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Why International Adoption is Still Needed

Until we live in a world where every child can grow up safe and loved  in a permanent, loving family, Holt will continue to provide and advocate for ethical, child-centered international adoption. 

Late last month, our fellow U.S. adoption agency Bethany Christian Services announced their decision not to renew their international adoption accreditation when it expires at the end of March 2021. In a blog post, their vice president of global programs, Kristi Gleason, shared how they prayerfully came to this decision after nearly 40 years of helping children come home to families through international adoption.

“The future of adoption is working with local governments, churches, and social services professionals around the world to recruit and support local families for children and to develop and improve effective, safe in-country child welfare systems,” Gleason wrote. Continue reading “Why International Adoption is Still Needed”

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Charlize Needs a Family!

Could you be the right family for Charlize?

Charlize is a smart and active girl who loves school and is a talented artist.

Charlize came into orphanage care in China when she was 5 years old. When she was 6, she was adopted domestically in China, but her adoptive parents relinquished her back to the orphanage a year and a half later. Now 11, Charlize longs for a permanent, loving family of her own.

Charlize loves school, and though she doesn’t get as much support as she would if she lived in a family, she is succeeding in her classes! She is especially good at languages — Chinese and English — as well as math and art. She gets along well with her teachers and peers, and communicates herself well.

In August 2018, Charlize was reported to have moderate anemia and physical delays, but our social work staff has not seen indications of these delays in her videos or other information.

Charlize has been through several transitions in her young life, but she is brave and full of hope that she will one day have the love and stability of an adoptive family.

Could you be the right family for Charlize? For more information about this brave girl, contact Alycia Fahr-Zarlons at alyciaf@holtinternational.org.

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Indian Adoptees Reunited After 30 Years

Thrity-one years ago today, Christina, Rekha and Deborah, along with two other Indian Adoptees, arrived in the United States.  They were escorted from India by the Poindexter family who took on an adventure of a lifetime. Since that day in December 1988, 30 years ago would go by before the women would be able to reunite in person with each other and then with the family that forever changed their lives. As we sat down with these young women we learned so much about their resiliency, heart and determination to find pieces of their past in each other. They were together from the beginning and the connections that formed as babies in India has blossomed into a friendship that is remarkable and deep.

Happy Adoption Day Christina, Rekha and Deborah! Your story is so important and we are proud to be able to share it with the world.

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How Your Life Changes When You Adopt

A young boy smiles with his adoptive parents.

When you become a parent, your life as you’ve known it for the last 20, 30, 40 years comes to an (often unceremonious) end — and a beautiful, chaotic, enriching, exhausting, unbelievably fulfilling life begins.

Everyone knows that to be true.

But when you become an adoptive parent — even if you’re already a parent — your life will change in ways that aren’t common knowledge, and that are in fact uniquely specific to this uncommon and very special path to parenthood. Continue reading “How Your Life Changes When You Adopt”