KOREAN TIES

June 22 - July 4, 2008
July 5 - July 17, 2008
June 28 - July 10, 2009

Highlights:

  • Visit your child’s agency & foster family
  • Ties Program “Talk Times”
  • Child friendly & “Adoption Aware”
  • Assistance locating people & places important to each family

During our time in Korea, we visit at each of the social service agencies: Holt Children's Services, Eastern Social Welfare Society, Korean Social Service and Social Welfare Society.  Many of the children will meet their foster parents or visit the orphanages where they once lived.  Some may meet birth relatives.  At a maternity home for unwed mothers, we will meet young women facing the most difficult decision of their lives.  We can anticipate tears and hugs that will lead to healing on both sides of the room.

All of our days in Korea will not be as emotional as we get to know Korea and its people.  In Seoul, we will sightsee, visit a school, go shopping and eat fabulous Korean meals.  Each family will also have the opportunity to have dinner in a Korean home, providing a fun and unique experience. From Seoul, we will travel to Mt. Sorak National Park-- to the quiet of the mountains, and then down the coastal road to Busan where the colorful fish market captures our attention.  In Busan, we will visit an orphanage where we will have a fun afternoon with the babies and children in their care. 

Additionally, each family will have the opportunity to visit other places of significance to their families (place of birth or founding, orphanage, etc.) either during the course of our trip or afterward.  The Ties Program staff will assist with all the arrangements. And, as in all of our programs, "Talk Times" will give families the opportunity to process all that we are experiencing.

We staff all of our programs with an adoption professional/discussion facilitator…something we see as critical to your time in Korea if it is to be the identity building experience for your child, and the bonding experience you want it to be for your family. 

Our journey will leave us awed by Korea and its people—truly rich in beauty, warmth and tradition.  It is our sincere hope that your participation in our program creates a family memory that, like your family ties, will last of lifetime.

READ WHAT FAMILIES HAVE TO SAY
                      
 “This has been perhaps the best and most life changing thing I have experienced.”
                                                                                                              ~Chaz Deegan, 18

"The Korean Ties program is beyond words. It was fully packed, emotional, wonderful, and a totally amazing experience!!!! In my humble opinion, a trip like this is a MUST for kids to fully form their identities and begin to understand where they fit in a world that includes two countries and two cultures."          ~ Jenny Bailer 
 

“Korean heritage is much more important to my children than I or they thought.”       ~Roger Lueck-Mammem 
  

“For the first time in my life, I felt complete and at peace with who I am.”       ~Landy Hancock, 18 
 

"I felt taken care of every step of the way, from the very beginning...the mailings, phone calls, shared family email addresses, book suggestions, etc. helped me feel so prepared.”       ~Kathy Carlson 
 

“I got to see that my birth place is good and better understood
the struggles my birth family went through.”       ~Matt Ouellette, 14
 

“As a grandma, it was so great to see the full circle of adoption.”       ~Barb Boersma 
             

"We knew it was going to be wonderful but never in our wildest dreams did we know how awesome you and your entire staff would be.  I hope you take a minute for yourself and realize how The Ties program changes our lives."        ~Kelly Olive 
 

"I made friendships that I will always have.”        ~David Lueck-Mammen, 17
 

~From the Desk of Pat Friesen

"The Korean Ties trip in 1995 was a life-changing experience for our family. Earlier, our family had been involved in a very serious car crash … after which we labeled everything as ‘pre-‘ and ‘post-car crash.’  After the Ties travel experience, our frame of reference changed to ‘before’ and ‘after’ visiting Korea.  It was a wonderful, one-of-kind trip.”

“Our family vacations have taken us to many countries … and it all started with our Korean Ties trip in 1995.  While my husband and I had traveled internationally on our own, the Korean Ties group experience was a wonderful adventure to share as a family.  Later, when our family did travel solo to Europe and South America, we always used the Korean trip as our benchmark.  And good as many of the other trips have been, none have compared with Korea.”

“It had been 10 years since our family first visited Korea and when I mentioned the reunion trip planned for 2006, it was no surprise that everyone said, ‘Let’s go!’  It will be a different experience to go back as a family of four adults.  We can’t wait!” 

 

 For more information, contact Pat Hallada.