While I'm away and shoving old posts down everyone's neck, I might as well dredge up one that strongly makes a point for international adoption.

There is a strong push by organizations, UNICEF is one, to keep orphaned children in their birth countries. Some feel that raising a child in a different culture, an unavoidable consequence by definition of international adoption, strips identity and robs an individual of a precious... more

More from a participant's experience with Jane Brown Playshops, this time a mother's take on her kids' participation:

The 2 hour playshop is designed for children ages 5 and up. After the playshop, parents are given a general wrap-up.

This particular workshop session had approximately 15 kids ages 5-8 years old, most of whom were transracially internationally adopted. Jane conducted the workshop with the help of two young adult Korean adoptees. During... more

Jane Brown's name soon becomes familiar to families who've adopted internationally. As the creator of Adoption Playshops, she is one of the pioneers in the exploration of issues involving racial identity in adoptees. With adult adoptees assisting, she conducts seminars and workshops all over the USA and Canada.

Here's some of what she says on the FCC (Families with Children from China) website about her work:

We... more

Moose, over on the Guatemala Adoption blog, has been posting about raising funds for adoption and giving some good options and ideas.

Quoting from his blog where he details efforts of a group called ChildAdoptionFunds.org:

According to their site, this is what they will help you with:

We hope to empower you with enough confidence, so that you may have greater success with your fundraising goals. We have made available to you a fundraising assistance program,... more

I just finished watching the Angelina Jolie interview with Anderson Cooper. Aside from being astonished that the meager one hour of CNN that airs in Seychelles on weekday mornings consisted of a program I really wanted to see ... rather than their yachting show or an hour of golf ... my initial reaction is annoyance at the hoopla this interview has inspired on adoption-related websites over the past few days. (Unfortunately, the last 30 minutes ... I'm assuming the show was 90 minutes? ... are lost to me as our one TV station switched over to BBC at 8 am.)

Those jumping... more

Emma Nicholson, a life peer Member of the House of Lords, Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne, Member of the European Parliament and self-confessed opponent of international adoption is at it again. The UK's Daily News follows the story:

Following the publication in Monday's edition of British daily Financial Times of a full-page advertisement entitled "Romania's concealed childcare crisis" completed by 33 NGOs which denounced the child protection system in Romania... more

I'm being interviewed later today for the local radio station ... a program about women's issues for women. Fitting this into my schedule of packing and organizing for our holiday trip won't be easy, but I'm willing.

I'm often asked to write articles and speeches, and although I'm not big on publicity I'm happy to participate in a public way when the topic concerns children in general, and adoption in particular.

As with much of the world, misconceptions about adoption abound in Seychelles, and I consider it a fortunate circumstance when offered a platform from which... more

While flying from Singapore to Phnom Penh to pick up our son Sam in 2003, Mark and I had our Scrabble game interrupted by a pleasant young man in the next seat. I'm chatty by nature, so more than happy to share airplane conversation with this complete stranger, to hear a condensed history from him and give a quick run-down on us.

Him: David, French Canadian photographer/writer, married father of one nine-year old son, traveling with a friend to Cambodia for the first time to visit the daughter of the friend.

Us: On our first trip to Cambodia, going to an orphanage... more

Cambodian history is extremely rich, and not like that of any other country. From grand to gruesome, from cultural birth to mass death, there is nothing average or commonplace about its past. The temples at Ankor Wat are testament to a culture as ancient and venerable as that of the Aztecs and the basis for much of what is now considered Thai. Toul Sleng, the Genocide Museum, illustrates far too graphically the modern history of the country.

Given... more

Sam and Cj are international in just about every way possible: born in Cambodia, being raised in Seychelles, citizens of Great Britain and eventually the USA, they can claim affinity in many directions and will have choices upon choices when older for education, work and life.

Their British passports are actually European, so they will be allowed to live and work in any EU country. Procedures for processing their US documents have to wait until we go there again ... possibly next year if we can take the thought of thirty-six hours of travel with little kids ... and will... more