My Name is Life - Holt International

“Then that’s what we’ll do,” said Bertha matter-of-factly.
She recruited neighbors and friends to join in her letter-writing campaign. Less than two
months later, on the last night of the session, Congress passed a brief bill specifically allowing
Harry and Bertha to adopt eight children from Korea.
When Harry returned with their eight children in October 1955, the press was there.
The Holt story quickly spread around the country. Harry and Bertha planned to settle in
quietly with their newly arrived children, but almost immediately other families started
calling and writing, asking how they, too, could adopt a child from Korea.
Harry could not forget the “tiny outstretched arms” of children who remained behind.
Less than a year after they first learned about orphans in Korea, Harry made plans
to return to Korea. With Harry in Korea and Bertha in the United States, they launched a
program to care for children until they could be placed with adoptive families.
In the 1950s adoption was usually a secretive process. Children were matched to families
according to physical characteristics in an effort to conceal the fact they were adopted.
The Holts’ example reversed this thinking. Though the Holts weren’t the first to adopt
from overseas, the publicity around their adoption opened the eyes of the world to a
reality that resonated with thousands of families. This ordinary couple from Oregon
showed the world that a family is not limited by race and nationality, and that love
and commitment are the true bonds of a family.
Caring for Orphaned, Abandoned and Vulnerable Children
Officially incorporated in 1956 and initially financed almost entirely by Harry
and Bertha’s personal holdings, the Holt program drew international attention,
honor and criticism right from the beginning. The Holts kept their focus on
the children, on literally saving their lives through medical care, nutrition
and finding homes and loving hands to care for them.
Harry and Bertha Holt followed their instincts regarding the care of
children, and they were innovators too. They developed attentive styles and
methods of child caring that continue to be the hallmark of Holt’s work and
advocacy today:
• Caring touch—childcare workers touch and hold children affectionately. Infants
are held when fed.
• Verbal stimulation—childcare workers speak often to the children, encouraging
the development of language and a connection with others.
• Freedom to explore and develop—children are taken out of cribs as often as
possible so they can develop their motor and sensory skills.
• Comprehensive Intake Procedures—whenever a child comes
into care of a Holt partner agency, the child’s birth family
receives counseling to determine if that family can be
kept together. If a child is abandoned, Holt partners
try to locate the birth family to assess their capabilities
and gather background information. If a child is
adopted, the background information becomes even
more valuable to the child in the future.
This page: Harry Holt comforts a tiny girl in Korea, 1955. • Opposite, top:
Food donations are delivered to Ilsan in the early 1960s. Images of starvation
and malnutrition among the children of Korea catalyzed a huge response. In
addition to personal donations made by the Holt family, many individuals, organizations,
church communities and even the food industry itself sent food to help
feed Korean children. • Center left: Dr. Cho, Byung Kuk, a pediatrician, began working
for Harry Holt in 1959. “He never minded any inconvenience if it was for children,” she
said after his death. • Right: As a young nurse in Korea, Molly Holt assists Dr. Ralph Ten Have in
caring for a malnourished infant. Harry Holt hired Dr. Ten Have as his medical assistant in 1958.
• Below: Children play on a swing at one of the early Holt childcare centers in Korea.
6 50th Anniversary 2006
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