From Reader's Digest, this article on adoption scams highlights cases of hopeful adoptive families that have been duped by women pretending to include them in an adoption plan.

Not pretty in the slightest, but an education for those in the process, nonetheless.

Anna Mae He has left the home of her long-term foster parents and will soon be reunited with her parents, Chinese nationals who put the girl in foster care eight years ago at the age of ten-months.

The fight... more

Generational adoption, where adoptees choose adoption for building their family, makes for interesting reading, as evidenced in the previous post, but especially when the job of parenting being done is spectacular and breaks a cycle of abuse.

Adopting eight older kids after serious neglect and abuse, the variety of issues these parents dealt with is heartbreaking. One sibling pair, boys ages eight and seven at adoption, are still unable... more

Do we live in a fabulous time, or what?

I'm guessing birth mother Lori Haas would vote 'yes' on that. Thanks to the wonders of the modern world, she found the son she'd been searching for.

Facebook provided the key to locating her now-twenty-year-old son after a friend suggested she give the site a try.

First time lucky, it took only a second between typing in his name and pulling up a thumbnail photo. Turns out he had been looking for her, too, and had even relocated in hopes of facilitating a meeting.

They... more

In a surprising move toward reconciliation, two previously antagonistic support groups are merging in an attempt to increase the likelihood of their mutual message being heard outside their spheres.

Both claiming to be severely traumatized by the same process but from opposite sides of the experience, mothers of children delivered through Caesarian Section and children who entered the world that way have often been at loggerheads.

As moderator on one of the Webgroups formed in 2005 said, "Intense focus on resentment and regrets have kept our groups notoriously distant for the past years, and the ranchor... more

Ann Fessler, author of the eye-opening account of unwed mothers in the time between the end of WWII and Roe v. Wade, "The Girls Who Went Away", has been touring with her book through Minnesota.

As should happen, she's getting press along the way, and reaction to the press, like this commentary from a Korean-born... more

The parental rights of fathers just got a boost in Florida with a decision from the Florida Supreme Court ruling that adoption agencies must notify unmarried men when a child thought to be theirs is placed for adoption. They must then instruct him in how sign on to a registry to maintain his parental rights to the child.

If after being informed, the father does not register within thirty days, his rights may be terminated.

This follows a case where a possible father ... paternity has not yet been established in this case ... had apparently voiced a desire to parent,... more

In writing a while back about divisions in the adoption world, I mentioned the popular tendency for those of a negative outlook to flock together, given that misery really does love company.

The ubiquitous "support group", of which Yahoo lists somewhere around 30,000 of the online variety, although usually inspired by the concepts of mutual aid and fellowship, is sometimes observed to have morphed into little more than a vent vehicle and rant-fest.

Although venting and ranting can feel good, ... more

This is one of those days when a significant portion of the adoption news is focusing on negatives, on what can go wrong in adoption, and from so many angles.

Starting in the UK, this story that has me questioning the concept of total government control of adoptions being a good idea or a way forward in reform.

Seems a couple in England took their daughter to a hospital for treatment of an abdominal ailment and doctors concluded that she had been sexually assaulted. This resulted in the child, and then her newborn sister, being removed... more

I wrote yesterday on the International Adoption Blog about J.K. Rowling and the organization she founded with Emma Nicholson that is meant to address issues Eastern European kids face. Orphans and children in care in Romania are the primary focus, but all of Eastern Europe gets a look.

I'm none too impressed with that organization, but it's not the only thing Jo Rowling supports, thankfully. She also supports a UK group, ... more

The Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute is once again getting ready to honor Americans who qualify to be identified as 'Angels in Adoption', congressional constituents who have "... enriched the lives of foster children and orphans".

First, a bit about the CCAI for those not familiar with the organization:

Formed in 1985, it's a bipartisan caucus made up of members of Congress who are, "dedicated to improving adoption policy and practice, and to focusing public attention on the advantages of adoption."

Directors now are Senator Larry Craig,... more