Huge in the news now, but without much idea of which way the adoption winds will blow as a result, is the Alvaro Colom win in the Guatemalan presidential run off.

Fingers are tightly crossed that his direction will lead to a situation that best benefits the children in his country, and not one that grandstands on the lives and futures of children whose lives depend on which way the political winds blow. Given the state of Guatemalan governing and politics, he certainly has his work cut out for him on every front.

An interesting... more

I could say that preparing today's blog was like pulling teeth, but that would be a groaner. What the heck! It's Monday, so that's how we're starting the week ...

For those of us with kids adopted singly and without the benefit of ties to birth families, one serious consideration could be future health issues that would be made worse through the lack of compatible tissue.

With the science of stem cell medicine in its infancy, some parents are taking advantage of new technology combined with futuristic vision, cutting out the Tooth Fairy, and banking their... more

Those with kids who have suffered through mental illness with parents might be interested in this book review and author interview of "Bad Girls Club".

A fictionalized account of the author's upbringing, it was written to help.

"I write for people who have suffered and hidden their pain," she says. "I especially want to give teenagers hope, and I want to tell them that it's not what happens to you that determines your life. It's how you react and what you do with your suffering that determines who you become."

Check out the link,... more

A month of positive representations of adoption during National Adoption Month would be a welcome change. Here on the Adoption.com blogs there will be a great deal of focus on all aspects, information on events, suggestions for celebrating our children's adoptions, tributes to birth parents, recommendations for reading, details on various processes, and so on throughout November ... even more than is usually on offer.

Adoption.com also has an "National Adoption Awareness Month" calendar that has daily ideas... more

As proclaimed by the President, today marks the first day of National Adoption Month, thirty days cumulatively singled out by the White House to "recognize the adoptive and foster families who have shared their homes and hearts with children in need", and to encourage more families to consider adoption.

Unlike many who put adoptive parents in league with the devil, insist on using the word "adopters" to address mothers and fathers, and strongly suggest that a world without hopeful adoptive families would see no need for adoptions at all, the White House statement unabashedly claims that: Families... more

After reading this article in the Times Online from the UK,"A system guaranteed to damage babies; If you want to adopt, you're better off in America", I'm trying to figure if the author indicates a good example of the grass always being greener, is comparing apples to oranges, or makes valid points about the American system of infant adoption that puts it far and away above that in Britain.

With the British Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, missing out on all the hoopla during the State visit of the Saudi King and that country's version of Foreign Secretary ... much of it very important hoopla... more

There has been a great deal of news happening, as always, and it is time to catch up with some of it.

Reports from Chad are all over the place with the confusing story of Zoe's Ark and whatever those people were trying to pull off.

The French charity workers claim their aim was to rescue 103 sick children from Darfur by flying them to France.

“The team is made up of firemen, doctors and journalists,” said Christophe Letien, the charity’s spokesman. “It’s unimaginable that doubts are being cast on these people of good faith who volunteered to save children... more

A long feature in the New York Times this weekend looked at adoptive parent attempts to reconnect with the birth mothers of their internationally adoptive children, looking at the process and potential outcomes for those who decide to attempt connection before their children are old enough to fully participate in either the search or the decision-making.

Like every conversation in the adoption world, opinions range wide and fierce on this topic, and there is little agreement, if any, even amongst members of groups coming... more

There is an abundance of adoption-related sleaze in the news today, all of which deserves to be repeated and widely disseminated.

Starting in South Carolina, this report from Spartanburg that asks of an Internet ad: Real or scam?

Apparently, some guy named "Franc" is claiming on postaroo.com to have lost his wife and says he's now looking for "prospective foster parents" for his baby girl, Brenda. The ad has a photo of a man with a baby. Franc says he is in Spartanburg.

The local TV station... more

This issue of child labor in the developing world is more complicated than many would have you believe. Kids having to go to work at the age of four or five or twelve seems a cruelty, and since the conditions for employment are very often far below any standard we ourselves would tolerate, the idea of abuse often comes into our perceptions.

Anyone who has managed to spend all their years in the comfort of a nation like the USA is sorely stretched to imagine a world where there are no safety nets of any shape or size and where children are often considered as parasitic little creatures uselessly... more