Researchers at Columbia University and the New York State Psychiatric Institute have been analyzing data on US kids under the age of nineteen with bipolar disorder and have found there's been a huge increase. The question now is: Is the surge real, or are many children being misdiagnosed?

A 40-fold increase between 1994 and 2003 ... that's a jump from 20,000 to 800,000 kids ... just happens to coincide with the use of antipsychotic drugs in children. Considering that some doctors don't even believe in bipolar disorder in kids, these numbers are worrying.

Dr.... more

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has announced that he's resigning.

Not that it will make one bit of an impression, but I'm glad to hear it. I have close to zip interest in the politics of Japan, but Mr. Abe's attitude toward adoption ticked me off from the gate and I'll be happy to see the back of him. I'm pretty sure, however, that whoever replaces him will be just about as negative toward the option of adoption for kids or families.

It's a Japanese thing, you see, to look down the nose at adoption. As this admittedly... more

Another adoption scam is in the news, or, to be more accurate, it's more information about an ongoing one that's out today.

The name Orson Mozes is getting to be very familiar, and it appears that those of us who have only heard of him should consider ourselves to be very lucky.

According to accounts, many hopeful parents who have tried to adopt through his agency have found themselves left with nothing but heartbreak.

Through what sounds too much like the old bait and switch, parents report that they were encouraged to fall in love, pay out, and even... more

A birth mother's hopeful vision of the life her relinquished daughter enjoyed cultured over twenty-eight years burst like a ruptured bubble when she learned that the child died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome at the age of 6-months.

This story from the Salt Lake Tribune reports that the birth mother is now fighting to have Utah law changed to require agencies to notify birth parents in the event of their child's death.

Also from Utah, this article suggesting that a misinterpretation of a federal law designed... more

The idea of orphans as entertainment is certainly not new, but it's not often I see two stories on the theme in the same day.

The first was review of a horror flick called "The Orphanage" which takes place in Spain.

The review isn't great, but the film appears to deal with both old and new orphan themes.

At the same time, Daniel Radclliffe, who has played three orphans and little else in his almost-decade-long career, is interviewed about his various parent-less roles.

His... more

A story in the New York Times brings the history of adoption in America into the news of the day, providing a perspective often unknown and frequently ignored.

The NYT article details individual bits of history collected by what was once known as the New York Foundling Asylum, but now goes by the same sans the asylum bit.

The New York Foundling is a 137-year-old family services agency in Manhattan, and its collection of documents, photos and memorabilia... more

In a follow, a 'Part Two', actually to the Al Jazeera attempt at adoption bashing I wrote about recently, a writer for Carolina Hope continues an excellent dissection, including a well-thought detailing of the prejudicial language that set the tone of the program. His 'Part One' is here, with the YouTube video.

Anyone needing evidence of how nasty people can become need... more

In a dramatic turn of events, the birth mother of little Max, the infant at the root of the Missouri adoption fiasco that appears to be all about prejudice against fat, has gone public with her disgust with the present situation.

Having her cousin's family, the Stocklaufers, raise her child was her adoption plan, and her goal for Max. As birth parents will attest, this is not a decision made lightly nor without pain. To overturn or overlook her choice for her child seems the height of arrogance.

News out of Australia suggests that parents there are... more

I recieved this this morning and am passing it along almost exactly as it came to me. At this time, I have no other information, but with this as time-specific as it is, I decided to post the information without taking the time ... possibly the weekend ... to verify the details.

A bureaucratic nightmare has forced the stoppage of Haitian children from receiving their U.S. visa and joining their forever families here in the U.S. A simple phone call from the U.S. Department of State to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security would quickly and easily resolve this situation. To date, no such phone call has occurred and Haitian children continue to suffer needlessly. We are... more

Adoption Media, LLC, the company that had the remarkably good sense to hire me to write this News Blog, the International Adoption Blog, and the geezer-aimed Older Parent Adoption Blog, has recently distributed around 400 cuddly bears to adoption-related service organizations, and has another 700 or so to donate to kids in the process of being adopted.

Adoption.com teamed up with the Build-a-Bear Workshop and that Joint Council on International Children's Services to put bears in the arms of kids waiting for families.

Happier... more