Since 1985, Holly van Gulden has been teaching and counseling adoptive and foster parents and training adoption professionals. She has worked throughout the United States, England, Scotland, and Canada. In addition, for over fifteen years, she has codirected Adoptive Family Counseling Center. Van Gulden's refreshing blend of humor and compassion has led her to be invited back repeatedly to speak before such national and international organizations as Adoptive Families of America and the North American Council on Adoptable Children. She also serves as a consultant to numerous clinics, residential treatment centers, and adoption agencies in the United States and the UK. Van Gulden has coauthored many books and is also a columnist and regular contributor for Adoptive Families, Pact Press, and Face Facts. She earned her bachelor's degree from the University of Chicago and is completing her master’s thesis for St. Mary’s University in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She, herself, is an adoptive parent who grew up in a multiracial, international family comprised of six children born to the family, four adopted children, and several foster brothers and sisters. This blend of professional and personal experience has given her extra insight into what it’s like to grow up adopted and to parent through adoption. A past-president of OURS (now Adoptive Families of America) and of the Joint Council on International Children’s Services, van Gulden is a member of the American Psychological Association.