Pearl S. Buck International

One Woman. One Vision. Over 2 million lives changed (and counting)...

Founded by humanitarian, activist and award winning author Pearl S. Buck (1892-1973), Pearl S. Buck International® is the Bucks County organization that changes lives every day through child adoption, child sponsorship and local community programs at the Pearl S. Buck House.

Impact:  In January of 2012, the first child whose life was changed in 1948 when he was placed in Pearl S. Buck’s arms on Christmas Eve will become Chairman of the Board of Pearl S. Buck International. Starting with that first child, Pearl S. Buck International has changed the lives of over 2 million children and family members including uniting over 7,000 children with local families through our child adoption program. 

Background: The late Bucks County resident Pearl S. Buck remains the first of only two American women to win both the Nobel and Pulitzer prizes for literature. Raised in China the first 40 years of her life, she spent her final forty years living in Hilltown Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Far more than an award-winning writer, Pearl S. Buck used her popular influence to champion the cause of children who faced daily discrimination first in America, and then overseas, simply because of the color of their skin. 

• In 1949, Pearl S. Buck, along with Bucks County neighbors Oscar Hammerstein, James Michener and Lois Burpee, established Welcome House, the first adoption program in the United States that united American children of mixed race with local families. Because they were of mixed race, these children were considered unwanted.

• In 1964, realizing that mixed-race children overseas faced similar discrimination as that of American children, she founded the Pearl S. Buck Foundation, and through an innovative (and continuing) Child Sponsorship Program, ensured that these children receive access to life changing education and health programs.

• In 1980, the Pearl S. Buck House,  where she wrote the majority of her over one-thousand published works and where she raised seven adopted children, was designated a National Historic Landmark. Over 22,000 annual visitors are educated, inspired by our founder’s life and called to action through child sponsorship, adoption and local community programs.   

Today:  Today, these three entities are united through Pearl S. Buck International. Pearl S. Buck International is dedicated to continuing our founders’ legacy of creating a global community for children and families through child adoption, child sponsorship and local community programs.

Join us to be inspired: Inquire about one of our Discover the Legacy Tours.

For additional information, please feel free to contact 215-249-0100 or visit us on the web at: www.pearlsbuck.org