On the eve of Holt’s foster care program transitioning to the Korean government in July 2025, Paul Kim, Holt’s program director of Korea, reflects on 60 years of foster families’ incredible service and nurturing care for children.

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.”

"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.”

"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.