“You cannot lose sight of the goal” say Holt International adoptive parents Tom and Debbie Lizer, who are now in process of adopting a second daughter from Haiti. The Lizers live in Iowa, where they find time in their busy lives to serve as Holt Ambassadors.
by Debbie Lizer
“We live vicariously through the Lizers.” That’s what our good friends tell their friends!
Who are the Lizers? My husband Tom and I and our brood — seven children, four of whom are adopted or in process of adoption from other countries — are the Lizers. We are somewhat set apart from our “normal” friends.
Our adoption journey began 19 years ago when we brought home our first daughter, Reka, from India at 22 months to join two big brothers. Our tiny little girl flourished and soon our family grew by another son. We put the thought of future adoptions not out of our minds, but still buried rather deeply.
After years of waiting for the right time to make the decision about another adoption, we realized that time was making the decision for us. If we were going to do this, it was now or probably never. I started searching Holt’s Waiting Child website “just to see who was out there.” We thought we might be interested in a preschool-aged child and soon came upon a little girl from India with many unknowns. She stole our hearts and before long, we were working on a dossier, knowing that the choice wasn’t necessarily “safe,” but it was right. Four-year-old Vaishali joined us in a year, and we thought our family was probably complete.
It was during the post-placement phase of this adoption that our social worker urged us to consider Holt’s new Haiti program if we should want to proceed with any subsequent adoptions. We smiled and said, “We’ll see,” but thought, “That won’t happen.” In time, though, curiosity got the best of us. We started reading about the Haiti program in Holt International magazine and checked out the waiting children on the website, “just to see who was out there.” Our interest grew as we noticed the older girls needing families. We reasoned we could handle the placement of an older child, as we had already mastered the ’tween and teen years (to the extent that that’s possible!) and, we rationalized, we really could use a playmate for Vaishali, a sibling closer to her age. We noticed a little girl 7 years old, and our interest continued to grow. Maybe she would fit our plan. But God had a different plan, one much more complex than our own, one that started us on a new journey down a long and rocky road. Yet, God’s plan was a perfect one, and this is how it has been unveiled… Read the rest of this entry »
Eugene, OR— The board of directors of Holt International announced today that Kim Brown has been elected to the position of Holt Chief Executive Officer effective immediately. Mr. Brown has served on the Holt board since 1999 and was the first adoptee selected as board chair.
During its annual board meeting, the board also elected Will Dantzler of Manassas, VA as the organization’s new chair. Dantzler, who is also a Korean adoptee, expressed his gratitude to the organization that was responsible for finding him a family. “Serving as a member of the board, and now as the board chair, is an honor as well as an opportunity to give back to this amazing organization. I join the rest of the board in looking forward to Kim Brown as Holt’s new CEO.”
Dantzler stated, “These are challenging times for international adoption. The board unanimously believes that Kim is uniquely positioned to lead Holt during this critical time of uncertainty in the global economy and worldwide changes for intercountry adoption and child welfare.”
Brown has an extensive background in business and organizational management. In addition to his personal experience as a Korean adoptee, Kim and his wife, Lori, are the parents of two children whom they adopted from Korea. “I have come full circle, both as a Korean adoptee and as an adoptive parent. In addition to the business and management experience I need for this job, I have the personal life changing experience of adoption as well.” Read the rest of this entry »
With quiet, gentle intensity Dr. Cho listens to the heartbeat and breathing of a newborn infant on the examining table before her. Watching her unhurried attention on this one child, it’s hard to comprehend that this one doctor has listened with this same singular focus on more than 50,000 children.
Dr. Cho, Byung-kuk has served as the primary pediatrician for Holt Children’s Services of Korea throughout most of its 52-year history. She even did a portion of her internship assisting Holt founder Harry Holt as he gathered up the weakest and most vulnerable homeless children in postwar Korea.
Throughout her career Dr. Cho has performed the initial medical evaluations on children coming into the care of Holt-Korea as well as the routine, bi-weekly check-ups on children in foster care. This devotion to children’s health has helped many children on their way to permanent adoptive families. Read the rest of this entry »
Not quite 3 years old, the little boy with the dark hair and dark eyes loved to dance — and he knew how to relate. “He got me dancing with him,” said Abbie Smith, director of the Holt International Waiting Child program.
Smith and Angie Wharfield, social services director for Holt International’s Bulgaria program, were in Bulgaria a week ago, where they interacted with dozens of children in five childcare institutions – four baby homes for children birth to 3, and one orphanage for children 3 to 5.
At one of the baby homes, they met a group of especially glowing children. “The children were obviously well cared for, and happy, and they had spent time learning folk dancing,” said Smith. “This little boy liked to dance with a partner.”
Wharfield and Smith also met with Bulgaria’s Deputy Minister of Justice. The attorney and CEO of Holt’s Bulgarian partner agency, Vesta, is currently working with the Ministry of Justice to draft a new family code that will amend the law favorably for adoption practices, including children with special needs.
“Overall, I have been motivated by the tireless care and work being done for children living in institutional care in Bulgaria,” said Wharfield. “Even when adoptions slowed and most U.S. agencies had to withdraw from adoptions in Bulgaria, Vesta and these institutions found creative and innovative ways to continue the good, quality care to children. The care I observed over the last week reflected the sacrifice and commitment these individuals have to the children in their care. And the proof is in the smiles and laughter observed in these children.” Read the rest of this entry »
Several Holt International adoptive families had the opportunity to show off their children and discuss concerns about current long wait times for receiving referrals when high-ranking officials from China’s Department of Social Welfare and Social Affairs of the Ministry of Civil Affairs visited a family’s home last weekend in Portland, Oregon.
After touring the Holt International headquarters in Eugene, the Chinese delegation traveled to Portland and met with two Holt adoptive families. The delegation and the families talked about the lives of adoptive children and the future of adoption from China. Mary Masterson, a Holt adoptee from Korea who has also adopted two children from China through Holt, hosted the gathering at her home. Read the rest of this entry »
Keri Horn-Bolivar, the first child adopted from Vietnam through Holt International, recently won the Florida Beginning Teacher of the Year Award, given by the Florida Council of Teachers of English. Keri teaches English to 8th graders.
She earned her M.A. in English at the University of South Florida earlier this year, and an M.A. in Organizational Management from the University of Phoenix in 2004.
Keri lives in Tampa, Florida, with her husband, Rick Bolivar. She came home to Ann Horn-Gross and Kermit Horn in 1972 and grew up in Eugene, Oregon.
For more about recent Holt graduates, see the Fall edition of Holt International magazine.
One of the first families to adopt through Holt International’s Ethiopia program reports on their experience
By Jody Lawson
After considering adoption for nearly five years, my husband and I formally applied to adopt with Holt in January 2006, with China as our chosen country. A year and a half later we still did not have a referral, and projections for standard process referrals had lengthened. We were going to pull our dossier.
Much to our delight, we received a call from Holt International informing us they were going to be offering adoption services in countries that included Ethiopia. We were drawn to Ethiopia and more than happy to be a “pioneer” family for Holt in Ethiopia.
We received our dossier instructions in August and submitted our dossier in September. I knew we would be receiving our referral in January, so I carried my cell phone in my back pocket the whole month. No call. Little did I know this was the month our sweet girl was born.
Our referral came in March. We learned that our daughter’s name is Lechame, and she is the most beautiful and sweet girl! We received an Ethiopian court date of May and were set to travel for our embassy appointment in June.
Traveling to Ethiopia
We felt very fortunate that Holt arranges groups of families to travel to Ethiopia. Dr. Fikru and his wife, Selam, and Holt staff Tamrat, who works in the Addis office, were at the airport with smiles to greet us.
When we arrived at the hotel we had to check in by candlelight, as they have rolling blackouts every three to four days in Addis Ababa. It was kind of cool to check in by candlelight. We had no idea what anything looked like because it was so dark. Despite the jet lag, I had a hard time falling asleep thinking of Lechame’s little body sleeping next door!
We went to meet our children at 10 a.m. We were the last family to get our turn. When we met Lechame she was on her tummy hanging out with three of her buddies on the floor. She was so sweet and magnificent to hold.
The Holt transition center is beautiful. The staff keeps it immaculate. The office staff goes out of their way to be helpful and the nannies, along with all the staff, love the children. It is so wonderful to see the awesome treatment these children are being given while in Holt’s care. We could not have been happier Read the rest of this entry »
My husband and I decided we wanted to adopt a child on September 15, 2005. Little did we know that our son had been born in Guatemala just 15 days earlier. We wouldn’t actually hear his name or see his face for 14 months. Two years and seven months later, we brought him home.
I decided to write this in hopes that we would encourage other families to have the faith to go the distance. Every child that comes into this world comes through labor. Waiting takes tremendous strength and patience. You experience a labor that is unexplainable, but not unlike childbirth as I imagine it. In a society where everything is quick and we are taught to go after whatever we want in life, there sits international adoption telling us: not in our time but in God’s time. Read the rest of this entry »
Seventeen people ran as “the Holt International Team” in the recent Omaha Marathon and raised over $6,400 for children in the care of Holt’s Ethiopia program.
“We had a blast and raised our expected goal for the children in Ethiopia,” said Holt team organizers Juliet Brown and Cathy Morin. “Along with those that ran for Holt, we also had more than 20 volunteers who worked at the Holt water station.”
Eleven-year-old Holt adoptee Emma Frerichs ran the 10K route and received second place in the 15 year old and younger division.
We send a big thank you to Holt International supporters who participated in the Omaha Marathon on September 28. These funds will have a dramatic impact upon the lives of orphaned, abandoned and vulnerable Ethiopian children who need families of their own.
Holt Ambassadors volunteer their efforts to raise funds and find families for children in Holt programs around the world.
In facing what is a growing crisis, China’s Health Ministry reported early this week that about 13,000 children have been hospitalized from drinking contaminated milk, with another 40,000 having undergone outpatient treatment.
Jian Chen, Holt International China program director, said that most Holt-supported projects in China use imported formulas that are not on the list of tainted formulas. But some local orphanages may have used tainted formula.
“Throughout China, all orphanages appear to be very active and using all precautions,” she said. “Some orphanages are taking children for ultrasound checks if they were fed one of the tainted formulas, especially if the formula had a large amount of melamine. The government is covering all medical expenses.”
“We know that families are concerned about what may have happened to their children, especially those who have already been matched with a child,” said Jian. “Holt is doing its best to gather information from authorities from orphanages in which we have matched children—and to let our families know.”
“You cannot lose sight of the goal” say Holt International adoptive parents Tom and Debbie Lizer, who are now in process of adopting a second daughter from Haiti. The Lizers live in Iowa, where they find time in their busy lives to serve as Holt Ambassadors. 
