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July 2007
Supplement to Travel Trade

Home Based agent Kate DeLosso of Chadds Ford, PA has drawn on her own experiences to create a business that serves both a practical and a social purpose — reconnecting overseas adoptees with the countries of their birth.
DeLosso has five children, two biological children and three adopted in Asia, now in their late 20s and early 30s. She was working as a patient advocate in healthcare when her children entered their teen years. Between her large family and the consuming responsibility of her job, she felt she had to have a change. Since she loved travel, she went to work for a brick and mortar agency in 1994.
Three years later, a stroke prevented her from driving and she became a Home Based agent. “The first thing I did was to complete my CTC,” she said. “I had the coursework done and my final paper was a business plan for a special interest company.”
DeLosso is now a charter member of Travel Counsellors LLC, the U.S. arm of a 700-strong international Home Based travel consultancy.
DeLosso saw the travel packages offered in specialist magazines for high-end teddy bear collectors to attend toy shows and decided she could do better.
She established Collectible Tours, with the idea of extending her business to other collectibles, but concluded that an entire business couldn’t be based on special interest because of the high costs of advertising.
Since the 1976 adoption of their oldest son from Korea, DeLosso had been involved in numerous groups raising cultural awareness and funding for children’s programs locally and abroad. She was a baby escort and has been to Korea about 20 times.
Increasingly, she became interested in organizing tours for young adult adoptees who want to explore their cultural heritage, and in some cases, to connect with their birth families.
In 1996, she organized the first Motherland Tour to Korea for Korean-American adoptees and their families, now an annual event. In 2004, the company expanded to include China tours and this year, she is organizing a trip to Vietnam. She also has plans for expansion into Guatemala, from where many adoptees are now coming.
DeLosso is invited every year to go to China, where she attends the international travel market, which she refers to as “CRUISE-A-THON on steroids.” She said that she always comes away with more contacts, direct experience and information on different provinces.
She still wears a brace and uses a cane, results of the stroke that sent her to a Home Based career. “When people come to me and say they’re mobility impaired, I can understand their problems immediately,” she said. “I can’t drive a rental car — I have a specially configured car at home.”
DeLosso’s personal involvement with international adoption has culminated in great relationships with adoption agencies. Agencies make referrals to her regarding children and families that may be interested in the Motherland Tours. In return, she makes a personal donation to the agencies for each trip booking, more than $1,300 in 2005 alone.
In 2000, working in conjunction with Pearl S. Buck International (PSBI), she organized a trip to China where travelers visited major cities, including Zhenjiang, Pearl Buck’s Chinese hometown. A fund-raising pledge was incorporated into the trip, and a $10,000 donation was made to PSBI.
She was also a founding member of the PSBI Chinese Children’s Benefit Committee and has acted as chairperson for the last two years. The event has raised scholarship funds for poor children to continue their education at the Pearl S. Buck Middle School in Zhenjiang, China.
Additionally, she and her husband have donated a planned gift to PSBI to continue the work of the Welcome House programs.
She generally sends her clients as FITs unless they are self-formed groups.
“They all want to leave on different dates and go different places, and I can give them a custom trip without a major change in price,” she said. “I also send FITs and groups on cruises and tours everywhere. I have had inquiries from as far afield as New Mexico, but the bulk of my clients are regional. If they’re spending $10,000 for a trip they want someone nearby.”
Word of mouth has made her the go-to person for Asian returnees.
She said she urges those who are searching for birth parents to be clear about their expectations and bring a supporting person along, if not their adoptive families.
Her work has earned her the “Outstanding Special Event Support” award this year at the 2007 Pearl S. Buck International Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon.
“You really have to love what you’re doing to offer special interest travel,” she said. “You have to know more than anyone — that’s why they come to you.”