Holt International Children's Services

For 50 years, Holt has been finding families for the world's orphaned, abandoned and vulnerable children through family preservation, reunification or domestic and international adoption. Every child deserves a home.

How do you help people in my community?

Holt began when Harry and Bertha Holt adopted eight Korean children in 1955, shortly after the Korean War. Holt was officially incorporated in October 1956, but the overseas work actually began before that in spring of 1956. At that time, adoption was regarded as something to be kept secret, but the Holts openly adopted children who were obviously not born to them. They demonstrated that a family's love can transcend biology, race and nationality. They elevated the status of adopted children. In doing this they also elevated the status of homeless children around the world.

Historically some cultures viewed children without parents as non-persons or second-class citizens. Through years of caring for these children and placing them with loving adoptive families, many of these same cultures now recognize that these orphaned and abandoned children have the potential to be someone's son or daughter.

Why do you need my support?

Aren't you an adoption agency? Why do you also need donations?  Holt International is much more than an adoption agency. We find families for children. Not the other way around. Our emphasis is on what's best for the child. We are committed to an ethical child-centered approach. This means several things.

1. We develop programs that provide safe, nurturing environments for the children. We provide attentive care that children need in order to develop appropriately until they can be placed with a permanent family.

2. It also means that we don't place all of the children with U.S. adoptive families. In many cases the best place for a homeless child is to returned to or helped stay with his or her birth family.

3. It's true that a child's need for a family is immediate, and we do our best to place children as quickly as possible, but to ensure that we have investigated the different options for a child, and made sure that all of the legal requirements are done correctly, we do have to care for children for months, even years in some instances.

4. Some children have medical needs.

5. We don't want to be perpetuating the problems that cause children to lose their parents in their birth countries. Another significant part of our work is to affect the policies and attitudes so that fewer children will be relinquished or abandoned and that more children will be adopted in their birth country.

All of these efforts are beyond the fair costs that we can ethically charge for adoption fees. And so we rely upon caring people to join us in our mission. Holt is dedicated to all children having a permanent, loving family. And that means a significantly larger number of children who really shouldn't be placed with American adoptive families.

How can I be sure that you will use my money wisely and won't waste it?

We at Holt are committed to serving children and families through the highest levels of ethical practice and administrative/financial integrity. We strive for prudent and effective use of donated funds and adoption fees, and we publicly report our finances every year. Holt International qualifies as a tax-exempt, non-profit organization under IRS code 501(c)(3), and is a member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, Children's Charities of America and the Independent Charities of America. Holt is registered as a private voluntary organization with the U.S. Agency for International Development. Holt is an accredited child welfare agency and a member of the Child Welfare League of America.

Our current 2005 Annual Report can be seen at http://www.holtintl.org/annualreport/pdfs/annualreport2005.pdf

Our 2005 audited financial statement can be seen at http://www.holtintl.org/annualreport/pdfs/2005%20audit%20report.pdf

Can I Volunteer? How?

Time is one of the most protected resources people have today, largely because we have so little of it to go around. That's why each and every one of our volunteers are so important to us. The hours they give stuffing envelopes, processing files, coordinating event details or simply promoting Holt programs do not go unnoticed. And we try our best to show our appreciation of them, too! If you are interested in volunteering, please click on the link to one of the opportunities below.  Contact us via the internet at http://www.holtintl.org/volunteer/