During her first marriage, Dorothy had five biological children with Ted Atwood and adopted two children from Korea. After her husband's death, she adopted two boys from Vietnam (she relates in the film that many are surprised to learn that she did not ascertain before the adoption whether the children were from North Vietnam or South Vietnam). Following Atwood's marriage to Bob DeBolt, who had one biological daughter from a previous marriage, the couple went on to adopt 10 more children from Korea, Vietnam, the United States, and Mexico — the last was adopted after the initial film was made and is not included in the "19 kids" of the title.