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

Fiction's most famous orphan since Annie is doing it again.

Daniel Radcliffe, the 18-year-old who's been film's version of Harry Potter since he was eleven, is playing another orphan in a family drama called "December Boys". An Australian story based on a novel by Michael Noonan, it's about four orphaned boys on holiday and the tension created when it appears that one may be close to being adopted.

Demanding compensation for ruined childhoods, an organization in Israel, Children and Orphan Holocaust Survivors, is ... more

In a very sensible move, Madonna's publicist, Liz Rosenberg, has publicly stepped forward and announced that there is no new news on the adoption of Malawian-born David, the toddler Madonna and husband brought home a year ago next month.

Seems a silly thing to make a 'to do' over non-happenings, but so goes the world of celebrity anythings.

Ms. Rosenberg has informed the media that there has been no interference, no "use... more

Given the journalistic ugliness that my Monday kicked off with... see today's International Adoption Blog for details ... I'd like to start of this week's News Blog with something pretty ...

How about Brad Pitt?

Not only is he easy on the eyes, when he talks about his kids he radiates a dad beauty that has the perfect touch of real: "I love it and can't recommend it any more highly - although sleep is non-existent."

He sure looks to be holding up well,... more

Starting today's news with a shocker, the follow-up to the Gary Stocklaufer story has many people, me included, fuming ... and wondering what the heck is going on with the world.

Can an adoptive father go much further than to put himself under the knife to prove how important a child is to his family?

Please read Deb's blog post today for a deeper look, and ways to help.

The Wall Street Journal has ... more

Okay ... it's apparently official ... I'm a pariah.

It must come naturally, because this time I've been kicked off an adoption-related Yahoo group without even breaking a sweat.

Really.

I'd actually just joined this bunch called "Adoption Agency Research Group" because it seemed a good place from which to keep a finger on the pulse of a part of the adoption world I don't hear much about otherwise, and had been accepted ... conditional on me not taking what I read there and using it for blog fodder -- fair enough.

I'd been lurking for maybe a week, when Jessica DelBalzo's anti-adoption tirade in a handy money-making paperback format was brought up as a topic.... more

Here we go again ...

Or not.

It's the is she or isn't she tempest in a Quanlong teapot, the cash cow that is the media mania of yet another possible adoption by the mom everyone loves to hate, Madonna.

Yes, rumor is rife that a little girl named "Mercy" ... and boy won't that come in handy as the frenzy hits the fan? ... should be coming home in April.

At least at this point the reports are mentioning that legalities are being adhered to, and a time frame of eighteen... more

Before getting to anything else in today's world o' news I'm posting this link to a BBC piece on booby-trapped links hackers are placing in fake entries on Blogger sites.

Apparently the gang out to make life miserable for millions has already managed to hijack hundreds of thousands of PCs by infecting them through booby-trapped fake links to what look like greeting card sites, YouTube links, and European storm-watch sites.

So, if you have a blog on Blogger, watch out!

My ... more

I so totally loved this article that I had to pass it along.

Written in reaction to the recent recall of toys ... a very serious issue ... it puts a twist into the topic that cracked me up. The title, "Can't they recall a toy because parents hate it?" should give a clue as to why.

I'll admit that many of the toys she talks about might as well be from Marsmart for all I'd know of them ... Polly Pocket Pollywood Limo-Scene, for example, I have no clue about, although I will admit to a slightly queasy feeling over the name... more

The next sound you hear will be that of me tooting my own horn. It will be a short, subdued toot, but a toot nonetheless.

Reason for a tiny toot? This news item on adoption that quotes me.

When contacted by the Agence France-Press for information, my immediate inclination was to ask that any report on the present adoption climate be balanced, and I think including my comments may have added a bit to that.

If you're following the ... more