Grandmothers and orphans often go together, so it makes sense that hundreds of Canadian grandmas would join up in a march urging Canada to step up as a leader in support of AIDS orphans in Africa.

Working with the Stephen Lewis Foundation, the Canadian Grandmothers of Africa organized the march in Ottawa which included some grandmothers who had made the trip from Africa.... more

In the ongoing mess that is the Casa Quivira orphanage grab fiasco in Guatemala, it's easy for some to forget about the impact on the adoptive parents caught in the tangled tango.

This story from Denver looks at one dad and his sad and scary sojourn in limbo.

Chinese orphans have reportedly ... more

Starting with the concept of international adoption, stretching it like silly putty, then taking it out for a very long walk, you could come to this story out of India that describes a scenario that's becoming increasingly common.

It's about a 45-year-old acupuncture physician in Miami, Nicole Brown, hoping to hear she's in the process of gestating a baby created... more

Call me slow on the up-take, but since I'm not mom to Guatemalan-born kids I haven't been following the politics of that country as closely as others have. That being the case, I'm relying on others to bring me up to speed on happenings there and the "Why" that goes with.

Lisa fills in many gaps well, and information from other bloggers flesh out the picture.

Why... more

I've been writing about India, its children, India international adoptions, Indian adoption laws, problems and more for a long time now. Over the past year-and-a-half-plus, I've posted on the nuts and bolts of the system, child labor, female infanticide... more

A state-level orientation program on adoption was held recently in Lucknow, India, with the aim of increasing awareness locally on the issues of adoption in that country.

Domestic Indian adoptions continue to lack popularity, with most people determined to avoid adopting a child.

Also on the agenda, uniformity in adoption rules to remove much of what can be cumbersome when the many religions in the country approach the process.

Also... more

Issues to do with children and adoption around the world range from the widely different to basically the same, as although cultural differences abound, we are at the base of it all humans.

For example, this story out of the UK illustrates how children of ethnic minorities there wait longer for placement in adoptive families ... up to three times longer ... and there are worries that placing children of color with white families can leave them "without a sense of cultural... more

I'm starting today off with numbers ... the number of children adopted in a year worldwide.

Any guesses?

Somewhere around a quarter of a million would be about right -- 250,000.

Sound like a lot?

It's 1.5% of the estimated 16 million orphans placed in care each year, and 85% take place within the country of the child's birth.

In the US?

125,000, or about half of the total number of adoptions... more

Baby Safe Havens are an adoption-related hot potato of the scalding and scorching variety.

There are who love the idea and lobby long and hard in favor, while others hate everything about Baby Safe Havens and campaign strongly against.

Heated debate about the so called "Baby Moses"... more

The number of orphanages in The Gambia is going up fast, and projects, associations, organizations, institutions, societies and schools are popping up alongside. This article takes a look at why 'collectivism' is the right approach to the problems of orphans, or tries to.

Like much on orphans, there's more spout than clout here, so lines like, "Collective Responsibility: refers to a duty that a certain group of people consciously share among themselves for a specific... more