There's no doubt that adoption is a hot topic these days. For starters, Nickelodeon is coming out with a cartoon voiced by a young adoptee from China, and there are a couple of books getting press at the moment that have adoption-related... more

AdoptionDoctors.com is an expansive resource for international adoptive parents, useful from the beginning of the process all the way through bringing children home and beyond. Set up to serve the international adoption community with unbiased pre-adoption evaluations, education, and answers to questions medical, legal and more, it offers access to certified pediatricians, psychologists, social workers and Early Intervention Specialists, all with knowledge of birth country languages,... more

Celebrity and international adoption go together like soup and sandwich in the media, and so many people are happy as clam chowder to be served up whatever can be scraped from the bottom of whatever pot happens to be going around at any given moment ... most of it unpleasant pap with a revolting flavor and lingering aftertaste.

I'm... more

Writing yesterday about the planning stages of our up-coming trip to Cambodia ... even though we haven't yet established exactly how up-coming it will be ... I mentioned the fact that we'll be spending at least a couple of days at AOA, the... more

I have been known to blather on and on on my blogs, both the International and Older Parent Adoption Blogs, about celebrities, adoption, and the media warp that manifests every time someone with a household name decides to add to their family by adopting a child. I take it all quite personally, actually, when reporters slam adoptive parents, famous or no, and go to the lengths... more

I have lots of bits and pieces of information to pass along at the moment, so we're starting the week off with those. Much of what follows is timely, so if you're coming across this post at a time far in the future from when it was written, some information will be dated. Please visit other posts here on the International Adoption Blog and on the Older Parent Blog for more general information, some entertainment, and an... more

(Sorry, but this is going to be short and not as comprehensive as usual due to technical difficulties. Yesterday, I had no Internet all day. That finally fixed, today there was a power outage that went on ... or off, actually ... for nine hours effectively shutting down any hopes I had of getting work done. Right now I am frustrated enough with island life to contemplate a move to any reasonably large, land-locked city in the world! Anyone in Topeka, Omaha or Columbus want to trade places?) This week's wrap of Cambodian news has to start... more

This year's Cambodian New Year rings in the Year of the Pig, and it's a time for great joy, laughter, prayer and gratitude. Smiling faces and happy people everywhere should, by all rights, come as a puzzling surprise to anyone recalling this same occasion just 32 years ago. April 17, 1997. The first day of the Cambodian New Year three-day festival that year. Ask any Cambodian over... more

Some may have noticed I've been writing about Cambodia more than usual lately. Most of the time, I limit coverage of my children's country of birth to Friday updates of news, but this is April. What does April have that other months don't? Quite a few things, actually: Easter, Cj's birthday, ... more

If someone asked my response to an allegation that could be made by some people in the world that the 254 adoptions of Cambodian kids in 2006 are the reason there are babies in Cambodian orphanages, it would go something like:

"Hold the phone!"

(Okay, that's the polite version.)

"A total of 254 Cambodian children were adopted worldwide last year, compared to 129 in 2005, despite efforts by... more