A Life in Pictures

Holt adoptive mom Linda Holm creates a scrapbook for her daughter’s former sponsors, sharing how her life unfolded since she came home to a loving family.

Our family has been blessed to adopt two beautiful daughters from India. Recently, we were more than busy when they both graduated — one from college, the other from high school — and both within a week of one another!  Of course, as a parent I became a bit nostalgic, and I took some time to pause — reflecting on our daughters’ pasts as I contemplated their futures.

Our family has sponsored children from India for many years, and I have sometimes wondered whatever became of these children after they left sponsorship. I contacted Holt to see if either of my daughters had sponsors while they lived in India, waiting to join our family.  I found out that my high school graduate had received support from a sponsor family.  I thought that perhaps her sponsors might have wondered how her future had unfolded over the years, and so I created a special scrapbook for them.  It became a sort of closure for me after she had reached that high school graduation milestone.  As I had already assembled my daughter’s Pre-K through grade 12 photos for her high school graduation open house, I decided to create the sponsor’s scrapbook while everything was still at my fingertips.

I believe scrapbooking is important — especially for families with adopted children.  I want to be able to give my children a history, even if that history began the day they became part of our family.  I want them to see photos of all the enrichment activities we got them involved in.  Since we had no idea what their interest areas might be, we decided it was our responsibility to ‘throw’ activities their way just to see what they might ‘catch.’  In this way, we hoped to help them find a passion that could provide a path for their lives.  We got our daughters involved in school activities, music, dance, art, sports, scouts, church and community events.  Each year I chronicled our family’s activities so that we could look back to relive, remember and celebrate them.

At one time, my girls thought that our family would adopt our sponsored children. I had to explain to them that that’s not how sponsorship works. We are allowed to help support a child for a time, but once their birth family becomes stable or they join an adoptive family, our support is then re-directed to another child who needs our help.  Through the years, we have sponsored many children from India ranging in age from infants to school-age.  Our current sponsored child is not awaiting adoption. She lives with her parents, and receives our sponsorship support to help with her educational expenses.  We are delighted that our money can help her stay in school so that she can enjoy a bright future while continuing to live with her birth family.  We are interested to read her progress reports, and to know that she can remain in school with our financial support.

Perhaps someday, we may receive a photo scrapbook of one of our sponsored children. Perhaps not.  But in any case, we have the satisfaction of knowing that we have changed the world… both through adoption, and through sponsoring children who needed our help.

Linda Holm | Cedar Falls, Iowa

Holt Child Sponsorship

Holt sponsorship is unique among child sponsorship programs. Through their $30 monthly gifts, sponsors not only provide food, clothing and shelter for a vulnerable child, but in most cases, they are also helping a child to grow in the loving care of a family.

Most sponsored children — about 80 percent — already live with their families, but are at risk of separating from them due to poverty or another hardship. In this case, sponsors help a struggling family to care for their child — providing the tools and resources they need to grow stable and self-reliant, and to independently support their child.

Not every child can remain or reunite with their birth family, however. For these children, Holt sponsors are a bridge of love — providing nurturing, temporary care while Holt works to find them a permanent, loving family through adoption.

To help every family succeed, Holt also tailors services to each family and each child in our sponsorship program. Depending on their individual needs, sponsorship may provide:
daycare
educational support and scholarships
nutritious food
warm clothing
medical care
temporary foster care
support and services for children with special needs
support and resources for single mothers
job skills training or microloans to help their parents earn vital income

Whether a child is already in a family, or preparing to join one, you can be a key part of their story — providing everything they need to reach their full potential in life.