("Holt International Children's Services" )
"She championed the idea that love and a safe, permanent home could transcend differences of nationality, race, and ethnic background."
~Hillary Rodham Clinton
"Grandma" Holt
While in South Korea in 1964, Harry Holt suffered a heart attack and died. People thought the adoption agency would close, but "Grandma" Holt, as she was called, kept it going. She worked to improve conditions at the Ilsan Center in Korea, built by the Holts as an orphanage and now home to 300 disabled children. Bertha also worked to get other countries to set up adoption programs. She wanted other children from all over the world to have a loving family (Dewan).
"After Harry's death, Grandma Holt continued to lead the organization, advocating for homeless and special needs children worldwide. Through her leadership, Holt International grew to reach 12 countries, partnering with governmental and non-governmental organizations to help prevent child abuse and abandonment as well as to facilitate adoptions." ("Women's History Month")
In the early 1980's, under Bertha's direction, Holt International helped write the Hague Treaty, an agreement that set standards for international adoption to protect children, birth families, and adoptive families. Holt later represented the U.S. at the Hague Treaty Convention in 1993 ("Holt International Children's Services").
"After Harry's death, Grandma Holt continued to lead the organization, advocating for homeless and special needs children worldwide. Through her leadership, Holt International grew to reach 12 countries, partnering with governmental and non-governmental organizations to help prevent child abuse and abandonment as well as to facilitate adoptions." ("Women's History Month")
In the early 1980's, under Bertha's direction, Holt International helped write the Hague Treaty, an agreement that set standards for international adoption to protect children, birth families, and adoptive families. Holt later represented the U.S. at the Hague Treaty Convention in 1993 ("Holt International Children's Services").
"The Holt adoption agency have made it their mission to help children to have permanent families within the United State and international countries. My mother always said that she wanted to be remembered 'as that lady who loved the Lord.' It was their love that changed the lives of children around the world and today thousands of adoptees enjoy the legacy of love that Bertha and Harry Holt pioneered through international adoption." (Stampe)
Bertha Holt
(Photos from Holt International Children's Services) |
("Harry Holt")
"Then after they had been in a home one week... everything changed. They knew they were loved." ~Bertha Holt ("Sept. 21st RDTV")
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