According to a blogger who seems up on the facts, the tide may be turning against the anti-adoption front when it comes to international adoptions, and it's gaining steam over the suspended process in Nepal.

Citing amongst other things this article, "Diplomats Urge Nepal to Resolve Adoption Deadlock", the point is made that at the very least, families in the process at the time of the suspension must be dealt with fairly.

It is being reported that Madonna's adoption of young David has been approved by Malawian officials.

Apparently, the bonding process has gone well, and the entire family is being schooled in the tribal language of David's birth, Chichewa.

And speaking of celebrity adoptions, news has it that Mary-Louise Parker has adopted a child from Africa. There's not a lot of info out and about, but her people have apparently verified the fact.

International adoption is getting positive attention in the Philippines as stories of successful placements and healthy kids lead off the 9th Global Consultation on Child Welfare Services being held in the country.

The Inter-Country Adoption Board, an agency of the Department of Social Welfare and Development, is pushing for legislation that will streamline the process establishing how a child becomes free for adoption. At present, that takes about three years.

On the not-so-happy-about-it front, a Korean professor has written an opinion piece on what he calls, "The shame of Korea's orphan exportation."

Proud of the advances the county has made ... from a per capita income of $80 in the 1060s to over $20,000 today ... the country's status as the world's largest "orphan exporter" doesn't sit well.

Drawing comparisons between his country and India, he's appalled that a nation as rich as his is should have more of its children adopted abroad than its poorer Asian neighbor.

Missing the point, I'd say. Firstly, because a count of the street kids in India compared to those in Korea would show where a lot of the un-adopted kids are, and secondly it fails to address the cultural handicaps against domestic adoption in Korea, and those are just two items worth mentioning.

It's all well and good to tut-tut up a storm over "exported orphans" and insist that the practice "should have stopped when we put the postwar poverty behind us and began to be able to sustain ourselves again, at about the point where we achieved a per capita national income of US$5,000", as if there is some tangible, income-related point where a society suddenly changes its views on the importance of blood ties, lineage and other peoples' unwanted children.

Sounding more embarrassed than concerned, he seems to be grasping at an easy straw as he admits having done nothing to alleviate the circumstances that lead to Korean children being adopted out of the country.

Hopefully, the country will avoid the typical knee-jerk reaction to criticism of adoption that so often means nothing but a halt to the process that leaves kids in the lurch.

And this has nothing to do with adoption whatsoever, but I'm tacking it to the end of this post because I find the story interesting.

It would appear that a meteor has crashed into Peru, leaving a crater almost 100 feet across and 20 feet deep.

Impressive, no doubt, and drawing crowds to the area near Puno, about 800 miles south of Lima.

The problem is that the hole is spewing "fetid, noxious gases" that are making people sick. So far, six-hundred people!

People who have visited scene have been complaining of headaches, vomiting and nausea after inhaling gases.

A hole spewing disgusting gas that makes you sick ... hey! there's an attraction worth traveling for ...

I feel a bit like Henny Youngman" here, but I have to say ... SO, STAY AWAY FROM IT ALREADY!

Sheesh.

Look at it this way, how far out of your way would you go to smell a giant f-rt from outer space?


For information/instructions on how to subscribe FREE to your favorite AdoptionBlogs, please visit this link.