For a look at the human side of the present situation in Guatemalan adoptions, here's an article that has a parental angle, although what's happening with the kids involved who had been living at Casa Quivira doesn't seem to be being mentioned anywhere.

If this turns out to be nothing more than political maneuvering or some sort of grandstanding, heads should roll.

From Evansville, Indiana,, ... more

The latest celeb name to be hooked to the adoption bandwagon is that "La Vida Loca" guy, Ricky Martin. (Who, incidentally actually played here in Seychelles once a few years back ... before anyone had heard of him outside of Puerto Rico.)

Quick to ward off the usual star-power-does-adoption stuff, he says he's planning to "do it right".

Deeply involved in children's issues through his work as a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF and the Ricky Martin Foundation,... more

It's going to take me a while to get up to speed on the adoption news after a week's vacation, so I'm starting off with some headlines that have grabbed my attention.

The hoopla out of Guatemala has to be the loudest news around at the moment, but how important it ends up being is yet to be seen.

Rumors have floated around the Latin American adoption community regularly for years, including some in the past that suggested babies were being fattened up for consumption, so big 'to dos' are nothing new. For a good look at the present situation, read ... more

I came across a few interesting articles regarding two of the candidates for the Presidential Republican nomination that might be of interest to some of you in the adoption community.

The first article is about Rudolph Giuliani, former mayor of New York City and one of the front runners for the Republican Presidential nomination. He has previously been tagged as a pro-abortion candidate but is trying to align himself with Republican pro-lifers. Recently while campaigning in Iowa, he said, “I will increase adoptions, decrease abortions, and protect the quality of life for our children.” He wants to emphasize... more

An article in the Daily Press in Virginia announces that Virginia has just joined the ranks of about three dozen other states that have developed Putative Father Registries. The Virginia Putative Father Registry is a confidential database that is designed to protect the rights of a father by establishing paternity and notifying a father of the termination of parental rights or adoption proceedings for a child he may have fathered.

Putative Father Registries are designed to identify potential fathers and make it their option to take part... more

There are a few bits of news I'd like to get off my chest before I leave for my vacation, as today's post is not one I want to carry around with me for any longer than necessary.

For a lot of the past week, I've been greatly disturbed by reports of parents killing their children. From far-flung areas of the US, those who should be prepared to fling themselves in front of speeding trains or flying bullets to protect their innocent offspring have instead murdered their own children.

A Dallas suburb was the setting for the carnage Andrea Roberts created when she shot her husband and two children, 11-... more

Madonna's adoption ... or not-yet-adoption, rather -- is back in the headlines.

Like so much of the coverage of celebrity adoptions ... or not-yet-adoptions ... the story has no substance. Today's news is actually about nothing, but that doesn't mean there's not a heck of a lot of it.

There... more

In today's climate where a child's right to know the details of the circumstances of its birth is coming closer to a common ideal, this story from the UK shows how far the concept can go.

Ministers and peers in both Commons and Lords are recommending that children born from donate sperm or eggs should "have that fact recorded on their birth certificates'" in an effort to protect the state from implied complicity in lies if the children are not told the truth.

It's the head of science and ethics at the British Medical Association that wrote this op/ed piece, and she... more

"Those who do not remember the past are doomed to repeat it." George Santayana

Gazing backwards over history may sound like a practice in calm meditation, but when a specific topic is the focus of the retrospective examination what comes into view is often more shocking than appeasing, generating a perception shift that may greatly influence how today's world is seen and understood.

We see this in the adoption world regularly. Books like "The Girls Who Went Away" and "The Baby Thief" go a long way toward relieving... more

The big news with the adoption label today has to be about the New York woman arrested in Florida for multiple child abuse charges.

According to the now more than 96 news articles ... and counting, as I'm sure by tomorrow the hundred mark will be left in the dust ... chasing the story within the past few hours, Judith Leekin adopted 11 children in New York City between 1993 and 1996 from the foster care system, using four different agencies, a slew of different identities and hefty bags full of lies and slime.

At the time of the arrest, five teenagers... more