Take a look back at the Holt stories that inspired readers the most over the year — from major events to milestones reached to stories about children and families whose lives were changed through the generosity of sponsors and donors. 

After being grounded for two years due to the pandemic, our U.S.-based teams were finally able to resume travel to Holt programs around the world! Over the summer, Holt’s content team traveled to Thailand, the Philippines, Cambodia, Ethiopia and Uganda to visit children and families, and collect new stories, photos and videos to share with Holt supporters. This past year, we also shared about new and innovative programs for vulnerable children and families. In Thailand, Holt began providing nutritional support and parenting education for the children of Burmese refugees, helped build safe bathrooms to help teen girls stay in school in Ethiopia, supported programs for children with disabilities in Mongolia, and helped protect girls at risk of early marriage in India — efforts that would not be possible without the support of Holt sponsors and donors.

In 2022, Holt published new research about the nutritional status of children living in institution-based care, received a major grant to modernize our child information systems, developed new ways to raise funds for children in need, and continued caring for the most vulnerable children through generous donations to mainstays like the Molly Holt Fund for Children with Special Needs. A few notable moments in 2022 reflected on Holt’s legacy and history of serving orphaned and vulnerable children around the world. In April, Holt participated in a special event to recognize the 47^th anniversary of the Vietnam Babylift. In July, we remembered when Grandma Holt set a world track & field record while advocating for children. And in August, we honored one of our long-standing partners in India as they celebrated 40 years of serving children.

Sponsors and donors continued to inspire us with their dedication to the children they support around the world — even during a time of global inflation and recovery from the pandemic. Adoptees contributed meaningful insight into the unique identity fostered from the experience of being a transracial, international adoptee. And adoptive families shared about their experience — from the help they received funding their adoption to the wait to unite with their child to the joys and challenges of welcoming a child into their home.

And most recently, for National Adoption Month in November, we shared a series from Holt leadership and contributors on the changes in international adoption and why children need your help to protect this vital path to a permanent, loving family.

Below, we share some of the stories that readers engaged with most in 2022. Take a moment to read them again or discover them for the first time!

Top Stories of 2022 About Donor Impact Around The World

Reasons to Feel Proud

When teen parents Paal and Saachee learned they were pregnant with twins, they didn’t know how they would care for their children. Read how Holt child sponsors, and Holt’s long-standing partner in Thailand, empowered Sachee and Paal with the skills and support they needed to parent their boys — and become role models in their community.

A Story From My Recent Trip to Mongolia

Thoa Bui, Holt vice president of programs and services, shares a message with Holt sponsors about her recent trip to visit Holt-sponsored children and families in Mongolia.

Growing a Family Through Child Sponsorship

Allie and Brent Bestwick are the parents of six children. But when Allie started sponsoring children through Holt, her family suddenly grew by leaps and bounds!

New Video: How Kea Came Home to His Family in Cambodia

One boy’s story of life in a Cambodian orphanage, and how Holt sponsors and donors helped him come back home to his family.

Nourishing Food for Diwa in the Philippines

Holt photographer Micaela Rahimian shares about 1-year-old Diwa and her family, who she met during a recent Holt trip to the Philippines.

Top Adoptee & Post-Adoption Stories of 2022

National Adoption Month 2022: Lifetime Adoption Services

Susie Doig, adoptive mom and Holt senior executive for U.S. programming, shares about Holt’s post-adoption services — and how we can work together to ensure generations of adoptees and families receive the lifelong support they deserve.

Announcing Holt’s 2022 Adoptee Scholarship Winners!

Congratulations to Holt’s 2022 Adoptee Scholarship winners — Kai Berkner, Grace Ingram and Bethany Werth!

An Adoptee’s Journey Home is Documented on TikTok

As she prepares to travel to Korea, transracial Korean Adoptee Eun ‘Emily’ Ae Koh processes and shares her journey on social media — building a community of thousands who are following along.

Chinese Adoptees Publish New Book Exploring Adoptee Identity

Through a new book exploring adoptee identity, Chinese adoptees Jo, Addie and Hannah are breaking down stereotypes and reframing the way we talk about adoption.

Fostering Asian American & Adoptee Identity

Holt Post Adoption Services team members Katelyn Dixon and Joli Hanlon share insights about fostering a healthy Asian American and adoptee identity, based on their own experiences.

Top Adoption Stories of 2022

National Adoption Month 2022: How International Adoption Has Changed and Why

Thoa Bui, Holt’s vice president of programs and services, explores how and why international adoption has changed over the past two decades — and how you can help protect this path to a permanent, loving family for the children who wait.

Pure Delight & Joy

When Amanda and Jared Abuhl decided to adopt a little girl from Bulgaria with the same rare genetic condition as one of their biological children, they were amazed to see how the love of a family opened her up — and what a delight caring for her would be.

Letting Go: Finding Peace in the Wait

Adoptive mom Angela Colasanti reflects on finding hope, and lessons, in the wait to be united with a child through adoption. Angela and her husband are waiting for First Approval, a step in the process to adopt a 10-year-old girl through Holt’s special needs adoption program in Thailand.

We Will Be Forever Thankful

Read a thank you letter from an adoptive family who received an adoption grant from Holt’s Families Not Finances program!

Keeping Them Together

Adoptive parents Whitney and Barrett Wilson share what they learned on their journey to adopt three siblings from Colombia — including the support they found in the form of adoption grants that eased their financial burden, and helped keep these close siblings together.