I would like to offer my sincere apologies to anyone commenting on my blogs or emailing me at the blog email if I am slow to respond.

I'm still having a great deal of trouble getting my computer and the blog technical stuff to speak the same language, so there are days at a time when I'm not able to accomplish much at all and end up having to send my posts to my editor to post for me. I'm often not able to see my own blogs once they're up, so have no idea if there are comments, and the blog email is just as often not available to me.

I will, eventually, see comments ... and always welcome them, so please don't hesitate to leave one ... and email, and will try my best to get... more

So, now I'm part of the spin? Sheesh.

Just when I thought I'd said all I needed to say about Angelina Jolie's most recent adoption, seeing that I have no first-hand knowledge at all ... just like everyone else, including those who still feel the need to formulate and postulate opinions formed on smoke and mirrors ... I learn that I have been sucked into the spin.

In an article in a Dubai... more

This year, VAN (Vietnamese Adoptee Network) is partnering with the Colorado Vietnamese Heritage Camp for its bi-annual conference. Registration begins Thurday, 15 March, for the August 9- 12 gathering at Snow Mountain Ranch near Winter Park, Colorado. (See the link above.)

Registration also starts on the 15th of this month ... and runs through the 19th of May ... for the Cambodian Heritage Camp. This one will be held... more

Continued from here where we've been underwhelmed by "facts" and UNICEF ....

Okay. I am NOT saying there have never been any corrupt dealings in any Nepali adoptions. Nepal, like most of our kids' birth countries functions on a level that is much less transparent than most would like ... as do all countries, for that matter. But when stories appear under headlines that shout, ... more

Continued from here where we were about to add two to two ...

Could it be that here is where the rubber meets the road?

As an international conference on adoption of children began in Kathmandu on Sunday, the U.N. children's wing UNICEF deplored what it called an ''unfortunate growth'' of an industry centering on adoption.

Profit,... more

Continued from here ...

Now, some of the questions that pop into my mind when reading the stories about Nepali adoption that are cropping up just about the time a conference on international adoption is to begin ... How does someone "pose as British parents wishing to adopt a Nepali child"? Did they show up at the "Child NGO Federation" complete with dossier, including a homestudy, police clearance and all other other documents... more

Is there anything suspect in the timing of a story coming out of Nepal that casts international adoption in a negative light coinciding with the first International Conference of Inter-Country Adoption in Kathmandu? Pardon my cynicism, but I can't help but notice the potential for not-so-hidden agendas in them thar Himalayas.

Was it coincidence that had reporter Thomas Bell writing a story for the Nepali Times that that starts out like this:

In... more

Continued from here ...

It is, very thankfully, beyond the scope of my rather prodigious imagination to anywhere near fully grasp the suffering that must go with the first flow of HIV-contaminated mother's milk. What can presenting that nipple feel like to a mother who understands exactly what it is she is offering? Where does the concept of the lesser of two evils right itself enough for anyone to find peace enough for milk to... more

Thanks to Holly Richardson, I now know that breastfeeding is recommended for HIV positive women in many parts of the world. As Dr Hoosen Coovadia, a pediatrician in South Africa's University of KwaZulu-Natal, told the 14th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, instructing HIV-infected mothers in developing nations to breast-feed would result... more

Continued from here ...

The Cosmic Volunteers get my nomination for the coolest name, and they offer programs in Africa, Asia and South America that include teaching English, working in orphanages, healthcare, conservation and more.

Volunteer for the Visayans - Recruits international volunteers from all over the world to... more