We're looking at recent international adoption-related news today ....

Very frightening, this report from CNN highlights a study out of the Asian-American studies program at Cal State Fullerton that has found that Asian-American women between the ages of 15 and 24 have the highest rate of suicide of any women in any race or ethnic group between those ages, and that suicide is the second-leading cause of death for Asian-American women in that age range.

... simply being a minority can also lead to depression. "My sister had a really low self-image. She thought of herself as ugly," she says. "We grew up in Houston in the '70s and '80s, and at that time in school there were very few Asian faces. The standard of beauty she wanted to emulate was white women." In college, Noh's sister had plastic surgery to make her eyes and nose appear more European-looking.

For a sad case sleaze ... or something ... the Liberian government has released a report that accuses some orphanages of grabbing and hanging on to kids in hopes of getting more donor money.

"Based on assessments we have been carrying out those orphanage owners have established ties with some philanthropic organizations abroad - sometimes in the United States - seeking and receiving funding for children who they have taken from their families and describing them as orphans whereas they are not," Piah said.

This is not about adoption, but about " ... the next time someone views ads on TV requesting donations to assist an orphanage in Africa, will they reach for their checkbooks or the remote control?"

More on orphanage donations gone awry, a bale of donated clothing shipped from Luxembourg to orphans in Namibia is about to be shipped back its very rich point of origin because authorities in Windhoek are determined to charge customs duty on the shipment.

The story is a frustrating mess involving a woman with an eye toward keeping kids warm for the winter and miles of red tape:

... because Namibia is a member of the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) whose other members are South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland, the country would have to refer the issue to the customs union through a local SACU Committee even if the clothing is to be exempted from import duty. This process takes months.

Don't you love it?

And to finish this off, a worry.

A new test is now available that will simply and cheaply tell the sex of a fetus only six weeks into a pregnancy. Although some are questioning the reliability of so early a determination, there's no doubt in my mind that many in the world will use the information to abort female fetuses ... or fetuses accused by this "Pink or Blue" test of being female.

The test is being marketed over the Internet as "informational" rather than medical and is therefore not regulated by any health authorities.

I'm expecting the ratio between girl and boy babies to become even more uneven as this gains popularity and availability is countries like India and China. The long-term impact will be tremendous. I suppose, though, if nothing else, the value of women will have to go up as the numbers go down ... as a commodity, unfortunately.

And with that, my desk is tidy once more.

For more on female infanticide see posts here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here.