Reviews

If you are thinking about an adoption Homeland Tour, I highly recommend this organization; it is legitimate and not a scam--the reviews and photos are real. Our Korean tour was WONDERFUL. Yes, it is expensive. But for our first trip to Korea, we felt well taken care of--and have the confidence to go back again on our own. We heard things from the Korean tour guides and experienced things we never would have on our own! The tour staff were highly detail oriented and did their best to make you feel prepared for whatever might come up. There was a strong attempt to expose you to a wide variety of experiences--yet allow you to go off on your own. The tour had a great deal of flexibility, and if you needed down time, you were encouraged to take it. All staff were warm, friendly, positive-energy people. A great deal of thought and care go into managing the spectrum of feelings of the adoptees; our tour had teens and tweens as well as adults--who were able to go off on their own together in the evenings to socialize.

I would actually give them a 4.5, because I think there is always room for improvement. But all of my suggestions would be minor.

I will never forget this experience and the wonderful friendships we developed, thanks to Korean Ties!

What an amazing experience this summer (2022) visiting Guatemala! Thanks to The Ties Program staff, my 17 year old daughter and I had a fun and profoundly meaningful trip together with 11 other adoption families. The staff took care of every critical detail to ensure the logistics were smooth as we visited beautiful parts of the geographically and culturally rich terrain. And they provided a safe and caring space for navigating all types of emotions, for adoptees and parents alike. Very skillful ! I highly recommend this organization for adoption family heritage trips!

Thank you for your kind words. 🙂

My family traveled to Vietnam with Ties in 2007 where we had an excellent visit not only with the culture but also with my daughter's birthfamily. Over time we lost track of her parents and brothers, but we always hoped to see them again one day. Only a few weeks ago I reached out to Becca Piper with a request to help us locate the birthfamily again, and within days our request was filled. What joy! So many thanks to Becca and Thom for their kindness and diligence. There are simply no words good enough, no numbers high enough, to rate this organization.

Always our pleasure Carrie. 🙂

My Vietnamese adopted daughter and I traveled with Ties to my daughter's birth country in late 2007, early 2008. So many years later, we both have very fond memories of that trip and see how the experience answered many difficult questions. We have had the good fortune of maintaining contact with my daughter's birth family since the time of adoption. During our trip, Ties assisted with arranging an interpreter and driver for two visits. Somehow, however, we recently lost contact with the birth family and I was concerned about the well-being of the birth mom. I contacted Ties and even though the organization was just emerging from a COVID hiatus, Becca got back to me. I made what I thought was a far-fetched request to ask Ties' Vietnamese contacts to check on the well-being of my daughter's birth mom. Not only did Becca willingly reach out to her Ties contacts in Vietnam but the Vietnamese folks contacted the birth family and I got the answers I requested in less than 2 days! (btw, the birth mom is alive and well.) It was a miraculous display of Ties' commitment to excellent service and honoring the precious but sometimes tenuous bonds between adoptive and birth families. Thank you, Becca and Ties!

How blessed we are to have had the opportunity to be a part of this amazing group of people who shared in each other’s journey on this trip.
I could go on and on...and I have been to anyone who will listen! Thank you for all you and your staff did to facilitate such a meaningful experience for our family.
I feel that I have been “adopted” by Korea itself. I left that beautiful country feeling as if I am able to embrace the country, its culture, history and people as part of the heritage that is now part of my own because of Aleigha’s roots that connect us. I am forever changed. Thank you again and again for the amazing work you and your incredible staff does. ~Kecia Binko (mom)

🙂

We can’t thank The Ties Program and Bea Evans enough for planning and organizing our trip to Ukraine. We saw the hospital in Kiev, where our daughter stayed for several months, and the orphanage where she lived until our adoption. We went to the place where our daughter was left and to the host family where my husband and I stayed during the adoption process. We explored places that showed us the background, culture and cuisine of the Ukrainian people. Our interpreter/guide (Olena) was fantastic -- organized, a wealth of information, flexible, and so very accommodating. Our daughter said the trip exceeded her expectations and my husband and I agree.

We're thrilled your family had such a memorable time in Ukraine!

We had an amazing journey with the Ties Program! I chose the Ties Program based on the itinerary and that it fit with my goal of introducing my children to South Korea and its culture. The journey exceeded my expectations - I never expected the individualized experiences we were given. My daughter was able to visit the clinic where was born and meet the foster mother who cared for her during her first 7 months. The Ties staff suggestion to use the KakaoTalk app for communication while in S Korea was a bonus because we are now connected through the app with my daughter's foster mother. The group aspect of the tour was also invaluable. It offered the chance for my daughter to balance emotional encounters with the normalcy of "hanging out" with other kids her age. The cultural experience, personal journey and friendships we made are invaluable. Thank you Ties Staff!

Always our pleasure Kristin. Thank you for taking the time to post.

So, I went to china...
I got to go to BeiJing, Xi’An, and Nanchang.
I met the woman who took care of me when I was at the orphanage and one of the women who found me. As well as met a man in charge of some children’s department at my orphanage. He took us on a tour of the place I would’ve grown up in (which we were the first family to experience that from him). It was such an amazing experience. Thank you auto Robin our translator for helping my family on this amazing trip. Robin took us around Xi’An and showed us his local park and even his family and house because I asked to see local life. I learned so much about my past and have yet to learn more. Thank you Bea Evans for making this trip possible. And also thank you to my parents for taking me on thus journey of a lifetime. (Just realized that was cheesy)

So glad you had an amazing time Lily!

Our two young-adult children (adopted from South Korea as infants), my husband, and I returned home less than 2 weeks ago from a whirlwind trip to Seoul, Busan, and Jeju Island with the Korea Ties program. The journey exceeded our high expectations! We are so thankful to Pat and her kind, knowledgeable, funny staff and to the extraordinary guides and interpreters from Korea who enriched the trip and made adoption-related site visits possible. The visit enriched our family in at least three ways: through exposure to Korean sites and culture (food, markets, school, Taekwondo, palaces, natural wonders, baseball, etc.); by facilitating adoption connections we otherwise would not have made (which in our case included visits with birth family and drives to birth cities/clinics); and by enabling meaningful friendships among similar-age adoptees and among parents. It definitely was an advantage to be part of a fairly large group (108 adoptee/family participants), allowing for 3 tour buses divided by adoptee age groups -- encouraging adoptee connections with each other. The ability and flexibility of the staff to accommodate individual family schedule and travel needs (site visits, drivers, interpreters, etc.) without disrupting any parts of the group journey was remarkable. This was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, but we know for sure that we will return to Korea on our own! Gamsahamnida, again, to all who made our family's trip so special.

Thanks Louise!

This summer I travelled to China with my Mom and Dad with China Ties. I didn’t know what to expect from China Ties but I realized that it’s a special experience because it has some things that other tours might not include like a connect and chat time for the adoptees and a separate connect and chat time for the parents.

Another thing about China Ties that makes it different than other tour groups is that the friends you make on the trip will last a lifetime. You added things that are important like looking at your files at the CCCWA. This was important to me because I have wanted to know what my past was like. Another important part is that all the guides for China Ties were helpful and they were very nice and I think that we would have been lost without them.

It was emotional to go visit my orphanage because there were so many special needs children and the new orphanage director was the one who brought me to my adoptive family and she remembered me. This was also very important to me.

I think that the trip was long enough and it was fun. Overall China Ties is a wonderful experience!🙂👍🇺🇸🇨🇳

Thanks Yuli!