Continued from here. I'm not saying Jo Rowling is intentionally bankrolling clapping with one hand and sacrificing children on the alter of 'Gee, the numbers look good', but the CHLG does make me very nervous, and she is a founder ... along with Emma Nicholson, and given her history she really breaks me out in hives of anxiety and has me worrying about the kids who just might end... more

Unless you've been living under a rock, you have to be hyper-aware that July is Harry Potter month. (I live on a rock and have heard all about it, so I'm assuming the information is very widely spread.) The latest film opened last week, the last book comes out at the end of this one, and the ensuing frenzy cannot be missed.

Here's a a bit of a connection that adds to my Potter-ific thinking ... yes, I am a fan: I share a birthday with Harry, and his creator, J.K. Rowling -- the 31st of July. Since... more

Right now, in July of 2007, a discussion is going on in the UK ... a discussion about racism and a seventy-five-year-old book that some have finally insisted be removed from the children's sections of book stores.

"Tintin in the Congo" first saw the light of day in 1931, but is still found on shelves in bookshops in Britain, and up until recently along side Pooh and Piglet.

Now, thanks to the Commission for Racial Equality... more

Any look at Africa adoptions can be complicated, as this story from Nigeria proves. With international Africa adoptions all being country-specific, a lack of understanding of just how things work can cause a world of problems. In all aspects of adoption, educating yourself is the first and most important step, and trying to do adopt without going through every single on of the steps can lead to heartache.

A Nigerian-born, Canadian citizen adopted a Nigerian child, and is now... more

Continued from here ...

Politics are, of course, always a hot topic in Cambodia, and right now the biggies in the royalist parties are talking about working together to try to gain some finger-hold through next year's general elections.

With Prince Sisowath Thomico joining Prince Sisowath Siriroath and leaving Prince Norodom Ranariddh, there's not much support... more

An early, warm wet season is being blamed for one of the worst outbreaks of Dengue Fever to hit Cambodia and the rest of SE Asia in recent history.

A British adoptive father, along with other volunteers, set up a UK Registered Charity, The Cambodia Children's... more

Continuing to follow changes to India's adoption program I've been writing about for a while now, India adoptions authority, the Central Adoption Resource Agency (CARA) has submitted a draft of amended adoption guidelines to the Ministry for Women and Child Development.

The "Guidelines on Adoption of Indian Children Without Parental Care -- 2007" proposes changes... 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

Continuing from the previous post, where we've been following adoption-related fallout in Holland.

Citing critics that say the 'scandal' of the the adopted Indian child alleged to have been kidnapped from his birth parents, then adopted by a Dutch family is, "just the tip of the iceberg and that it illustrates the serious flaws in the system. Some go as far as to say it's no more than 'legalised child trafficking' and call for inter-country adoption... more