Parents with kids from China will be interested to hear about "China Ghosts" a new book written by Jeff Gammage about the adoption of his daughter. It's the story of a girl, a father and a family that Lisa See, author of "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan" ... a lovely book of harsh realities ... calls, " ... the most informative and heartfelt book I’ve read about the adoption of girls from China.”

Parents in Pakistan have a strange ... more

With Jan Baker taking the time to laud adoptive parents and their contributions toward the betterment of adoption in the world on her recent blog, I'm inspired to expand on the topic a bit today in support of her tribute.

Coming across this story... more

Since we're without a Korean Adoption blogger at the moment, I thought I'd pass on this news about the Smithsonian Museum's launching of its Korea Gallery. Officially open since Friday, the 8th of June, the gallery is in the new Hall of Asian Cultures on the second floor of the museum displaying over 4,000 artifacts representing Korean history and culture.

The idea for this took root in 2003, when Korea's First... more

Starting with an event I would love to attend, and one those interested will have to jump on right away ... NCLO, a great organization that works with children in Cambodia, is to be the beneficiary of a special premiere of "Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix" near Chicago on the 14th of July ... and the Weasley Twins will be there to sign autographs. Is that cool, or what!

Tickets are only $6, but going fast. For information contact awtodd@comcast.net... more

I'm tempted to kick myself for making much of Mirah (aka Marsha) Riben's latest spew of mediocre pap designed to turn Mothers Day into a drive-by slapping.

Please don't misunderstand; I'm not regretting pointing out the poor quality of the prose, even though the simpy writing does speak for itself, or her agenda-encumbered POV that reduces any part of the big picture to the narrowest of misleading apertures.... more

The first section of the interview with Kari Grady Grossman, author of "Bones That Float, A Story of Adopting Cambodia is here. The second part is here.

SHB: Project 20 years ahead ... what will life be like for the average... more

The first section of the interview with Kari Grady Grossman, author of "Bones That Float, A Story of Adopting Cambodia is here.

SHB: Are there any actions people can take to encourage the reopening of Cambodian adoptions for Americans?

KGG:

My understanding is that this is now in the hands of the Cambodian... more

I've mentioned and reviewed Kari Grady Grossman's book "Bones That Float, A Story of Adopting Cambodia", and recently had the opportunity to interview the author in the course of an international blog book tour.

As this was coming about, a story broke from Cambodia... more

Adoption as a topic is coming up so often in the international community and global consciousness that it's getting to the point that any big event that doesn't in some way touch upon, feature or highlight some aspect of the adoption world would seem to be missing something. At the moment, as anyone living on the planet knows ... even those of us on tiny islands in the middle of nowhere without much news coming in ... the big event in the film industry... more

Wish I'd seen this yesterday, but perhaps it's not too late to email in some impact on the New Jersey Senate's vote today on S-2249 , a family leave bill that would include adoptive parents.

This could be groundbreaking, so if New Jersey is your state and you'd like to see adoptive families get the same benefits as those making their kids from scratch, email the heads of the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee, Sens. Bernard Kenny (SenKenny@njleg.org) and Sharpe James (SenJames@njleg.org).

To read all about it, see ... more