Holt International Children’s Services is pleased to announce the appointment of Derek Parker as the organization’s first Chief Operating Officer (COO).

The creation of this new executive leadership role reflects Holt’s commitment to strengthening operations and advancing its future strategies. As COO, Parker will provide oversight of Holt’s domestic and international programs, procurement and organizational performance. This structure allows President and CEO Dan Smith to devote more time to external leadership, global partnerships and advocacy, while Parker ensures alignment and accountability across Holt’s operations.

“Adding the COO role is a strategic step for Holt,” said Dan Smith, Holt’s president and CEO. “Derek brings not only extensive executive leadership experience but also his lived experience as a Holt adoptee and his knowledge as a former board chair. This combination of professional expertise and personal connection to Holt’s mission makes him uniquely suited to help lead us into the future.”

Parker brings over 20 years of senior management experience in both nonprofit and corporate sectors. Most recently, Parker served as the COO of the Parent Institute for Quality Education. Parker’s career also includes leadership roles such as President of Kurmac Inc. and Vice President and District Manager at U.S. Bank, where Parker oversaw 21 branches and managed 150 employees.

In addition to his professional background, Parker has a deep personal connection to Holt. As a Holt adoptee and a longtime board member, he has served as board chair and worked closely with the leadership team to guide the organization’s governance. Transitioning from governance to operations, Parker will now contribute his expertise from within the executive team.

“I am honored to step into this new role at Holt,” said Parker. “As a Holt adoptee and a leader committed to the children we serve around the world, I believe in Holt’s mission deeply. I look forward to working with Dan, the board and the entire team to strengthen Holt’s operations and expand its impact for children and families around the world.”

Parker will remain based in Southern California while traveling as required to Holt’s Eugene, Oregon, headquarters and other U.S. and international locations. He will join staff October 13.

Learn more about Holt’s work and history!

At Holt International, we help children thrive in the love and stability of a family. But our services extend far beyond the adoption work we are known for.

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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

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It was a night of celebration — filled with smiles, warm embraces and tears. Women in elegant hanbok were honored on stage for their years of service — some retiring after more than 30 years of caring for foster children.

The foster mothers event in Korea drew hundreds this past December. Although an annual event, this would be the final one.

After 60 years, the Holt foster care program is turning the page to its final chapter, as it transitions to the Korean government in July 2025.

One foster mother, receiving an award for 10 years of service, shared, “Together, we faced the joys and challenges of caring for adorable babies, endured the pain of farewells and grew stronger as a family. When I first brought a baby home, I was overwhelmed by fears and doubts, wondering if I could do it well. But the moment the baby gave me a radiant smile, all my worries melted away. As they [say of babies], their mom is their whole world. Every moment spent being the whole world to these children, whether for three months or over 30 months, has been a precious memory etched in my heart.”

As the evening honored the women who have poured their hearts into the children they cared for, it also marked a poignant moment to reflect on the rich, six-decade history of Holt’s foster care program in Korea.

The Origins of Foster Care in Korea

In the aftermath of the Korean War, Harry Holt dedicated his life to caring for children left orphaned or abandoned. Many of the children coming into care at the time were malnourished and suffering from severe deprivation. Even with the best medical care, food and care from nannies, many children continued to fade — as if they had lost the will to live.

Harry believed that children needed familial love — especially a mother’s love — to give them the encouragement, nurturing and strength to live. Each child needed to feel valued and know their life mattered to someone.

When a sick infant came into care, Harry sometimes carried the child under his shirt, against his chest, so they could feel his heartbeat.

Research supports this practice, showing that skin-to-skin contact between children and their caregivers significantly improves well-being, increases the chances of recovery from illness and aids in the development of healthy attachment and bonding.

After Harry’s sudden passing in 1964, the staff in Korea began to consider how to meet the needs of each child in their care, wanting each one to know they were loved.

Holt Foster Care: A Model Around the World

In 1965, Holt established the first wide-scale foster care program in Korea.

“It started as a response to seeing what the children needed and trying to figure out how best to be able to provide for that need,” Paul Kim, Holt’s program director of Korea and son of David Kim, says. “Except for those children with specific needs that could not be best met in foster care, nearly every child placed in Holt’s care [for adoption over the past 60 years] was in foster care prior to being placed with their permanent adoptive family.”

Holt pioneered foster care as a more nurturing alternative to institutional care, keeping its mission at the center: a world where every child has a loving, secure home. Holt foster families were trained to provide what children frequently miss out on when they grow up in institutional care: the one-on-one attention and nurturing care they need to reach critical developmental milestones — and ultimately, form healthy emotional attachments. Their ability to attach to caregivers also laid the foundation for children to bond with their adoptive families. Always meant to be temporary, Holt’s model of foster care paved the way for children to thrive in permanent, loving homes.

Holt’s foster care model has since been recognized by UNICEF as best practice for children in care and replicated throughout the world. “The foster care system in Korea became a model for deinstitutionalization for every other program that we’ve had,” Paul explains. “The foster care programs in India, Thailand, the Philippines, China, etc., can all find their roots in the Korean system.”

Fostering in Communities

But foster care didn’t take hold immediately in Korea.

Like many countries in the Far East, Korea has a communal culture where bloodlines were — and still are — deeply valued. The idea of taking in a child on a temporary basis was a new concept.

But as time went on, communities began to see how fostering children was something truly special.

“The easiest recruitment method was actually other families seeing the joy that these families were getting out of fostering these children,” Paul says.“We had many … clusters of foster families in certain neighborhoods and also multigenerational foster families.”

As word spread and communities saw families loving children as their own, fostering began to catch on.

Interested families were screened through Holt, and if accepted, underwent training and received visits from social workers. After placement, families returned to the Holt office several times a year for check-ins to monitor children’s health and development. Babies received monthly wellness checks, and with the support of sponsors and donors, Holt provided subsidies for clothing, food, formula and medical care.

“A lot of these families ended up spending so much of their own money for the care of these children, beyond any type of subsidy or support Holt provided,” Paul says. Wanting to ensure their needs were fully met, foster families welcomed each child with great love, giving generously of their time and resources to nurture and care for them.

Saying Goodbye and Starting Again

Foster parents and children bond deeply in Holt’s foster care program — so much so that at the start of the program, many foster families didn’t return to foster again. It was too painful to say goodbye to another child they had grown attached to.

Paul recounts a particularly striking memory of a foster mother saying goodbye to her foster child.

“The foster mom was just sobbing, holding her face with one hand. But she’s staring into the bus, puts her hand up against the window, trying to touch her child one last time and the bus slowly starts to move away,” Paul remembers. “She’s running alongside it with her hand on the window. And finally, as [I] look back, she just stops, turns around and just collapses to the ground with an empty baby carrier.”

“You just understand that, wow, this child was loved,” he continues. “And these are the families you want, because they’re the ones who, without reservation, give all their love and attach to the kids. These are the ones who say, ‘Oh, I’ll never do it again.’ But they come back and say, ‘Okay, I’m ready again.’”

The need for fostering continues, as every child deserves the love and care of a family. Whenever it is in the best interest of the child, we champion family strengthening and reunification efforts in Korea and in other countries. We are also committed to advocating for the thousands of children left in institutional care — without the love and care that every child needs to thrive. Fostering ensures that children are given the nurturing, one-on-one care they need, while waiting to be adopted domestically or reunited with birth family.

Remembering Each Face

Some of these incredible families fostered for years — some continuously for 35 years, fostering over 100 children.

But foster mothers remember each face.

“If you talk to these foster moms and you mention a child, she’ll say, ‘I remember her — when I used to bathe her, she would sing little songs,’” Paul says, smiling. “If an adoptive family comes back to Korea and they have an opportunity to meet [their child’s foster mom], she’ll tell them all about what they were like as a baby.”

Through the years, Holt has facilitated countless foster mother-adoptee reunions, often through heritage tours, whether in Korea or other countries.  Foster mothers have also traveled to the United States on occasion. Some escorted children to their adoptive families, before that practice ended in favor of families traveling to unite with their child in their birth country. Others traveled to attend annual Holt picnics. In these cases, some adoptive families flew across the U.S. to meet foster mothers — even if only to meet for a couple of hours.

“[For many adoptees], the longest, most meaningful relationship they’ve had prior to being adopted was the care that they received from their foster family,” Paul says. “When you convey back to an adoptee, ‘let me tell you something about your foster family,’ that cements in their heart that they were loved and cared for.”

Many Lives Touched

When a child lives with a foster family in Korea, a child truly experiences what it’s like to have an entire family caring for them. Each child’s foster family may include a mother, father, siblings, grandparents and other extended family.

“We talk about foster moms, but without the support of the entire family, [foster care] is not possible,” Paul says.

Often, when the bittersweet day arrives for a family to say goodbye to their foster child in Korea, Paul says it’s not uncommon for the whole family to be there — except the father.

“The foster dads would most often decline to come because they were ashamed to be crying in public — to say goodbye to that child that they loved so much,” Paul says.

This deep sense of love and devotion to caring for children is exactly what has made the foster care program in Korea so profound.

Hope for the Transition

In mid-July 2025, all intercountry adoption processes — domestic and intercountry adoption, child intake, foster care and post adoption services — will transition to the Korean government.

In anticipation of the upcoming changes, Paul says he hopes that Holt’s foster care model can continue to be a beacon of light for caring for children outside of institutions.

“I am wondering if a government can instill the same sense of devotion and compassion in the foster families as Holt has been able to do,” Paul says. “I’m hopeful that the level of care and understanding [of] the children’s needs will not significantly change.  And [I’m] understanding that this is an important, interim step. This should not be seen as an end in itself, but as simply a transition — an important one — for the children as we find a permanent family for them.”

Fortunately, for children who are already in process for adoption, the Korean government has said they will complete the entire process, keeping each child with the foster family they’ve already been with.

Paul hopes that the government will prioritize the needs of the children first, particularly for young children who may be reassigned to a different foster family after living with one family for most of their lives. He also hopes that even after the adoption has been completed that the government will continue to maintain open communication and contact with each child’s birth parents, in hopes that family reunification in the future can happen.

In light of the changes to come, Paul says it’s important to remember this: “These changes are coming about not as some sort of bureaucratic exercise, but because the Korean government truly believes that what they are doing is in the best interest of the children, and the change in system is meant to better ensure that children’s rights and interests are protected.”

While this cornerstone of Holt’s work in Korea is changing, what will remain is our commitment to children and families in need in Korea. Alongside Holt Korea, our in-country partner, Holt International is committed to assisting children and families at risk of separation, advocating and serving children with disabilities, uplifting single-parent families, empowering youth aging out of institutional care and so much more.

A Legacy of Love

Over the course of 60 years, thousands of foster families have joined in the mission of helping children thrive in the love and stability of a family.

Each December, Holt has honored foster mothers in Korea for each five years of service. Each one receives an award for five years of fostering and is recognized with a special ceremony when they retire.

“It’s just remarkable and always impacts me every time I witness it. It’s not just a job to them,” Paul says of the foster mothers honored at the event this past December. “The love and care that the foster moms have for the children they cared for has not changed in six decades. You can see that the love and devotion were just the same and just as strong.”

During the December 2024 event, a special ceremony was held to honor five foster mothers as they retired. In total, 25 women were recognized, with some celebrated for their five years of service and others for up to 30 years.

Dan Smith, Holt International President and CEO, took a moment to address the foster mothers at the event, sharing these words of gratitude: “I hope you understand how your love for children has impacted others. When I think about how many children foster mothers have cared for, and the number of times those children were able to share their love with others, that love has touched hundreds of thousands, or even millions of people on this earth … When you share love with a child, and that child shares love with others, we truly make the world a better place — more loving, more compassionate and caring. This is why we celebrate foster mothers today. Thank you for sharing your love with others … It’s the love that we share with others that makes the world a better place.”

As this chapter closes for Holt, we honor the thousands of foster families who have served with love — each moment a precious memory etched in the hearts of those who share in this 60-year legacy.

Holt Post Adoption Services

Holt offers lifelong support to all adoptees, adoptive families, birth parents, caregivers and others whose lives have been touched by adoption.

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Kristine Altwies has dedicated her life to serving orphaned and vulnerable children.  

As the executive director of Hawaii’s leading international adoption agency for the past 34 years, she has helped over 1,000 children join loving adoptive families. She is also a licensed marriage and family therapist specializing in parenting, attachment and adoption, and in 2021, she founded the nonprofit organization PonoRoots Counseling Center, which provides trauma-informed mental health services in her community. Since 2022, she has also served on the board of directors for Holt International.

Recently, Kristine was recognized for her lifelong service to children when she was named Hawaii’s “Remarkable Woman of the Year” — one of 125 women across the U.S. who were honored by Nexstar Media Group for the difference they have made in public policy, social progress and the quality of life in their communities. After spending a week in L.A. with her fellow honorees, she came away inspired and motivated to do more.

“What was inspiring was all the women who are doing incredible work,” she says. “I came away with the idea that there’s more to be done and that there are people doing things in all kinds of ways.”

Reflecting on her own life’s work, she says she feels not proud, but grateful.

“I’m deeply grateful for being able to do meaningful work, which only happens because of all the people who participate along the way,” she says.

Kristine found her path in the early 1990s, when she first arrived in Hawaii from Michigan, where she had attended Kalamazoo College. Although she studied art history and education in college, she wasn’t sure where she wanted to focus her energy.

“I was doing a bunch of things trying to figure out who I was, and I met the founder of Hawaii International Child (HIC),” she shares. Inspired, she began working with the organization to unite children and families, and in 1991, she took over as executive director.

In the years that followed, Kristine significantly grew the small organization — opening adoption programs in several countries over the following three decades, including in China and Russia.

As Hawaii has a very large Asian population, she notes that many children placed through HIC were able to join adoptive families who shared their cultural heritage and identity. Kristine’s husband, Bruce Chen, is a Chinese American physician who joined Kristine to welcome their first daughter from China 15 years ago. Today, Kristine and Bruce are the parents of six children, including a son from China and a daughter from Vietnam.

As both an adoptive parent and long-time leader of an international adoption agency, Kristine brought extensive experience when she joined Holt’s board of directors three years ago. She also had a longstanding connection to Holt, having partnered with the organization to find families for children from Korea in the early days of her work with HIC.

“I was lucky enough to work with Holt in my early days, which gave me good insights into this incredibly ethical, compassionate work that Holt does,” she says.

I’m deeply grateful for being able to do meaningful work, which only happens because of all the people who participate along the way.”

Since joining the board of directors, she has become increasingly impressed with Holt’s ethical approach to adoption and dedication to ensuring stable, loving homes for children.

“It’s always been what’s best for the children, and that feels so good to be connected to,” she says.

Kristine also feels blessed to be a part of the dedicated group of individuals who make up Holt’s board of directors. While they bring diverse backgrounds and perspectives, they all share a heart for orphaned and vulnerable children and a profound commitment to Holt’s mission.

“I’ve been on many boards, and I have to say this board is my all-time favorite board because everybody there is so committed to seeing Holt succeed,” she says. “It’s really about the health of the organization and honoring our mission.”

Today, Kristine continues to lead Hawaii International Child, which rebranded as A Family Tree in 2020. With adoption in decline across the globe, A Family Tree discontinued its work placing children for international adoption five years ago and shifted to direct support services such as homestudies, adoptive parent training and post-placement reporting.

The following year, in 2021, A Family Tree expanded its services with the opening of PonoRoots Counseling Center. Like the name “A Family Tree,” the symbolism of a tree and its roots captured what Kristine hoped to convey about the organization’s approach to mental health.    

“PonoRoots just came to me. … Understanding people from the roots up made sense,” she explains. “And pono in Hawaiian means righteous, good or compassionate.”

As a licensed therapist and the clinical director at PonoRoots, Kristine specializes in parenting, attachment and adoption — and often counsels adoptees and their families. With her extensive background in adoption — and as an adoptive parent herself — she brings a depth of understanding to her work with adoptees and families.

“I don’t presume to understand everything, but at least I have time on my side that I’ve spent in the field,” she says, adding that her best asset as a therapist is having worked personally with thousands of families and adoptees in the adoption process over the years.

Holt will always have work to do because there will always be need. There will always be sadness. There will always be people needing education or housing or resources, and that was the Holts’ initial commitment.”

Although she has a unique awareness of trauma and adoption, she also approaches her therapy practice with humility and an open mind.

 “Somebody said … ‘If you’ve met one adoptee, you’ve met one adoptee,’ she says. “And so I go in with that attitude, and try and get to know each person as the unique individual they deserve to be seen as. …  I really let them determine they’re the authors of their own stories, or we want to get them to be the authors of their own stories eventually.”

Looking ahead, Kristine hopes to sustain her connections with her fellow “remarkable women” — and share about the inspirational work they’re doing on her podcast.

“I have 125 new best friends and I’m planning to switch up my podcast, which in the past was about parenting,” she says. “I’m going to launch a new podcast about remarkable women. Title TBD, but I’m planning to interview all 125 of my cohort.”

Through her service on Holt’s board of directors, Kristine will also continue to help guide the organization through the changing landscape of international adoption — and a deeper focus on in-country services that help families stay together and children thrive.

“I see intercountry adoptions continuing to decrease,” she says, “and Holt will always have work to do because there will always be need. There will always be sadness. There will always be people needing education or housing or resources, and that was the Holts’ initial commitment. In addition to helping orphans, they were wanting to help the places where they were working.”

All along, Kristine’s goal and the goal of others working in adoption has been to work themselves out of a job.  “That’s the goal in a dream world. We don’t have any more children in need of intercountry adoption,” she says.

Until that day comes, Kristine will continue her lifelong commitment to helping children, adoptees and families thrive.  

When asked what’s most memorable from her remarkable life and work, she has a very simple answer. “The children are the most memorable,” she says. “That goes without saying — the children who have touched me.”

Learn more about Holt’s work and history!

At Holt International, we help children thrive in the love and stability of a family. But our services extend far beyond the adoption work we are known for.

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In the sweltering, suffocating heat of 1975, South Vietnam teetered on the edge of defeat.

Tensions had reached a fever pitch. The air was thick with uncertainty and fear.

Tens of thousands had already fled to Saigon, seeking refuge as North Vietnamese forces bore relentlessly through the countryside.

It was only a matter of time before the forces descended on Saigon.

Just three years before, Holt International had come to Vietnam to help unite children with families through adoption. Holt’s team on the ground had also just begun to implement Holt’s first family strengthening program — empowering families at risk of separation to continue caring for their children.

But as it became clear that Saigon would soon fall to the North, Holt’s team knew they needed to make an emergency plan for the children in their care. Even during this perilous time, foster parents and caregivers at Holt’s care center in Saigon continued to provide nurturing care for the children — some of whom carried the weight of uncertainty, aware that their futures hung in the balance, while others were too young to understand what lay ahead.

Called to Vietnam

In September of 1974, John Williams received a call out of the blue. On the other end of the line was David Kim, Holt’s deputy director at the time. John had never heard of Holt International.

“David shared with me that they were looking for someone to serve as a project manager in Vietnam,” John remembers. Holt had received a USAID grant to establish a family assistance program there, and he asked if John was interested.

John had spent two years in the Peace Corps in Thailand as a volunteer and seven working for USAID in Laos, where he met his wife. He had returned to the United States and was looking for a job.

After some time spent thinking, praying and talking with his family, John felt called to Vietnam. He signed a one-year contract … which turned into 28 years with Holt International. John eventually served as president of the organization for 10 of those.

Family Strengthening Efforts in Vietnam

“When I arrived in Saigon in early October 1974, there was no [family assistance] program. We had to design, start the program and get the word out,” John says. “Holt had primarily been an international adoption agency up to that point.”

Holt began its international adoption program in Vietnam in 1972. Over time, Holt staff recognized that many families felt they had no option but to relinquish their children — in many cases, because poverty prevented them from being able to provide the care their children needed.

“They were seeing a lot of birth parents coming in saying they wanted to relinquish their child,” John says. “If given an alternative to consider keeping their family together, that’s what they were looking for. They just were under so much stress — their child was suffering from malnutrition, health issues, etc.”

And the formation of the family assistance program changed everything.

Once families realized they had a viable option to keep their families together, they no longer wanted to relinquish their children. Within a few months, Holt’s first family assistance program was thriving, providing families with a renewed sense of hope.

“It was much like many of the family strengthening programs today,” John explains. “The role of social workers and case workers was to determine what the interests, abilities and skills of the family were. My background as a Peace Corps volunteer was as a community development worker, meaning that it was all about finding out what the interests of the community or village were and helping them develop that interest into an income-generating program that created independence, not dependency.”

Some families in the program were supported in starting small businesses, such as sewing or tailoring, which required training and equipment. Others raised animals like ducks or chickens, providing sustainable food and income. The goal was to complete each family’s case within six months, helping them get on their feet and provide for their children, keeping the family together.

“It was the first time that Holt began to broaden its services to children with a list of priorities — preserve the birth family, domestic adoption, international adoption — with no one being better than the other,” John says, describing the model of service that Holt has long ascribed to, and later advocated for when we sent delegates to help draft the Hague Convention on the Rights of the Child. “It’s based on the best interest of the child.”

Tensions Rising in Vietnam

By January 1975, Holt’s family assistance program was growing and the number of families in the program was significant. But the atmosphere in Saigon had begun to turn.

“In early 1975, we began to hear rumors and stories of unusual military activity on the part of the North Vietnamese,” John recalls. “Holt, by that time, had the adoption program and the three centers in Saigon. We also had a childcare center in Da Nang, the central part of the country, and a relationship with an orphanage in Vũng Tàu, which we supported.”

In mid-March, John and other Holt staff went up north to visit Da Nang to check on the childcare center and assess the possibility of expanding the family assistance program.

While there, they were invited to an event at the U.S. consulate compound. A consular officer told them there was no cause for concern — there was no possibility that the North Vietnamese could reach Da Nang because of the Hai Van Pass blocking their path.

Ten days later, Da Nang was overrun by the North Vietnamese.

“When we realized that Da Nang was going to be overrun, we did manage to get all of the children evacuated along with the staff and get them evacuated down to Saigon,” John says. “There were tens of thousands of people who were fleeing south, and the population of Saigon began to grow tremendously. We weren’t sure what the final outcome would be, but it didn’t look good.”

“By the end of March, the embassy staff was being reduced, and thousands of Vietnamese were attempting to flee the country by any means possible,” John says.

With their connections to the U.S. embassy, John and his co-workers tried their best to stay informed on the situation. At one point, one official told them, “You better make your plans to get out.”

“So, we did,” he says. “We began making plans to get out.”

Preparing to Flee

Arrangements were made for Holt to charter a Pan Am 747 to evacuate all the children in Holt’s care.

“When it became apparent that Saigon was not going to hold and it was going to be overrun, it was not uncommon for desperate mothers to come to us, pleading for us to take their children,” John recalls.  

As Holt staff spoke with each family, offering alternatives, the desperation of the situation was palpable. The families would do anything to save their children. But with Holt’s commitment to keeping birth families together when at all possible, the team declined to take in the children that had loving families, regardless of the unknowns that lay before them.

“We stopped accepting children a couple weeks before the final evacuation,” John says. “And we came under some criticism for that.”

As a newer member of Holt’s staff at the time, John shares that the decision not to bring more children to the U.S. spoke volumes about Holt’s integrity.

“I signed a one-year contract with Holt and if it hadn’t been for that experience, I don’t know if I would’ve stayed on with Holt or not,” John says today, looking back on his first dramatic months with Holt. “It said so much to me about Holt’s integrity and how careful it is. If a child is placed in our care and [is] going to be placed for international adoption — for all intents and purposes, that child does not have a good option to remain with a family in their birth country.”

Holt and other agencies began lobbying and requesting that visas and paperwork be expedited for children in the process of adoption. They appealed to both the U.S. and Vietnamese governments, and the request was approved — for Holt and several other agencies in Vietnam. Across all agencies, approximately 2,000 children were cleared for evacuation.

“Our flight was scheduled, the visas were approved and three or four days before we were scheduled to leave, the caseworkers began to spread out around Saigon,” John says. “We had maybe 250 children in foster homes scattered around Saigon, and so arrangements had to be made for them to be brought in time for the flight on April 5.”

The First Flight of the Vietnam Babylift

As the days grew closer to the scheduled April 5 flight, the Holt team was feeling the pressure.

“By now, the noose around Saigon was getting pretty tight,” John says. “There were occasional rockets coming into the city. The night sky was full of flares and tracers.”

A few days before April 5, the U.S. embassy notified Holt that President Ford had authorized U.S. military aircraft for the babylift. They were given the opportunity to be on the first flight, which was set to depart on April 4.

“We thought long and hard about it. In the end, we had already made arrangements for the Pan Am flight, and we felt good about those arrangements,” John says. “We were really encouraged to be a part of the April 4 flight. But the more we heard and the more we thought about it, we just didn’t feel comfortable with those arrangements. … We declined the offer.”

On April 4, at the time of the military flight, John and the Holt team were busy preparing for their own flight the following day.

“Here we are on April 4 and we’re frantic,” John says. “All of a sudden, we get word that the C5A — the first flight of Operation Babylift — had taken off and crashed. … Holt’s office was very near the airport. We could actually see the plume of smoke from our office.”

The plane had two decks — an upper and a lower, and tragically, many on the lower deck didn’t make it. A malfunction in the rear cargo door caused it to blow open, sucking the oxygen out of the cabin. Desperate to make it back to the airport, the crew turned the plane around. But it crashed just a few miles short of the runway in a rice paddy — killing 78 children and 50 adults. “A lot of people we knew were on that flight,” John says, his eyes growing misty as he sits in the Holt office, almost exactly 50 years later. “We didn’t have a lot of time to reflect on it at the time, but the thought crossed our mind, ‘Oh my gosh — by the grace of God….’”

Holt’s Flight Out of Vietnam

In the thick heat of April 5, 1975, the day arrived for Holt to evacuate children from Vietnam.

They proceeded with their arrangements to evacuate all the children in Holt’s care — a total of over 400 children. The Holt compound was full of children running around, while Holt staff frantically worked through paperwork. Over 250 of the foster children needed to be brought to Holt’s office for departure.

“The remarkable thing to me — so many remarkable things happened then — was that the foster parents were amazing,” John says. “With all that was going on, with all the stress and uncertainty that they faced, how much they cared about the children. … We didn’t lose a single child. Every foster family brought their child in that they were caring for.”

One image stands out in John’s memory — an image not too different from what our in-country staff still see today whenever a foster parent has to part with a child they have selflessly cared for while they waited to reunite with their birth family or join a family through adoption. It is always a bittersweet moment for these devoted foster parents, whether in the midst of war or on an otherwise peaceful day.

“One of the images that’s just seared into my mind,” John shares, “is as the busses were loaded, most of the busses had mesh on the windows — like screens or wire that you could get your fingers into and hold on — and as the busses were pulling away, a number of the foster mothers were clinging to the side of the bus to kind of get one last glimpse of the child they had cared for.”

With over 400 children in their care, they hurried to the airport and began loading the plane. Time was critical — the aircraft could remain on the ground for only an hour, and every minute cost thousands in insurance fees, totaling around $50,000.

Inside the 747, the upper deck had been transformed into a makeshift medical unit. Infants were carefully placed in baskets and boxes lined with blankets, ensuring their fragile safety for the journey ahead.

“We had four identification bands — two armbands, two leg bands — for every child with their information on it to make sure that if one came off, there would be redundant systems to keep track of who was on who,” John explains.

All the children were loaded, 409 in all, along with 50 adults. And with a deep breath, the plane took off.

“There were a lot of cheers and tears as we took off out of Saigon.”

Operation Babylift Complete

The flight first landed in Guam, then Hawaii and then Seattle. The arrival was late — around midnight, but many people had gathered at the airport to welcome the flight.

The door of the plane was opened, helping dissipate the pungent cabin air.

It had been a long ride.

“The children were taken out one by one — not rushed out,” John says. “Nametags were checked and accounted for — double-checked and triple-checked by the Holt staff there.”

John recalls that many of the adoptive parents were waiting to welcome their child at the airport in Seattle, while for others, the flight continued on to Chicago and then New York. With each landing, a family was united with their adopted child for the first time.

A Hasty Return to Vietnam

Rubbing their sleepless eyes, John and his colleagues that traveled with him on the flight had made it back to the United States.

But it wasn’t over.

John and two of his Holt colleagues, Bob Chamness and Glen Noteboom, knew they had to go back for the staff that had been left in Vietnam. And they made their plans quickly.

“We were now concerned about the Holt staff — the Vietnamese staff — in Vietnam,” John says. “We made arrangements three days later to return to Saigon. In those three days, watching television in the States, things had deteriorated tremendously. Things were changing very, very quickly.”

With uncertainty hanging in the air, the three set their course for Vietnam.

“I’ll never forget — when we flew into Saigon, we were still at 30,000 feet and then they made a very tight spiral landing down to the airport in Saigon,” John shares.

Their corkscrew landing on the airfield was much like the whirlwind to come. The city was in chaos. On their drive back to the office, the streets were in complete anarchy.

“There was very little law and order to be had,” he says.

After returning to the Holt office and strategizing with the staff, the team got to work compiling records to be flown out of Vietnam.

“We were also concerned about the records — knowing how important the child histories are,” John says. “That was another thing that impressed me about Holt, that they made every effort to document the background and circumstances for each child coming into care. We chartered a DC3 aircraft to take out all the boxes and boxes of childcare records and medical histories for the kids.”

An Overflowing Operation

The U.S.-sanctioned babylift flights were intended for children with approved parole visas in the process of adoption. There were originally 2,000 children approved for the airlifts, including the 409 children who were in the care of Holt International.

“I don’t know how many children were eventually flown to the U.S. and other countries under the name of Operation Babylift. I’m pretty certain that the number exceeded the [number] that it was designed for,” John says.

Between April 2 and April 29, it is estimated that over 3,000 children were evacuated, joining families in the U.S., Europe, Australia and Canada.

“I can only speak for Holt, my experience in Vietnam and the way that Holt conducted its affairs during that period of time,” John says. “The integrity of the program and the care and carefulness that Holt social workers took to document, provide care, and provide alternatives to birth parents, the efforts to research the background, to make sure that if a child was placed for international adoption, that there were few, if any, viable options for that child to remain in a safe and secure family setting in Vietnam at that time.”

Time Running Out in Vietnam

As the levels of desperation and panic rose, the plan to evacuate Holt staff became imminent.

“We developed a list of our staff that we believed would be vulnerable under a North Vietnamese regime because of their close ties — either having worked with the U.S. military before or government agencies before,” John says.

They made arrangements for those who wanted to leave — around 150 Holt staff and their immediate family members — to be evacuated on a flight leaving on April 27. On April 25 and 26, Holt began transporting staff members to the airfield.

“Someone from the embassy had left us their car which had diplomatic license plates on it — and it didn’t get stopped,” John says of the military and police personnel who were turning people away, regardless of their papers. “With that one car, we ferried people to a holding area in the air base where they were told to wait.”

After many hours, all 150 Holt staff along with their family members had made it to the airfield, along with hundreds of boxes full of childcare records for the DC3 chartered flight.

A Promise for Evacuation

It was April 27 and the DC3 was loaded with all of the child histories. There hadn’t been any fixed-wing airplanes that had taken off for several days.

“We wanted to wait till [the Vietnamese staff] had been taken out — to make sure they got out — but we were told by one of the U.S. officials, ‘You’ve got to leave now. If you don’t leave now, the likelihood of you getting out is very slim,’” John recalls.

They were promised by an official with a connection to Holt that the Vietnamese staff would make it out. Thinking that he’d have the Holt staff’s best interests in mind, they took him at his word.

“One of the hardest decisions that any of us ever had to make was telling our staff, ‘Okay, you’re here,’” he says. ‘“We’ve been promised that you’re going to be put on an evacuation flight.’”

John boarded the DC3 aircraft, intended for transporting records, along with Glen and Bob. The seats were lined with boxes full of records — child histories and medical documentation from the children that had been in their care.

Left Behind in Vietnam

When they arrived in Singapore, their first stop, they called the Holt headquarters immediately.

“We called the office in Eugene to let them know we were out,” John says. “They said that they had just received a call from a Holt staff member in Saigon. How on earth they managed to get a call through — I don’t know. But they were pleading for Holt to get them out.”

As they waited on the airfield for their flight out, the Holt staff were told, “You’ve got to get on the bus. We’re going to have to take you back to the Holt office.”

The staff pleaded, “There are North Vietnamese soldiers coming down the street. Isn’t there anything you can do to help us get out?”

John says that while some of the Holt staff in Vietnam did subsequently get out, others didn’t. “We know what happened to some and others we don’t,” he says.

Between 1975 and 1995, over three million people fled Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. More than 2.5 million refugees resettled around the world. And it is estimated that between 25,000 and 50,000 refugees perished at sea.

Reflecting on This Pivotal Moment in History

Had it not been for the evacuation of children in Holt’s care, John says their fate may have been grim. Many of them were biracial children born to Vietnamese mothers and foreign soldiers, caught in the grip of poverty with no family to care for them. Much like the children born to Korean mothers and foreign servicemen who Harry Holt felt called to help two decades before, the “Amerasian” children born during the war in Vietnam would likely face discrimination throughout their lives. 

“There’s a term that applied not just to Amerasian children but to Vietnamese street children: ‘The dust of life’ or ‘bụi đời.’ If you were a street child without means, you were not treated very well,” John reflects. “A lot had to do with social status — if [they were] on the streets or in an orphanage without the social status of being from a higher society family … I don’t even want to necessarily think about what would have happened to them. By that point, they were already separated from any known birth parent. [They] would have been in very, very, difficult circumstances.”

Their futures were forever altered by the evacuation flights that famously came to be known as Operation Babylift — bringing them across the ocean for a chance at a new life and into the arms of loving adoptive families.

“I don’t know how many people in this day and age know there was something called the ‘babylift’ in Vietnam,” John says. “But the babylift was one moment in time, and it was part of a much, much bigger story about Vietnam. And for that one moment in time, I like to think of it in terms of Holt’s role and how it conducted itself in that moment.”

More Stories to Be Told

John William’s incredible account of the events that transpired in Vietnam is just one story of so many.

The story continues with the lived experiences of adoptees today — what were their childhoods like joining adoptive families in the United States? Where are they now?

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Four-hundred-and-nine. Four-hundred-and-nine children evacuated from Holt child care centers in Vietnam in the spring of 1975. The most notable being the Pan-America “babylift” flight out of Vietnam on April 5, 1975.

The flight took off from Saigon, current-day Ho Chi Minh City, just before the city was overtaken by the northern Vietnamese army.

John Williams, who some years later served as Holt’s president, was working with Holt in Vietnam at the time of the airlift.

“All the kids had arm bands and leg bands on every limb to identify them so they wouldn’t get mixed up or lost,” John says of the children on Holt’s flight, most of whom were already matched with adoptive families in the U.S. at the time of the emergency evacuation.

“It was a long, long flight,” he recalls.

The plane flew from Saigon to Guam to Honolulu to Seattle to Chicago and finally New York. Beginning in Honolulu, and at each stop along the way, children united with adoptive parents who were extremely relieved to know their children had made it out safely. Because this wasn’t the case for everyone… An evacuation flight just days before — a flight the Holt children had nearly been on — tragically crashed several minutes after takeoff.

And just a few days later, John Williams – upon his return to Vietnam to help Holt staff evacuate – described the scene as “total anarchy in the streets — which were littered with uniforms and military equipment discarded by South Vietnamese soldiers fearing for their lives.”

This year marks 50 years since Operation Babylift, which was a defining and iconic moment in Holt’s history and legacy of caring for orphaned and vulnerable children.

But this flight was not the beginning of Holt’s work in Vietnam, and it certainly didn’t mark the end.

Holt Began Work in Vietnam

Holt first began working in Vietnam in 1972. The program primarily helped place children with adoptive families in the U.S. Because of the decades-long conflict in Vietnam, there were an estimated 900,000 homeless children in the country at the time.

Holt opened a child care center in response to this great need, providing the food and care that children needed while searching for permanent families for them through international adoption.

While some of these children had no known living parents, many of them did.

“Because of the conflict,” John says, “there were a lot of parents of children who were under great duress and thought their children would be better off in an institution because they were short of food and medical care.”

Realizing this, Holt’s team in Vietnam believed there should be alternatives or options other than international adoption for birth families to consider. Holt sought and secured a USAID grant to help reunify children from institutions with their birth families and empower families in poverty to continue caring for their children.

This is how Holt’s first family strengthening program began — in October 1974.

“The program was getting off to a very good start,” explains John, a former community development Peace Corps volunteer in Thailand and USAID agriculture and refugee resettlement officer in Laos, hired by Holt to manage the program. By January 1975, John says the number of families in the program was significant. But as it became clear mid-to-late March that Saigon would soon fall to the North, the program was cut short — and Holt’s team on the ground realized it was time to make plans to leave the country.   

International Adoption Today

After the babylift, Holt couldn’t fully serve children in Vietnam again until 1989, when the Government of Vietnam invited Holt to help support and operate orphanages. In the ensuing years, Holt continued what they started before the babylift in 1975 — developing programs throughout the country that enabled children to stay in the loving care of their birth families.

International adoption from Vietnam to the U.S. occurred mostly off and on throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, as adoption legislation and country agreements changed, and was suspended in 2008. But in 2014, Holt was specifically invited to reopen the international adoption program to begin finding families for older children and those with special needs.

Today in Vietnam, similar to in the 1970s, most of the children in orphanages have living parents or extended birth family. But the reasons they remain in orphanage care are complex, from neglect or abuse to poverty or other crises that keep their families from being able to meet their child’s basic needs.

Child welfare centers are meant to provide temporary care for children — with the first goal being to reunify each child with loving birth family. Domestic adoption is pursued for the children who can’t reunify with their birth family. And only once these options are exhausted, international adoption is seen as the best opportunity for a child to grow up in a family, and not an institution.

Huong Nguyen, Holt’s Vietnam country director, explains that the government has strict criteria for who can and can’t be enrolled into orphanage care. “First, [the government] sees if the child has any kind of relatives who can take care of them,” she says. “And even if a child does come to live at the center, they have a plan for reaching out to the family to discuss when they are able to reunite the child and the family.” 

Holt partners with both government-run and private child welfare centers across the country, providing caregiver trainings and other services to ensure the best care possible for the children who call these centers home.

While many of the children living in the centers are healthy and developmentally on-target, there is a much higher rate of children with disabilities and special needs living in institutional care than you’d find in the general population. The resources needed to care for a child with a disability are so much greater, and for a family already living in poverty, it can feel impossible. 

While orphanages in Vietnam have a high rate of children with disabilities, this reflects a higher overall rate of children born with birth defects and disabilities than other countries — particularly in certain regions of Vietnam. And the reason for this is tied to events from over 50 years ago.

While it was their grandparents and great-grandparents who lived through it, even generations later, Vietnamese children are still feeling the physical effects of the war. One region that was especially impacted is the city of Hoi An.  

Special Needs in Vietnam

Hoi An is a World Heritage Site and a beautiful coastal town that was once a significant Southeast Asian trading port in central Vietnam. It’s also the location of the Kianh Foundation – an incredible school for children with disabilities and special needs that’s supported by Holt sponsors and donors.

“The rates of disability are about 15 percent higher here,” says Hoang Pham, the program development director of the Kianh Foundation. And the likely cause is Agent Orange.

During the Vietnam War, American forces blanketed Hoi An and the surrounding region with the deadly chemical compound Agent Orange as they tried to fend off enemy troops. Thousands of innocent civilians died from exposure. And for more than two generations, women in areas once hit by Agent Orange have given birth to children with much higher-than-normal rates of physical and developmental disabilities.

But in this region with such high needs, there are few resources specifically for children with disabilities. That’s why the Kianh Foundation is so important.

The Kianh Foundation is an incredible, one-of-a-kind school for children with disabilities and special needs in Vietnam. Here, they learn life skills, have access to occupational and physical therapy — and grow and develop beyond what their families ever dreamed possible.

Every day, children with autism, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy and more come from the surrounding area to learn. But there are many more who want, and need, to come.

“We have a wait list of about 200,” Hoang says. “And the school can hold just 80.”

Through word of mouth, parents hear about the Kianh Foundation and desperately hope their child can have a spot. Attendance here is one of the greatest hopes they can find for their child to thrive, and have as independent a life as possible.

Throughout Vietnam, some families know about Holt and come to us for help. But the majority are referred to Holt by the local child welfare officials. Since the end of the conflict in Vietnam, and the reunification of the country, Vietnam operates through a strong centralized government, with local branches in each province and city. Holt works closely with the government, often filling in the gaps to provide help.

“We support the parts that the government cannot,” Huong says. This can be Holt donor-funded programs like the Kianh Foundation, as well as individual families throughout the country who are living in poverty.

Family Strengthening in Vietnam

Life in Vietnam has dramatically changed in the 50 years since the end of the Vietnam War. Economic reforms have led to greater prosperity for many people. But they have also increased disparities between rich and poor, rural and urban, and ethnic majority and minority families. Rural families often migrate to cities in search of work, putting children at risk of family separation, trafficking and exploitation.

Because of this, Holt’s family strengthening program – which began because of the needs children and families faced towards the end of the war – is active and strong today, serving more than 6,000 children and families across the country.

The Vietnamese government is quick to identify families living in poverty, however they often don’t have enough resources to provide the help children and families need to overcome it. This is where Holt Vietnam and Holt donors come in with education, single mother support and economic empowerment programs.

Helping Children Go to School

Helping children go to school is one of the foundational ways Holt donors help children in Vietnam. While some aspects of school are free to students, essentials like tutoring fees, school supplies and more can easily force a child to drop out sooner than they should. But with the right materials, and the caring oversight of a Holt social worker, thousands of children are excelling in school and on their way to graduation.

This begins at even the earliest ages, at Holt-supported daycares and preschools throughout the country. Many families living in poverty would never have the option to send their child to preschool, or even have a safe place to send their child while they go to work. And because of the nutritious meal these children receive each day at preschool, malnutrition rates have dropped significantly!

Older children receive the economic support they need to continue in their studies. And for older teenagers who may have already dropped out of school — a common occurrence for those who don’t pass the entrance exam for secondary school — Holt sponsors and donors help provide vocational training. By learning a trade such as hairdressing or running a food cart, they have the opportunity to learn a stable trade to support themselves.

And the support Holt donors provide stretches to help the entire family.

Strengthening the Entire Family

“They are the poorest of the poor,” Huong says of the families in Holt’s family strengthening program today. “They’re really in need of support, and we come at the right time, when they are at the risk of family separation or at the risk of children dropping out at school.”

Some families, out of desperation and poverty, will place their child in an institution if they aren’t able to provide enough food, medical care or other basic needs. But keeping a child in the loving care of their family is Holt’s biggest goal.

They are the poorest of the poor. They’re really in need of support, and we come at the right time, when they are at the risk of family separation or at the risk of children dropping out at school.

Huong Nguyen, Holt Vietnam’s country director

To do this, Holt’s family strengthening program comes around families living in poverty, equipping them with the tools to become self-reliant and independently provide for their children.

Once these families are identified with help from the local government, a Holt social worker will visit their home, get to know their family, understand their needs and begin to make a plan with them. For many families, this can mean helping them start small businesses or other income-generating activities like raising ducks or goats, opening a small shop, and more.

“We work with them to identify their potential and abilities, and make a business plan for them,” Huong says. “It’s very individualized. It’s a case management approach.”

In Vietnam, this often works in combination with providing education to their children. Or, if they are young, single mothers, Holt’s team in Vietnam also provides support and resources as they learn to care for their baby.

The result is that each family receives just the help they need to make their life better, overcome poverty and stay together.

While Holt’s work has grown and changed over the years, its goal and the dedication of Holt staff and donors have remained the same since John Williams first arrived in Saigon in October 1974 to help create Holt’s first family strengthening program.

Amazing Commitment in Vietnam

“The degree to which the staff, under tremendously stressful circumstances, did their job…” John trails off as he fights back tears, recalling the days leading up to the babylift in April 1975. “Their commitment was amazing.”

And this amazing commitment continues today from the Holt staff, and the Holt sponsors and donors who make Holt’s work in Vietnam possible — all for the sake of children and families in need.

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The post Fifty Years After the Vietnam Babylift, Holt’s Work Continues appeared first on Holt International.

Since February 28, the security situation in Haiti has deteriorated significantly. Criminal gangs now control 80% of Port-au-Prince and have blocked access to the ports and all major roads in, out, and around the city.  Rising tensions led to the resignation of Haiti’s prime minister and it is unknown when there will be an interim government to bring stability to the country. As a result, Holt reevaluated its ability to deliver services effectively, safely and ethically in Haiti. Holt International, as a global child welfare organization, is neither equipped nor staffed to respond during a humanitarian crisis of the magnitude that is currently unfolding in Haiti. Ensuring the safety and welfare of our Haitian staff, partners and the people we serve is paramount, and sadly we are no longer able to implement programs or provide services to children and families in a way that maintains the safety and security of our teams and partners on the ground. 

This decision to suspend our operations was not made lightly, especially knowing that it is during times of crisis that we see the greatest level of needs — especially for those most vulnerable.  As such, we will continue to monitor and assess our ability to deliver programs and services and will revisit this decision if and when the situation stabilizes, which is not in the foreseeable future.  

Holt continues to process adoptions from Haiti. At present, there are a handful of families in process to adopt a child from Haiti, and several children have already been matched with these families. Our teams in the U.S. and Haiti will do everything they can to ensure these children can safely join their families in the U.S through ethical and Hague-compliant processes. Holt has closed the Haiti adoption program to new applicants.  

As we suspend our family strengthening and orphan care programs in Haiti, we are tremendously proud of the excellent work and deep impact that our staff, partners, sponsors and donors have made in the lives of thousands of children and families in Haiti. Since 2003, Holt has worked to strengthen families to prevent family separation; supported orphaned and vulnerable children with education, nutrition and health programs; and helped unite children with permanent, loving families through international adoption. Over more than two decades in Haiti, Holt has served nearly 20,000 children through our family strengthening and orphan care programs and placed over 110 children through international adoption.  

For media inquiries, email media@holtinternational.org.

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Produced by Empowered and hosted by actress Meg Ryan, the five-minute documentary shares about the changes in international adoption in recent years, the need for post-adoption services among adoptees and adoptive families, and why it’s so important that international adoption continues as a path to a family for children living in orphanages around the world.

The team from Empowered visited Holt headquarters over the summer to interview members of Holt leadership as well as Holt’s board chair, Derek Parker, Chinese adoptee Katelyn Dixon, and international medicine doctor and adoptee Dr. Judith Eckerle — all of whom appear in the final piece.

The documentary will periodically air on PBS stations throughout the coming year, and we hope it inspires viewers to learn more about Holt’s work and mission to ensure stable, loving families for children— and provide support and resources to help adoptees and their families thrive throughout their lives.

View the video now, with introduction by Meg Ryan, on the Empowered site!    

Keep a Child From Growing Up in an Orphanage!

Just $43 helps provide the food, medical care and more a child needs to stay with their birth family or join a family through adoption.

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The bottom line is that working with a Hague-accredited agency (like Holt!) means you can have confidence about your adoption. Rest assured that each step of the process is ethical and operates in the best interests of the child. Here are a few more points that are important to know!

In 1993, the Hague Convention passed a set of international policies and procedures regarding international adoption. They were designed to ensure that international adoption occurs ethically, focused on the rights and dignity of the child or children involved. Holt International pioneered many aspects of the Hague Convention. In addition, representatives from Holt also helped craft the legislation.

In the 1980s, two representatives from Holt traveled to the Netherlands. There they participated in the Special Commission to the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption. Their names were David Kim and Susan Soonkeum Cox, long-time Holt employees who advocated passionately for children and their rights.

In his book “Who Will Answer?” David Kim wrote, “The final draft was vigilantly worked out by more than 150 delegates from 67 countries with different languages, cultures, legal systems, and religions, and finally signed. It was the most important event since intercountry adoption services were introduced after the Second World War.”

The Hague Convention outlined best practices for cooperation between governments, establishing a central authority within a country to manage adoptions and accreditation of adoption agencies.

But why is Hague accreditation important today? What does it mean for adoptive families and children waiting to be adopted? We hope the following answers some of your questions!

Why is Hague accreditation important to adoptive families today?

Its requirements remain closely followed by reputable adoption agencies in countries around the world to this day. This ensures an ethical adoption process for all involved.

What differentiates an agency that is Hague accredited?

Agencies with Hague accreditation adhere to a high standard of transparency and diligence in their work with children, families and governments, both at home and overseas.

“Hague accredited agencies go through a process every four years to renew their accreditation,” says Lisa Vertulfo, Holt’s vice president of adoption services. “There are standards Hague agencies must meet in all areas of their adoption work. An accrediting entity reviews us. Then, in the middle of those four years, there is an ongoing monitoring and oversight process. They review things like our financials to ensure we’re meeting the standards, and they evaluate how we work with families, overseas partners and agencies here in U.S.”

So, when you adopt from a Hague-accredited agency, you can have full confidence that your prospective child was treated ethically from beginning to end. You are indeed their last, best hope for a permanent family.

“Holt always had most of the same standards for adoption — almost all of our process were the same before The Hague convention,” says Lisa. “But what this does it is gives you a structure and clear guidelines to work within. Right now, they talk about trying to keep the child with birth family or doing domestic adoption. We’ve been talking about that forever! Our philosophies have always been aligned.”

What does Hague accreditation mean for the child?

Hague accreditation also requires that any child who might be eligible for international adoption must first go through a process where all other options are exhausted. First, agencies like Holt pursue reuniting the child with their birth family, if at all possible. Sometimes the family cannot be found or voluntarily relinquishes their rights. If so, the next step is to pursue domestic adoption for the child. Hague accreditation prioritizes the child remaining in their birth country and culture wherever possible. If domestic adoption is not an option, then, and only then, does the adoption agency begin seeking a family for the child through international adoption.

Should I not pursue adoption with a country that hasn’t ratified the Hague Convention?

While Hague accreditation does establish important parameters for child protection, in the United States there is something called the Universal Accreditation Act (UAA). The UAA mandates that an adoption service provider (ASP), an organization like Holt, must comply with all of the Hague’s guidelines — regardless of whether or not the country they are working with has ratified the Hague Convention.

“Sometimes a country may not have ratified the Hague due to their nation’s level of development and organization,” says Lisa. “You have to have a strong infrastructure in place, for example, like a central adoption authority. Some countries aren’t equipped for that. But the UAA assures families pursuing an intercountry adoption that, regardless of which country they intend to adopt from, the [U.S.-based agency] they choose will comply with the same ethical standards of practice and conduct.”

In other words, pursuing international adoption from the United States ensures that any child on track to be placed with a family is already safeguarded by the highest standard of adoption protection.

What else should people know about The Hague convention?

“When you’re impacting so many lives with an adoption process, there can’t be too many safeguards around it,” says Lisa. “I think that Hague accreditation really just provides that structure and safety. You are doing things in the best interests of the child’s birth family, foster family and future adoptive family. I think that adoptive parents, especially informed ones, want to make sure that all those things are in place.”

Sign up for an Adoption Information Meeting!

Are you considering adopting a child? Attend a free Zoom adoption information meeting to learn about country requirements, parent eligibility, the profile of children waiting for families — and ask any other questions you have about international adoption!

Register here

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History of Holt Adoptee Camp

This year, Holt Adoptee Camp will celebrate its 40^th anniversary!

The program first began in the early 1980s as a Korean heritage camp, started by David Kim, president emeritus of Holt and one of its founders. The camp’s purpose was to connect Korean adoptees with their birth culture. As time went on, more adoptees from other countries began attending. Additionally, adoptive parents of children from countries such as Thailand, Philippines, etc. pushed for Holt to include all adoptees, regardless of their birth country. This required a new approach and evolved into camp as we know it today.

This summer, camp will take place in three different locations across the country — in Oregon, Wisconsin and New Jersey. It is expected to serve 200-300 campers.

A Unique Curriculum Created by Adoptees

Holt Adoptee Camp is in many ways like any other summer camp, but with the added benefit of youth adoptees having the opportunity to connect with others who have the shared experience of growing up adopted. Holt’s post-adoption team — made up of adult adoptees and social workers — created a unique curriculum that gives campers an opportunity to talk openly about their stories, topics around adoption, racism, identity and community. Some specific conversations include adoptee and racial identity, the portrayal of adoption in the media, and the importance of each individual story. One day of camp is dedicated to history, during which campers can discuss and ask questions about birth search. Each camp location also offers various options for fun and recreation.

This summer, Holt camp will have a new director, Nate Schiffer. A former counselor, Nate says one of his favorite things about camp is “hearing about campers lives and where they are at in their journey pertaining to adoption as well as their life and extra curriculars.” He hopes the campers come away with understanding that there is no blueprint for navigating life growing up as an adoptee, and wherever they are in their journey is okay.

“My hope is that camp gives them the confidence and the tools to talk about adoption when people unfamiliar with the topic ask questions,” he says.

Elliot Bliss, former camper and now Holt’s post-adoption programs lead, describes Holt Adoptee Camp as “a community of only adoptees where they can learn about and explore topics such as adoptee and racial identity, birth search, the adoption story, racism, how to deal with stereotypes, and the adoption narrative that the media often uses and how that impacts adoptees.”

New This Year: Parent Camp

Holt Adoptee Camp is introducing a new virtual activity for summer 2023: “Parent Camp.” During each camp week, the camp director and a social worker will hold hour-long meetings for parents during which they can find out more about the curriculum their children are learning and ask any questions they may have.

The final day of Parent Camp will include an adult adoptee panel. The adoptees on the panel will discuss their experiences as adoptees, how they’ve benefitted from post-adoption programming such as Holt camp and give time for parents to ask questions.

Lastly, because of popular demand from campers and their parents alike, Holt camp will be one day longer in Wisconsin and New Jersey, and three days longer in Oregon.  

“This adoptee community gives adoptees a sense of belonging, a place (for many) where most of the people look like them, lifelong friendships and mentors,” says Elliot. “The lifelong bonds and friendships that campers make are profound.”

We are excited to celebrate four decades of serving youth adoptees and their families and look forward to many more years of adventures and memories!

Registration for Holt Adoptee Camp is now open!

At camp, adoptees have the chance to try new things, make new friends and share their experiences with other adoptees! This program is available to all domestic, international, transracial or transcultural adoptees, ages 9-17.

register today

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