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In recent years, Holt International has made a significant shift from serving children primarily through adoption to helping tens of thousands more children every year to remain in the loving care of their birth families. Below, Holt President and CEO Phil Littleton shares how Holt has grown and changed in the years since our founding in 1956.

Looking back, I feel so proud of Holt’s journey as an organization. In 1956, our founders pioneered the modern practice of international adoption — overcoming legal and cultural barriers to unite children born overseas with loving adoptive families in the U.S. They believed that every child deserves to grow up in a home of his or her own. And by adopting children born of a different race and nationality, they redefined the notion of family.

Today, we still share the vision of our founders. We still believe that love transcends barriers of race, religion and nationality. And we still seek a world where every child has a stable, loving home. But as Holt has grown over the years, we have also progressed as an organization — developing a core philosophy around which we have built robust, child-focused programs that directly meet the needs of over 322,000 children annually and in total reach over one million children, families and individuals in 17 locations across the globe.

The vast majority of the children we serve are not on track for adoption. In fact, every year, Holt serves tens of thousands more children through family strengthening programs than we do through adoption. We believe, first and foremost, that whenever possible children should grow up in the loving care of their birth families. Through the years, this fundamental belief has led our organization to become a global leader in family preservation and reunification — providing the tools and resources that empower families to grow stable, self-reliant and equipped to independently care for their children.

We believe, first and foremost, that whenever possible children should grow up in the loving care of their birth families.

In recent years, Holt International has made a significant shift from serving children primarily through adoption to helping tens of thousands more children every year to remain in the loving care of their birth families. Below, Holt President and CEO Phil Littleton shares how Holt has grown and changed in the years since our founding in 1956.

Looking back, I feel so proud of Holt’s journey as an organization. In 1956, our founders pioneered the modern practice of international adoption — overcoming legal and cultural barriers to unite children born overseas with loving adoptive families in the U.S. They believed that every child deserves to grow up in a home of his or her own. And by adopting children born of a different race and nationality, they redefined the notion of family.

Today, we still share the vision of our founders. We still believe that love transcends barriers of race, religion and nationality. And we still seek a world where every child has a stable, loving home. But as Holt has grown over the years, we have also progressed as an organization — developing a core philosophy around which we have built robust, child-focused programs that directly meet the needs of over 322,000 children annually and in total reach over one million children, families and individuals in 17 locations across the globe.

The vast majority of the children we serve are not on track for adoption. In fact, every year, Holt serves tens of thousands more children through family strengthening programs than we do through adoption. We believe, first and foremost, that whenever possible children should grow up in the loving care of their birth families. Through the years, this fundamental belief has led our organization to become a global leader in family preservation and reunification — providing the tools and resources that empower families to grow stable, self-reliant and equipped to independently care for their children.

We believe, first and foremost, that whenever possible children should grow up in the loving care of their birth families.

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

The Department of State (the Department) is the lead Federal agency for implementation of the 1993 Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (the Convention), the Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000 (IAA), and the Intercountry Adoption Universal Accreditation Act of 2012 (UAA). Among other things, the IAA and UAA give the Secretary of State responsibility, by entering into agreements with one or more qualified entities and designating such entities as accrediting entities, for the accreditation of agencies and approval of persons to provide adoption services in intercountry adoptions. This notice is to inform the public that on June 2, 2022, the Department entered into a renewed agreement with Intercountry Adoption Accreditation and Maintenance Entity, Inc. (IAAME), designating IAAME as an accrediting entity (AE) for five years.

The text of the Memorandum of Agreement is included in its entirety at the end of this Notice.

PRESIDENT MICHAEL D Higgins has signed into law the legislation to provide adopted people access to their information.

The Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022 was brought forward by Minister for Children Roderic O’Gorman.

It recently passed in both the Dáil and the Seanad and has now been signed into law by the President.

The Bill provides for the release of an adopted person’s birth certificate, baptism cert, birth information, early life information, and medical information, as well as the release of information to a next-of-kin of an adopted person who has since died.

It will also apply to people who were boarded out or were the subject of an illegal birth registration.

The Centre is soon going to make it mandatory to clear adoption requests within two months, a change that will bring succour to prospective parents who have to wait for years looking to adopt.

The changes will be brought about in the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Model

Rules, which will soon be notified, DH has learnt. The Rules, which were due for an amendment after

the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Amendment Act was amended in 2021, will be

notified soon.

The Haryana State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (HSCPCR) has recommended Director General of Police (DGP) PK Agrawal to form special teams to rescue illegally adopted children from the deras run by transgenders across the state.

The commission has made the recommendation to the DGP after visiting a number of such deras in the state.

In Dadli Kheda dera at Narwana, a two-month-old girl child was found illegally adopted by mahant Resham Ma. As Resham failed to produce any proof of adoption, the commission took the custody of the girl and sent her to a Child Care Institution.

In Jind, two girls aged two and 17 were found illegally adopted in a transgenders’ dera by mahant Meenu and Seema. No adoption proof or any surrender deed was available with them whereas the Aadhaar cards of the girls found a mention of transgenders Meenu and Seema as parents. They said the girls were found at their doorstep.

Meanwhile, a boy recently managed to escape from the custody of a transgender dera in Jhajjar district. He said his parents had handed him over to the dera.

As many of you know: Chile has investigated their overseas adoption “program”. According to the Chilean investigation about 25 per cent of all their adoptions were illegal or unethical. The Chilean investigation sparked the current Swedish investigation of intercountry adoptions to Sweden.

So why do we have so much knowledge about Chilean adoptions but not the Korean ones? The answer is simple: Korea has not actually researched their adoption program so far. Just like Chile, Korea did have a truth and reconciliation investigation but unlike in Chile, the Korean one never included the adoption program.

An investigation of the Korean adoptions just started

Earlier in 2022, the National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHR) announced a research grant of 50 million won (approx. €/$30 000) for investigation of human rights violations carried out in relation to overseas adoption.

The Korean research team

MANILA – More adoptive parents and children longing for homes will have better chances of spending a lifetime together with the simplified process of adoption.

Senator Grace Poe on Tuesday said the finalization of the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of Republic Act (RA) 11642 or the Domestic Administrative Adoption and Alternative Child Care Act coincided with the 40th day since her adoptive mother, actress Susan Roces, passed away.

The co-author of the landmark law on child care was the keynote speaker at the ceremonial signing of the IRR at the Manila Diamond Hotel in Malate.

"This is a milestone in our shared aspiration to ensure the best interest and future of our children," Poe said in a statement.

The IRR will buttress collaborative efforts for the welfare of Filipino children.

Biological parents of a newborn girl have moved the Gujarat High Court for her custody to ensure she does not end up in jail with her surrogate mother.

The parents, originally from Ajmer, Rajasthan, came in contact with the surrogate a year ago. The procedure was carried out under the guidance of a doctor. In February, the pregnant surrogate was booked for kidnapping a child based on a complaint filed at the Gomtipur police station in Ahmedabad. She was arrested and kept in custody.

Himalayan Homestays Supporting Rural Empowerment

The surrogate gave birth to the girl at Asarwa Civil Hospital two days ago and is willing to give the child to the biological parents. However, the Gomtipur police have refused to do so, as, according to rules, the surrogate gave birth to the child and the newborn will have to stay with her even when she is in jail. The surrogate will be re-arrested once she is discharged from the hospital.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Arvind Kumar has allowed an urgent hearing.