Transnational /Transcultural Adoption Project

Month: July 2026

  • Family sues Holt International over deceptive adoption practices

    Eugene Register-Guard By Haleigh Kochanski Paywalled article. Link to story. A Pennsylvania family has sued Eugene-based nonprofit Holt International Children’s Services, the largest international adoption agency in the world, alleging they were coerced into adopting a child from Thailand with severe psychiatric and behavioral health needs. The adoption has led to unethical treatment of the child…

  • Paraguayan Adoptees Find Belonging At ‘A Night Of Connection’ In Asunción

    By Belen Servín Link to story. When voices begin to fill the garden at the Tavolo del Creatore restaurant on the warm evening of 27 July, the atmosphere feels different from an ordinary gathering. Smiles, hugs and quiet conversations replace awkward introductions. Many of the people meeting each other share the same beginning: they are…

  • International adoptees hold ‘funeral for Holt,’ calling for end to industry

    By Lillian Scrock-Clevenger Link to story Benjamin Lundberg Torres Sánchez speaks into a bullhorn during a protest with other adult international adoptees outside Holt International headquarters in Eugene on Friday, July 24. Credit: Lillian Schrock-Clevenger / Lookout Eugene-Springfield About 30 people dressed in black carried a paper coffin and “RIP Holt” cardboard headstones outside the headquarters of…

  • Inside a major baby trafficking trial in Indonesia

    Podcast link. Asia Specific podcast Multiple families in Singapore are facing an unimaginable possibility that the children they legally adopted from Indonesia may have been victims of an alleged baby trafficking network. A major trial is underway in Indonesia involving 19 defendants accused of buying babies, forging documents, and arranging adoptions of the children, including…

  • ICE crackdown leaves many international adoptees scrambling to prove their citizenship

    As many as 200,000 international adoptees lack citizenship, often because their parents never completed the naturalization process for them. And even with the right paperwork, many face the threat of racial profiling. By Anna Lee Link to story Astrid McCarthy stands in front of Sweet Life Provisions in White Bear Lake on July 8, 2026.…

  • Paraguay’s Lost Children #1: The International Adoptions In The Stroessner Era

    by Sol Orrabalis Link to story For decades, thousands of Paraguayan children were adopted by families abroad. Often described as Paraguay’s “lost children” or “Stroessner babies”, many adult adoptees are now searching for their origins. At the same time, questions remain about the systems, vulnerabilities, and unanswered stories behind their departures. In the final years…

  • Stolen Identities: Thousands of Sri Lankan Adoptees Still Searching for the Families They Lost

    Thousands of Sri Lankan Adoptees Still Searching for the Families They Lost Link to story Decades after thousands of Sri Lankan children were adopted overseas, growing efforts to reconnect them with their biological families are revealing personal stories, disputed records, and the lasting legacy of a little-examined chapter in the country’s adoption history. For more…