sponsor- and donor-supported HIV group home in Nanning recently attended a five-day summer camp. The children spent half the day playing in the fields and getting exercise and half the day taking part in events that built their social skills and enhanced their mental health. Twelve children from the local community were also invited to join in the camp activities. In addition, a Chinese adoptee from the U.S. volunteered at the group home for two months this past summer, engaging with and encouraging the children.

In China, HIV is not well understood, and carriers of the disease — even children — face intense stigma and prejudice. But since 2013, Holt sponsors and donors have supported several group homes for children with HIV in China. With your support, children living in these homes receive everything they need — from food and medical care to school tuition. For children who have lost their parents to the disease, the group homes offer a loving family environment, where they are surrounded by caregivers and other children.

Korea

This past June, a group of 60 travelers embarked on Holt’s two-week Korea Heritage Tour. Of the group, 26 were Korean adoptees, ranging in age from 15 to 63, and 34 were adoptive parents, family members and friends. The 2025 tour marked the 50^th anniversary of the Korea Heritage Tour, which began in 1975 when Holt pioneered the concept of heritage tours for international adoptees.

This year’s tour participants had the opportunity to travel to national and historic sites to learn about Korea’s rich cultural heritage and to visit Holt sponsor- and donor-supported programs like the Ilsan Center, a long-term care facility for children and adults with disabilities or special needs. Some Korean adoptees had the chance to meet their birth families and foster families, as well as visit their birth cities and birth hospitals, thanks to the support of Holt’s post-adoption team. The Korea Heritage Tour is open to all Korean adoptees and adoptive families, whether or not their placing agency was Holt.

Mongolia

For more than 25 years, Holt sponsors and donors have transformed the lives of orphaned and vulnerable children in Mongolia. Each year, your life-changing support reaches over 7,250 children and families in need — providing vital services such as education for children living in and near Mongolia’s largest garbage dump, help for women and children escaping domestic violence, therapeutic care for children with special needs, emergency food programs, and more.

This fall, we invite you to extend your support by joining us on Holt’s Mongolia Vision Trip, which will take place from October 18 through October 25. Trip participants will travel to northern Mongolia, where they will help build traditional Mongolian homes (gers) for families in need and visit herding families who have received livestock through Holt’s Gifts of Hope. They will also meet other families in Holt-supported programs throughout Mongolia and enjoy the culture and natural beauty of the country.

Please reach out to Jordan Love at jordanl@holtinternational.org with questions or interest in this trip or future travel. 

Philippines

In July, the Philippines were lashed by a series of storms that brought heavy rains, high winds and widespread flooding to many parts of the island nation. The impact was especially felt in the impoverished communities where children and families in Holt-supported programs live. Many families were forced to leave their homes and seek shelter in evacuation centers, and many children lost personal belongings and school supplies due to the flooding.

But with the support of Holt donors and sponsors, our partner in the Philippines was able to mobilize emergency care packages, including school supplies, hygiene kits and other essentials. These efforts helped affected children recover from the devastation and resume their education as soon as possible.

Thailand

Deadly clashes along the Thai-Cambodian border last July resulted in the evacuation of more than 100,000 children and families in five nearby provinces. In response to the crisis, Holt’s local partner, Holt Sahathai Foundation (HSF), worked with the Department of Children and Youth to help address potential issues affecting young people. With your support, HSF also donated 1,200 cans of infant formula to evacuation centers in the affected areas.

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The post Notes from the Field: August 2025 appeared first on Holt International.

Six-year-old Esen couldn’t hold a crayon in his hand when he arrived at kindergarten in Mongolia. Esen has cerebral palsy and using fine motor skills was a big challenge, making eating, drawing and moving around independently difficult. He would often cry and get easily frustrated…

But because of sponsors and donors like you, Esen received the special education support he needed. And things changed drastically!

His teachers provided proper support for his disability, and Esen gained the confidence and encouragement he needed to thrive. Through school lunch and feeding support, he received the nutrients his body needed and — with hard work — he learned how to hold a spoon on his own! His appetite, immune system and overall development have improved dramatically!

Through your support for Holt’s educational programs, Esen received the guidance and care that made all the difference. His motor skills have improved so much that he has become quite the artist! He once struggled to hold a pencil — now he colors vivid shapes and drawings with crayons. He is such a creative, cheerful little boy! Thank you for helping Esen rise to his fullest potential.

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The post You Brightened His World appeared first on Holt International.

Chuluunchimeg is a 2-year-old boy who lives in Mongolia with his parents and older sister. Born with a serious medical condition, Chuka — as he is known to his family and caregivers — is small for his age, has developmental delays and requires constant care and attention. His mother stays at home to look after him, while his father takes on any work he can find.

Because Chuka’s family does not have a stable income, they rely on the generosity of Holt sponsors to provide for his needs. Through your support, Chuka receives speech therapy and other specialized treatments, medication and nutritious meals. He also travels to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia’s capital, for regular health checkups.

Chuka is close to his mother and likes to be hugged. She holds him close to her chest when she feeds him. Chuka grows happy when he is fed his favorite foods — bananas, creamy soups and rice with milk. Though Chuka is unable to speak, he communicates with his eyes to show affection toward his family.

To thank Chuka’s sponsors for their support, his older sister sent this photo and letter on her brother’s behalf:

Hello! Greetings of the day when this letter reaches you. Thank you very much for supporting my cute little brother. My little brother got milk, yogurt, clothes and many other necessary things. I am sincerely grateful for [you] supporting my little brother.

Become a Child Sponsor

Connect with a child. Provide for their needs. Share your heart for $43 per month.

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The post Thank You for Supporting My Little Brother! appeared first on Holt International.

Altan is a happy little boy who spends his days at school, playing with friends, learning new skills and thoroughly enjoying mealtimes. But just a few years ago, Altan’s life — and future — looked quite different.

When Altan was born to his family in Mongolia, he had a twin sibling. But shortly after birth, Altan’s twin passed away, and his father abandoned his mother — leaving her to care for her infant son alone. Enduring loss and abandonment, Altan’s mother faced yet another challenge: Altan was born at just 4.8 pounds and was diagnosed with cerebral palsy, a condition that has impaired his muscular growth and development. By the time he was 18 months old, Altan could not sit up on his own, roll over or crawl, and he needed support to eat. Ultimately, his delays affected his ability to receive the nutrition he needed to stay healthy and grow.

Altan’s mother tried everything she could to help her little boy, but he was constantly sick and severely malnourished. With little support, she began to feel physically and emotionally exhausted. The demands of being a single mother caring for a young child with a disability were adding up. Feeling ill-equipped to meet his needs, Altan’s mother considered placing her son in an orphanage. But with a final ounce of strength, she continued to search for help.

Finding Help — and Hope

One day, Altan’s mother discovered a daycare center in her community that cared for children with disabilities. Partnering with Holt Mongolia, the daycare staff had received Holt’s innovative Child Nutrition Program (CNP) training, through which they had learned how to properly feed and nourish children with disabilities. Because of this training, the daycare center was able to welcome Altan and recognize the window of opportunity and interventions he needed to grow and thrive.

Like Altan, many of the children who enter Holt’s CNP are malnourished, anemic or struggling with feeding difficulties. Many have disabilities or chronic conditions, putting their health and development in jeopardy. But since it began in 2014, Holt’s child nutrition program has reached thousands of children with holistic nutrition and feeding interventions uniquely designed to meet their needs.

“Our targeted approach focuses on reaching the most vulnerable children early in life,” says Emily DeLacey, PhD, RDN, LDN, Holt’s director of nutrition and health services. “About 25% of the children we serve have a disability, and more than 60% are under the age of 5 — a crucial developmental period for growth.” Unless they receive the essential nutrition they need during this critical period, children face irreversible consequences to their development and overall wellbeing.

The CNP embraces the philosophy that how children eat is just as important as what they eat. While eating may seem intuitive to many, it can be far more complex for infants and children with disabilities. Through CNP training, our feeding specialists empower caregivers with safe feeding techniques tailored to children of different ages and abilities. This approach encourages caregivers to consider key factors, such as positioning, sensory needs and the feeding environment. Additionally, caregivers learn to conduct nutrition and health assessments, enabling them to monitor each child’s unique nutritional needs, track growth and provide personalized support.

Caregivers at the Holt-supported daycare center in Mongolia used these skills to assess Altan. They realized that every time he ate, he was experiencing aspiration as bits of food and fluid entered his lungs. Unsafe feeding practices can have many severe consequences, from aspiration and poor nutrient absorption to pneumonia, choking, emotional trauma and other psychological and developmental ailments. That’s why improving feeding practices — or changing how children are fed — is critically important. Like many children with disabilities, Altan became chronically ill due to being fed in unsafe positions. But with hands-on training, ongoing expert support and resources like Holt’s Feeding and Positioning Manual, teachers and caregivers knew that they could help Altan — and empower his mom with training and support to help her son thrive.

Recognizing that Altan needed immediate care, the CNP team in Mongolia quickly took action. They helped him sit upright in supportive seating and introduced safe feeding techniques to prevent choking or aspiration. Ensuring he had access to nutritious foods, including plenty of fruits and vegetables, they provided the foundation for his growth. With the right support and therapy, Altan gradually developed essential skills like chewing, swallowing, crawling and walking. Over time, with the dedication of his care team, he grew stronger. Eventually, he could sit up on his own, stand independently and even communicate with his mother, caregivers and friends, marking incredible progress on his journey.

About 25% of the children we serve have a disability, and more than 60% are under the age of 5 — a crucial developmental period for growth.

Emily DeLacey, PhD, RDN, LDN, Holt’s director of nutrition and health services

Altan also was able to thrive thanks to the generous support that Holt donors have provided to the Molly Holt Fund. The Molly Holt Fund is named in honor of Molly Holt, daughter of Holt’s founders and a nurse who dedicated her life to caring and advocating for children and adults with disabilities and special needs around the world. Donations to the fund go toward everything from life-changing surgeries and medical care to rehabilitative therapies and special education to Holt’s innovative child nutrition program trainings for children in orphanages, foster families or living with their birth families in the countries and communities where Holt works. In short, your generosity has made a world of difference to children like Altan.

Full of Smiles and Laughter

Today, after two years in the child nutrition program, Altan is healthier and stronger than ever before. Not only is he getting the proper nutrition to stay healthy, but he is also enjoying mealtimes! Full of smiles and laughter, he eagerly exclaims, “Let’s eat!” before digging into his favorite dishes. Fueled with good nutrition and stronger than ever, Altan enjoys being an active 3-year-old, going to school and playing with his friends.

Thanks to Holt’s generous donors who support the CNP, Altan’s life has been forever changed, and he’s not alone. Each year, thousands of children benefit from this life-changing program. From simple, cost-effective changes to improve the position of children during mealtimes to caregivers using our growth and health monitoring system to accurately meet each child’s needs, these interventions dramatically impact the health and wellbeing of children across the globe. Over the past 10 years, Holt’s innovative child nutrition program has expanded its reach to more than 110 sites in eight countries.

For a child like Altan, the entire trajectory of his life has changed, allowing him to soar beyond his limited beginnings and experience all of the joys that life can bring. Not only that, but his improved health has contributed to a stronger, more stable family. His mother is no longer fearful and stressed about Altan’s health and her ability to care for him. Instead, she is proud of the progress her son has made —and confident in their future together!  

Give to the Molly Holt Fund

Your gift helps a child with special needs receive the surgery, medicines, and specialized care they need!

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The post Altan is Thriving, Thanks to You! appeared first on Holt International.

A single mother in Vietnam receives a food cart and starts her own business. Women in rural Uganda learn to break the cycle of generational poverty by joining community savings groups. A mother and her family in Mongolia are gifted a life-changing herd of livestock. Mothers and children in Ethiopia gain access to lifesaving healthcare, thanks to a mother and child hospital Holt donors helped build and continue to support in an impoverished rural region.

Around the world, Holt sponsors and donors empower mothers to provide for their children, keeping them together despite poverty, conflict, migration and the stigma of single motherhood. One of the ways your generosity supports these women is through our life-changing Gifts of Hope. Whether it’s through food carts, small business microgrants, livestock, new mother baskets, pregnancy healthcare and more, your gifts help women become stronger, healthier and more self-reliant, allowing them and their children to thrive.

As we approach Mother’s Day this year, we’d like to highlight the stories of women in four countries who have benefited from your generosity and Gifts of Hope. With your support and compassion, these mothers and their families now face a brighter future!

Healthcare for Mothers and Children in Ethiopia

In 2015, Holt donors joined local leaders and community members to build a full-service, maternal-child hospital in Shinshicho, an impoverished rural region in southern Ethiopia. At the time, only 3 percent of births among women living in rural Ethiopia were attended by a health professional, and 25,000 women in Ethiopia died annually from complications during pregnancy and childbirth. In many cases, these women could not get to a hospital in time. When Holt committed to funding most of the construction costs for the Shinshicho Mother and Child Hospital, the local community responded with an outpouring of donations — often a precious few dollars from individuals whose income was just one or two dollars a day. With backing from the government, and significant involvement from the community — both in funding and labor — the health center first opened its doors to patients in 2015.

Today, the hospital has grown both in size and in the level of services it provides. It is now known as the Shinshicho Primary Hospital, and it serves more than 250,000 patients each year with emergency, surgical and outpatient services for children and adults. Although the mother-child hospital is run by the local government, Holt continues to fund much of the staffing, equipment and materials needed to operate the maternal and child health departments, which provide labor and delivery, family planning, ob-gyn and neonatal intensive care services. Holt also supports a child stabilization center for severely malnourished children. 

When two children, Anika and Kia, were found to be acutely malnourished, they along with their mother were immediately taken to the child stabilization center at the Holt-supported mother and child hospital, where they received the critical help they needed.

“In the rehab unit, the babies received a specialized low-protein, milk-based formula diet to help them stabilize,” says Emily DeLacey, Holt’s director of nutrition and health services. “Their sick, malnourished mother was also able to receive support at the hospital and began to get healthier so that her supply of breastmilk replenished and she was able to continue feeding her girls to ensure they were getting the vital nutrition they needed.”

It wasn’t long before Anika and Kia became stable. And not long after that, they returned home. In just a few short months, their transformation was incredible. They went from being terribly sick, skinny, malnourished infants to plump and happy babies. And that’s just their physical appearance. Now that they’re getting all the nutrients they need, their brains and bodies are able to grow and catch up in development. For the mothers and children in rural Ethiopia, the gift of maternal health and childhood nutrition is a blessing on Mother’s Day — and on every day throughout the year.

Empower a mother with the gift of pregnancy health care this Mother’s Day!

A Herd of Livestock in Mongolia

Five-year-old Erdene and her family live in Mongolia’s northernmost province, where herding families continue a traditional way of life — seasonally migrating with their cattle, sheep and goats across the vast plains. Life is hard on the land, not far from Siberia, and winters are especially harsh with temperatures that can dip to -60 degrees. Although the nomadic people of this region have existed here for generations and know how to survive the extreme climate, many live in poverty and struggle to provide enough food, warm clothing and other necessities for their children.

In 2019, Holt’s team in Mongolia began working in this remote province to help care for the region’s most vulnerable children, including children with disabilities, children growing up in orphanages and children living in poverty with their families, including the children of assistant herdsmen. Erdene and her siblings were among the over 80 children who Holt donors began to support through Holt’s family strengthening program. Holt provided emergency food for Erdene and her siblings. Erdene was also enrolled in Holt’s child sponsorship program, which provided ongoing support for her and her family.

Erdene’s family felt deep gratitude for the support of Holt sponsors and donors. But as traditional nomadic people who have chosen to stay and work the land like their families have for generations, Erdene’s parents are hard-working and skilled in raising livestock. Like many assistant herdsmen, they dreamt of owning their own herd, nourishing their children from what they produced and living by their own means.

“If they could own some livestock, they would be able to get wool and cashmere during springtime,” explains our team in Mongolia. “And in summer, they would be able to get dairy products — and the children would benefit from the milk.”

In March 2021, their dreams were realized when Holt presented Erdene’s family with an incredible, donor-funded Gift of Hope — a gift that would empower Erdene’s parents to work toward stability and self-reliance, and ultimately meet all of their children’s needs. They gave the family a herd of 20 goats and 28 sheep.

Over the past four years, Erdene’s parents have nearly doubled the size of their herd and added cattle as well — bringing in considerable profits for their family. In that time, Erdene and her siblings have also grown healthier and stronger because of the nourishing milk and cheese they regularly have in their diet.

“I am very happy as a mother to see my children growing, thriving, healthy and happy … Life has changed and we are very, very happy,” Erdine’s mother shared. “I would like to say thank you. Really, really thank you.”

Empower a mother with a life-changing gift of a goat!

A Food Cart in Vietnam

Thuong is a young single mother who lives with her son in a small city in Vietnam. In April 2021, Thuong learned that she was 13 weeks pregnant. But when she called her boyfriend to share the news, he refused to take responsibility for the baby. Heartbroken, and fearing a life of poverty and social stigma as a single mother, Thuong considered relinquishing her baby for adoption after giving birth.

But then something wonderful happened! When Thuong was 7 months pregnant, a friend introduced her to a local Holt social worker, who enrolled her in a program for single pregnant women supported by Holt donors. Through the program, Thuong received food and nutritional support for the remaining months of her pregnancy, as well as baby essentials such as clothes, diapers and formula — gifts for new mothers provided through Holt’s Gifts of Hope program. The costs of her pre- and post-natal doctor exams were also covered, as were her hospital fees for the birth of her child.

In November 2021, Thuong gave birth to a healthy baby boy she named Thanh. After leaving the hospital, she and her son returned to her family home, where her parents and grandparents helped care for them.

Then, when Thanh was 7 months old, Thuong began working at her mother’s food stall. With her baby at her side, Thuong washed vegetables, grilled pork paste and meat, and helped her mother sell food. Though the women worked long hours, they earned roughly 8 U.S. dollars a day. Although this amount stretches much further in Vietnam than it does in the U.S., it was still barely enough to feed the entire family.

That’s when Thuong decided to supplement the family income by learning to make Vietnamese-style “hot dog” cakes. She took orders for the hot dogs online, then delivered them herself to customers around the city. Lacking the funds to make large quantities of food, Thuong sold about 25 hot dogs a day. After deducting her expenses, Thuong earned less than 4 U.S. dollars per day — but this amount increased her income enough to meet some additional needs, and she began to grow excited about having her own business!

And that’s when the generosity of Holt donors came through again! This time, Thuong received a food cart through Holt’s Gifts of Hope, as well as funds to purchase baking ingredients.  

These days, Thuong operates her food cart in front of her grandparents’ house. It’s open from 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily. Although her income is still modest, Thuong is now able to pay for her son’s preschool fees and meals at school, helping him get an early education and the nourishment he needs to thrive. Thanks to the generosity of Holt donors, Thuong has big dreams for her son — and for her own future!

Empower a mother to start her own business by providing her with a food cart!

Financial Literacy Training in Uganda

In the rural villages of Uganda where Holt sponsors and donors support children and families, women now have the opportunity to break the cycle of generational poverty. In these villages, Holt has been leading savings groups that teach parents, particularly mothers, how to earn money and save together. Through financial literacy training, these women learn as a community how to make and sell goods, grow crops, buy and raise livestock, and become businesswomen in the hopes of bettering themselves and supporting their families.

With a small initial investment from Holt donors, these groups of women pool their money together and are then able to take out loans from the group to grow their business or address an urgent need such as a home repair. They pay the money back on a schedule, thus replenishing the fund so other women can borrow as needed. Some Holt savings groups have existed for more than five years — helping the families weather the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Without the savings and loan groups, many of their businesses would not have survived financially — and they would have struggled to afford food and other basic necessities for their children.

Beyond financial stability, the savings groups have offered women a sense of pride in their accomplishments. For example, in one rural community, the members of one group named themselves the “Group of Happy Parents.” That’s because their savings have gone towards buying livestock, starting microbusinesses, and paying for their children’s school fees and uniforms. When mothers are able to care for their children, they are happy parents indeed!

Empower a mother to break the cycle of generational poverty with job skills training!

Mother’s Day Gifts That Matter

Honor a mom you love with a Gift of Hope that changes the life of a mom across the world!

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The post So Their Children Can Thrive appeared first on Holt International.

Right now, Holt International is facing an urgent financial shortfall of $1.4 million. If we don’t close the funding gap by April 30, we will be forced to make heartbreaking decisions — reducing the number of children and families we serve and cutting programs that provide vital care and resources.

You are probably aware of the pause the government has placed on international funding through USAID, which many humanitarian programs overseas rely on. In many places, Holt is now one of the few organizations — if not the only one — that can help children in need.

But first, we must overcome this critical shortfall.   

Your support will ensure no child is turned away from the love and care they need.

Educational Support at Risk for Children in Mongolia

Overlooking Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia is the city’s largest garbage dump. Here, a whole community of children and families survive on what they can find in the refuse — whether bits of food they can eat or items they can sell. They live in makeshift homes on the edge of — and sometimes inside of — the dump. For children growing up in such dire poverty, you help to provide a special sanctuary — a place where they can take a warm shower, eat a nourishing meal and receive an education that will help them escape a life in the garbage dump.  

Your support provides school supplies, nutritious meals and social work support to help more than 200 children attend this special place called the Red Stone School. Instead of gathering and selling refuse in the garbage dump, these children are receiving enrichment in school each day.

But without your support to overcome the shortfall, children in Mongolia may lose the critical support they need to stay in school.

Vital Medical Care for Women and Children in Uganda

Every day, 300 infants and 20 mothers die from preventable causes in Uganda — and the rate is even higher in rural areas. Infant and maternal mortality is often attributed to delays in seeking care, delays in proximity to a health facility and delays in receiving adequate treatment.

But through your faithful support, you have helped make it possible for our team in Uganda to host Child Health Days for pregnant women and children living in rural communities where care is less accessible. You’ve provided the resources for village health workers to go door-to-door in communities to screen mothers and children for malnutrition, provide essential supplements and vaccinations, offer resources and education and encourage prenatal care and nutrition.

Recently, through this outreach program, you helped provide lifesaving care for one sick mother and her child who was dangerously underweight.

Approximately 150,000 children and 5,000 pregnant women are provided life-changing medical assistance in Uganda each year. Without the funds to continue serving pregnant women and infants, we’ll be forced to reduce critical medical services in Uganda.

Nurturing Foster and Kinship Care for Vulnerable Children in Cambodia

In Cambodia, thousands of children are growing up in orphanages. Many of them have living relatives who could care for them if given the resources. In recent years, with funding from USAID and other grant organizations, Holt began working alongside other organizations to help move these children from institutions into more nurturing care settings.  

Through kinship care, Holt works to reunite children with their birth families — if not parents, then aunts or uncles or grandparents who can provide the kind of loving, attentive care that children just don’t receive in institutions. Your support helps provide the tools and resources these families need to care for the child — such as food support, school supplies, counseling and even job skills training for the adults.

Not every child has a family member who can care for them, however. For these children, Holt developed another alternative — foster care. Foster care ensures a child has a nurturing, safe and family-like home where they can grow and develop while they wait to reunite with their birth family or join a family through domestic adoption. Through your generous donations, you have helped support children so they have everything they need to thrive while in the care of a loving foster parent — from food and clothing to critical medical care.

Due to a loss in federal funding, this program is now at risk.

Without your help overcoming the $1.4 million funding gap, orphaned and vulnerable children in Cambodia may lose the nourishing food, safe shelter and nurturing care they need to thrive.

Emergency Medical Care Around the Globe

For children around the world with urgent medical needs, medical care isn’t an option — it’s essential.  

Many children are sick when they first enter orphanage care, which can often be attributed to underlying medical conditions, special needs, chronic hunger and the overall impoverished conditions they lived in before coming into care. Upwards of 40% of children are malnourished when brought into care and approximately 25% of children come into care with a medical need or disability.

Your generosity ensures that children who need urgent medical interventions, like heart surgeries or cleft palate surgeries, receive the lifesaving or life-changing care they need. No child should go without the critical care they need and deserve. That’s why we must bridge this gap together.

Every contribution, no matter the size, brings us one step closer to ensuring no child or family is turned away because of the funding shortfall. Through your compassion and generosity, we can continue working toward a world where every child can grow and thrive in a loving, secure home.

Help a Child in Greatest Need

Give emergency help to a child who is hungry, sick or living in dangerous conditions. Your gift will provide the critical food, medical care, safety and more they need when they need it the most.

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The post No Child Should Be Turned Away appeared first on Holt International.

Bataar is a young child who lives with her two siblings and parents in Mongolia. Her father worked as a factory assistant, but because of a work accident in 2020, he was unable to keep his job. Bataar’s parents receive food stamps and a child support allowance from the Mongolian government, but it’s still not enough to make ends meet. So each day, they go to a large garbage dump near their home outside Ulaanbaatar, the nation’s capital, and spend the day combing through refuse. They look for items they can either resell or recycle to create an income — or use for their own personal survival.

Beyond these hardships, Bataar and her family live in a ger, a portable, tent-like structure that typically consists of a wooden frame covered in animal hide and an additional layer of canvas that offers protection against the elements. But winter in Mongolia can be brutally cold, with icy winds that whip off the Siberian Plain and nighttime temperatures that drop frequently to below -20°F. These conditions make life even harder — and colder — for Bataar, her siblings and parents.

But thanks to the generosity of Holt donors and sponsors, Bataar and her family have been given a source of comfort and warmth. Now enrolled in Holt’s family strengthening program, Bataar and her older sibling attend school near their home. In addition, the family has received a cold weather rescue pack, with snuggly blankets and warm winter coats for the children. The rescue pack provides lifesaving support when the wind chill picks up at night and when Bataar and her sibling make the trek to school each day. 

In many parts of the world — like Mongolia, China or even Cambodia — winter weather can be brutal, and children like Bataar run the risk of missing school, getting sick or even coming down with frostbite. But thanks to your support, this little girl and her family, and others around the world, will stay safe and warm this winter!

Give a Cold Weather Rescue Pack

You can keep a child warm and healthy this winter! Just $52 provides a child with a much-needed warm coat and blanket.

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The post Safe and Warm This Winter! appeared first on Holt International.

India

Bharatiya Samaj Seva Kendra (BSSK), Holt’s partner organization in the city of Pune, threw a Christmas party last December for children living at all four of its Holt-supported care centers and for those in impoverished communities in and around Pune. During the celebration, children and staff participated in interactive games that promoted creativity and teamwork, sang Christmas carols and ate delicious snacks. The children also received gifts that were carefully selected for them, filling them with joy. Children in Holt programs rarely receive anything extra, so this Christmas celebration was a special treat. As one BSSK program manager said, “The event was a beautiful expression of togetherness, leaving everyone with lasting memories of love and happiness during this special time of year.”

Mongolia

Nearly a third of Mongolians live in poverty, and the nation has one of the highest rates of domestic violence in all of Asia. Roughly 47% of children and 1 in 3 women have experienced violence in the home. Holt sponsors and donors directly support three domestic violence shelters for mothers and children in the capital city of Ulaanbaatar, where they receive temporary housing and support until they can safely rebuild their lives.

Recently, three women and seven children were brought into one of the shelters, seeking safety and support. In addition to housing, the center offered the families vitamins and nutritious food, in an effort to prevent nutrient deficiencies in the children and help support their healthy growth and development. The shelter also opened case files for all the mothers and children and created long-term service plans to ensure their health and safety.

Philippines

Kaisahang Buhay Foundation (KBF), Holt’s long-standing partner in the Philippines, recently celebrated its 49^th year of operation. In 1976, Holt helped establish KBF in Manila, and through the years, KBF has grown to become a recognized leader in child welfare services. Through KBF, Holt sponsors and donors have also supported thousands of children in the Philippines through a broad range of family strengthening, foster care and parenting education programs.

One such program is the Independent Living and Educational Assistance (ILEA) program, which supports teens and young adults who have aged out of institutional care in the Philippines. Through the ILEA program, a group of 13-15 teens and young adults live together in a house or dorm-like setting. They receive support and funding to help them complete their high school or college education. They also have a house parent who teaches them skills like cooking, cleaning and paying bills, so they can eventually transition to independent living.

This past December, sponsors and donors supported a Christmas party for children, teens and young adults in KBF programs, including those in the ILEA program. Christmas is an important holiday in the Philippines, and during the party, everyone received gifts and enjoyed festive activities!

Thailand

Thailand recently experienced its most severe flooding in the past 50 years, due to continuous heavy rains that caused significant damage to the country’s farmlands and disruption to daily life. In response, Holt’s local partner, Holt Sahathai Foundation (HSF), provided emergency relief kits and financial aid to help families overcome immediate hardships. HSF also helped families apply for emergency flood assistance from the Thai government.

Uganda

Many children in Uganda have lost one or both parents to armed fighting among ethnic groups or HIV/AIDS. Some of them live with their grandparents or other extended family members. Others are truly orphaned and growing up without a family. While Holt does not facilitate international adoptions from Uganda, the Uganda Ministry of Gender, Labor and Social Development is now working to make domestic adoption more accessible for Ugandan families.

Holt Uganda recently worked with Home Free, a local child advocacy group, to provide social workers with technical training in adoption documentation, case management, and the legal process and requirements for domestic adoption. In addition, the groups held information sessions for 37 prospective adoptive parents, offering them a deeper understanding of adoption and the legal process.

Recently, five domestic adoption cases were approved by Uganda’s Alternative Care Panel and district court, allowing these children to join their forever families. The chief magistrate commended the Holt and Home Free teams for their work in compiling detailed case records and conducting thorough family tracing, and for the evident bonding between the children and their prospective adoptive parents.

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The post Notes from the Field: January 2025 appeared first on Holt International.

Each time AJ Formica threw javelin at his track meets last spring, he had a little extra motivation. Because with each throw, he was raising money to help a family like the one he was born to in Inner Mongolia. 

It all started the previous year on June 7, the anniversary of the day AJ was adopted 14 years ago. Each year on this day, AJ and his parents — Joe and Ellen Formica — watch the videos from when they first met. They reminisce about how 2-and-a-half-year-old AJ immediately stole their hearts, and how smart he was to recognize his adoptive parents from the photobook they had sent him at his orphanage months prior.

Adopted From Inner Mongolia

While AJ was adopted from China, he is from the Chinese province of Inner Mongolia that borders the country of Mongolia — and has always more closely identified with Mongolia as his birth country and culture. Growing up, he heard stories of the wide, expansive grasslands and yurt-like homes that his parents remember from their trip to Inner Mongolia to adopt him.  

AJ’s parents were matched with AJ through Holt’s special needs program in China at the time, as AJ was born with a cleft lip and a developmental difference in his left ear that resulted in hearing loss. While AJ was a baby in China, he had surgery to correct his cleft lip. Shortly after AJ arrived home in Pennsylvania, he had four additional ear surgeries to help restore his hearing. Because of the early care he received in the orphanage, as well as once he was adopted, these medical obstacles are of no consequence to 17-year-old AJ today.

“From the minute he came into our home from China, and we ate at the dining room table, he would reach across the table and hold my wife’s hand while they ate,” Joe says. “We knew we had adopted someone very special. And it’s not his intelligence and his athleticism, but it’s what’s in his heart.”

Although, it’s become apparent that AJ is quite the gifted athlete as well.

A Standout in Javelin

AJ first tried javelin almost by accident, when he unknowingly as a first-timer signed up for a clinic with a group of experienced javelin throwers. He remembers seeing the javelin spin like a helicopter through the air when he threw it.

“I didn’t know what I was doing,” AJ says. But from that point on he was hooked — accepting the challenge of learning the sport.

And it turns out, with training and dedication, AJ is quite good. At the second meet he threw javelin in as a freshman, he placed first in the state. At the 2023 New Balance Nationals in Philadelphia, AJ placed second among all the freshmen.

Joe is a school counselor and sees great promise in both his son’s athleticism and high academic achievement. But he also wanted to instill in his son a heart for service, to build upon the kindness and compassion that is already so evident in AJ’s personality. So together, they began to think through a service project that would be a good fit for AJ’s interests and talents.

A Service Project for Mongolia

It was while looking through Holt’s Christmas Gifts of Hope catalog that everything came together. They saw that the catalog included the gift of a safe, warm home for a family in need — the example being a “ger,” the very yurt-like home that AJ’s parents remember seeing in Inner Mongolia.

“I was most likely born in one of those,” AJ says, “And that would be a home that my biological parents and family would have lived in in Inner Mongolia. So, we thought that would be a great way to help a family similar to my biological family.”

They came up with a fun way to raise money to purchase a ger for a family in need, creating giving tiers, and an associated cost-per-foot donation for each official throw AJ logged in his sophomore year track-and-field season. Donors could choose to pledge a $25 flat-rate “participation” level, a “bronze” rate of 1 cent per foot, “silver” at 2 cents per foot or “gold” at 5 cents per foot.

AJ reached out to all his family and friends about his goal to provide a ger to a family in Mongolia. Throughout his track-and-field season, he shared with them video and email updates about his progress.

AJ was so appreciative and humbled by the generosity of the 25 donors who stepped up to give — all people who had been part of AJ’s life since he was adopted. Together they raised $3,500, enough to provide a brand new ger to a family in need.

AJ sent the money he raised to Holt, not knowing who exactly he would be helping in Mongolia. But across the world, his gift was about to be the miracle a family was waiting for.

A Family in Need of a Ger

Three years ago in Mongolia, Bayarmaa lost her husband to a sudden heart attack, leaving her alone to provide for her five children. Once her husband died, his side of the family made Bayarmaa and her children move out of the house they shared together. Bayarmaa rented a small apartment room, but it was cold, dirty and tiny. She had to send her two youngest children to a residential kindergarten that would keep them 24 hours during the weekdays, because there wasn’t enough room for all of them at home.

Bayarmaa worked part time at a cafeteria, but she didn’t earn enough to support all of her children — and certainly didn’t have enough to afford a bigger, safer home for them.

“This family is desperate for a ger of their own and has requested help,” reads Holt Mongolia’s intake report about the family. “A ger dwelling would ensure a place where the mother can live comfortably with her children in a safe environment, lessening the financial burden she continues to face and raising them to be well and healthy.”

When AJ sent in the funds he raised to provide a ger to a family in need, the team at Holt Mongolia knew exactly who needed it most. 

Within weeks, the funds were transferred, a ger was built, and Bayarmaa and her children moved in.

Today, they are all living together, safe and warm as winter comes. Bayarmaa’s youngest two children are receiving ongoing support from Holt sponsors and donors to ensure they can go to school, and help meet their daily needs.

Full Circle

AJ and his parents were so grateful to learn about Bayarmaa and her children, and how their service project changed their lives and will keep them safe this winter.

“We were there in June, and it was cold in June,” Joe says, remembering their trip to Inner Mongolia years ago. “I cannot imagine the winters.”

And for AJ, giving a ger is a profound connection to his beginnings in Inner Mongolia, and an opportunity for his life as a Mongolian adoptee to come full circle.

“My biological parents, whatever their circumstances were, they weren’t able to give the life they wanted for me,” AJ says, “so they trusted in Holt International to give me the life that they hoped that I would have. … Holt was able to set me up with two of the best parents in the world. I’m just grateful for Holt and everything they’ve done for me getting me to where I am today.”

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The post Adoptee Gives Ger to Family in Need appeared first on Holt International.