Before this goes much further ... before the fury mounts, before the froth starts appearing at the corners of a greater number of mouths, before ever more hanks of hair are ripped from roots in over-indulgent bouts of angst, before impassioned slinging of mud and insults begins in ernest, before every adoption-related web group and forum becomes awash in righteous indignation ... I would like to point out, yet once again, that media renditions of celebrity adoptions are not necessarily reflections of reality.

This time, of course, the hullabaloo, kafuffle, hoopla, clamor,... more

A new online organization has come into being that may have great interest for many with children adopted from China. Like a modern-day version of pen pals, Chinese Adoption Links was formed by a formidable group of adult adoptees ... a list of founders and their bios is on the site ... for the purpose of honoring, "the diversity of our experiences, the richness of our identities, and the importance of our stories."

Their stated goal is to, "create a supportive global... more

A while back, I won a $150 gift certificate from Adoptionshop.com for coming up with some greeting card copy. I don't think the cards are ready, but they did send me the virtual gift cert, so I did what anyone would do ... I went shopping.

Cruising around the adoptionshop was fun, but being out of the ritual of regular shopping has me thinking that there's not much I can't live without, so I didn't find anything I needed to have.

What I did find, however, was an idea.

Those colored wristbands the rest of the world has been wearing for a while to tout various causes are just beginning to appear here in Seychelles,... more

Continued from here ...

There's a three week-long march happening in India now to protest against child trafficking. All this to try an get the Indian Government to take the oh-so-very radical step of passing laws that would prosecute those who supply children for forced labor or sex.

Hey! There's a good idea!

The marchers, including many children who have been trafficked, will also stop in Bangladesh and Nepal, en route. The march has been organised... more

I'm suffering from some serious Internet problems at the moment, so my blogging time is stressful and limited. Here are some bits of news you can use, though.

Ethica: An Independent Voice for Ethical Adoptions had appointed a new executive director.

The board of directors of Ethica, Inc., a national organization committed to ethical adoptions, is pleased to announce the appointment of Linh Song, MSW, as the organization's new executive director.

"We searched... more

This came though from IAAP along with their latest listing of special needs kids from China, and I thought I should share it:

We know the desire of all families to get updated information on their children and to know where their dossier is in the approval process. We share that desire with you and pass along any information we receive to you as soon as we have it. However the CCAA is making it more difficult to receive any updates or other information about a specific case.

The CCAA recently stated the following:

1. They will not give any family an update on their child if the child's medical... more

Continued from here

Cambodia's also not into playing ball over military aid.

"We need assistance without strings attached. If it had strings attached, we would not accept it," Chum Sambath, undersecretary of state for Cambodian Ministry of Defense, was quoted as saying.

Does the US dole out... more

Continued from here ...

Another Free Trade Union leader was murdered this week ... the third since 2004.

Chea Mony, current FTU president of Cambodia, said that the killing was an attempt to intimidate union members.

"The killing is to frighten FTU members from striking or staging demonstrations against... more

Starting off, here's a fascinating story of what happened after Cambodian tribes emerged from the jungle years after vanishing into the bush in efforts to escape Vietnamese soldiers twenty-five years ago. Lied to by the Khmer Rouge, terrified of the Vietnamese, these people were welcomed back into the fold when they first appeared, but found themselves soon forgotten.

The office of... more

There's a lot of news to start the new month off with, some of it coming through the Adoption Institute's monthly newsletter, which I strongly urge everyone with an interest in adoption to subscribe to. It's free and pops into your inbox with news, links, study results and on and on. Since it's coming up soon, I'll start with a press release about the American Adoption Congress's upcoming international... more