Finally, finally the European Parliament is putting pressure on Romania to process adoptions that were in the works at the time the government there decided to shut down the program.

More than half of the 732 members of the EP have signed a document that reads in part:

... the moratorium imposed by the Romanian authorities has "brutally interrupted the processing of thousands of adoption requests" and considering that "children concerned by these requests have already have established relationships with their future adoptive families, this moratorium has, in effect, left them abandoned for the second time."

MEPs Claire Gibault, an adoptive mother herself, and Jean-Marie Cavada are behind this latest push. Frustrated by the fact that an EP resolution earlier had been virtually ignored by Bucharest, they drafted this new document which should (and I place a lot of emphasis on the 'should') send a powerful signal and get the Romanian government moving on uniting these families.

Of course, the Evil Baroness, Emma Nicholson, has to throw her poison apple into the works whenever progress looks likely. She's insisting there are inaccuracies in the document and is once again beating her "international adopts are bad" drum.

(See previous posts if you'd like to read more about this horrible woman.)

For my readers in Kenya, this report on the dangers associated with not understanding immunization.

Children all over the country are dying from overdoses of measles vaccine. Apparently, a program to dispense mosquito nets in efforts to curtail malaria and the measles vaccination program have overlapped, and in attempts to secure enough nets mothers are moving from one hospital to the next and having their kids inoculated each time.

Mothers in search mosquito nets donated alongside the vaccine are said to present their children for more that the required single measles dose. The Shinyalu fatality the child died after receiving two jabs at Shikusi Dispensary and at Mukumu Mission Hospital within 24 hours. It developed complications and died as the mother received a second free net.

And still in Africa, the international World Population Day celebrations in South Africa yesterday focused on the impact of HIV/AIDS on the nation's youth.

In the capital, Pretoria, Social Development Minister Zola Skweyiya said the socioeconomic impact of the pandemic had resulted in social, community and family disintegration.

He noted that this was evident in the increased number of orphans and vulnerable children, child-headed households, and the inability of the extended family system to provide these children with basic requirements such as shelter, food and medical care.

According to the 2001 national census, more than 248,000 households in South Africa were headed by children.

While we're on the topic of rising numbers of orphans, Ukraine is reporting a significant increase in certain regions:

The number of orphans in Donetsk region has increased by two times for the last 15 years – from 8,000 up to 16,900 kids. Chief of Regional Health Department Natalya Mukhlynina has revealed at a meeting in Malyutka orphan asylum.

Over 150 infants are abandoned annually in maternity houses of Donetsk region. 90% of these kids set in the orphanage and only 10% of them are adopted.

So ... Baroness, your point would be ... ?

Man! I wish that woman would shut up!