Continued from here.

I'm not alone in my doubts about the Holt report giving the definitive look at last year's Cambodian orphanage situation. Others have pointed out that they know of many orphanages the Holt report did not include, some very near Phnom Penh, so much more difficult to miss than those more far-flung. If so many easy to locate facilities were ignored, how many in the provinces were left out of the tally? Therefore, how reliable is the survey?

Admittedly, firsthand information gathered through my experience didn't begin to accumulate until the US had closed adoptions. I came to the Cambodian fracas after the suspension was imposed, and my experience begins in 2003 when we adopted Sam, returning in 2005 for Cj. I have dealt with only one orphanage, AOA, and only one facilitator.

Over the past four years I have also been fortunate enough to witness the adoption of three other Cambodian children now living in Seychelles, and have followed the doings at AOA through the eyes and experiences of the adopting parents.

I have friends in Cambodia who visit the orphanage, as well, and keep me up to date on the happenings there.

My experience tells me that the "supply of infants" flowing into the orphanage has not dried up one bit. In fact, just a few weeks ago two newborn baby boys were discovered abandoned in the fashion I've had described to me on other occasions while people I know well were on the premises.

I have seen babies every time I've visited AOA ... boys and girls, healthy and ill ... and most of the same children are there on subsequent visits, obviously older and not adopted, with again the same children obvious in photos from others' visits, but with new babies added.

(The nannies are also still there, but often with different children in their care. I point this out for those who postulate that nannies have their own kids in tow, not orphanage children.)

Given that infants are not only difficult to care for, but also far more expensive than older children, it is understandable that there are fears of over-extension of resources with every baby coming in. With only small odds of adoption ever being an option for these kids, the apparently endless stream of abandoned babies is cause for greater and greater concern as the years tick by.

Continued ...