If, like me, you have been hovering impatiently around the Web for word of something of substance coming out of the recent Ethica / Adoption Institute Conference, the most informative so far is this, from the "Guatemala Adoption Information & News blog.

Guatadopt had two representatives at the conference, and their accounts at the link above are clear and well-considered, unlike those coming from the frantic fringes where impractical meets impossible and the world comes to a grinding halt .

As... more

Here's an idea for Halloween! Put your white kids in blackface, then send them out to collect for UNICEF! If that sounds horrid, tasteless, offensive and probably criminal, read on ...

With Halloween coming up and Rebecca doing such a great job of bringing the UNICEF connection to the page, it seems a good day to give yet another reason not to support the organization by stuffing their begging boxes with anything other than little... more

In Friday's International Adoption Blog we celebrated the the arrest of a hunted sexual predator and mentioned what could be a prevalence of perverts among those who take teaching jobs in other countries.

With many of our kids coming from places where sex with children hits the headlines often, adoptive parents can't help but feel that "there but for the grace" thing, and if our children come to us at older ages we have to wonder ...

Directly on the heels of the report of the Canadian pedophile arrest, and through an ... more

Since it's Friday and I'm writing on Cambodia on the International Blog, as usual, it seems a good time to mention here that a global conference on genocide took place in Montreal this week.

Survivors of a couple of our generation's very own genocides, those in Rwanda and Cambodia, joined big wigs and 'important people' in what was dubbed as an effort to explore ways of preventing genocidal violence.

It seems I'm not the only one rolling my eyes at the impotent arrogance... more

There are some wide-ranging bits of interest in the news today, starting with this story about a new online video that gives clues meant to help parents with early detection of autism.

Access to the site is free and provides an ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) Video Glossary containing more than one hundred clips that juxtapose video of kids with ASD aside those without, dramatically illustrating such symptomatic behaviors as stimming'and echolalia.

Although... more

Before getting to any other news today, I'd like to ask everyone to pop over to Lisa's Guatemalan Adoption Blog for some excellent information on how you can participate in advocating for the children of Guatemala.

There is a real and present danger that thousands will be condemned to legal and permanent limbo in the very near future, and those trying to avert this disaster could use more support.

Check out Lisa's post, please, add your voice to those scrambling to keep this hash of a mess from destroying many lives, and send Lisa's blog out to... more

In an interesting turn of events, Ministers in the British government have decided that children conceived through egg or sperm donation will not have that information registered on their birth certificates, contrary to a report compiled by MPs and peers (Members of the House of Lords) saying that by "not doing it the state was complicit in a lie".

In its draft of the Human Tissue and Embryos Bill, the government did relax limits on inter-species embryos, however.

The government originally proposed banning the creation of any embryo containing human and animal cells in a... more

There's a scam with an orphan theme going around at the moment according to the Modesto Bee in California.

A variation on the Nigeria scam, this one touts a job offer that will help poor orphans in the process, but ends up getting your money and your bank details.

Because it uses appeals to emotion and the thought of an easy financial windfall, this scam is particularly clever. Still, it has all the warning signs: overseas wire transfers, mysterious transactions, "checks" you have to deposit... more

I wrote a couple of days ago about a court decision in Canada that came down against a birth father's rights, and today the Vancouver Sun takes the story further.

Taking no issue with the Supreme Court Judge, suggesting that any other ruling would have, "rendered superfluous the specific sections of the act that detail when a birth father must be notified," the article instead points out serious flaws in the adoption act and calls... more

Parents with kids diagnosed with ADHD may find some help in a new guide to ADHD drugs released this week by the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and the American Psychiatric Association.

Soleil Gregg of the advocacy group Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, says, "I think this guide provides some very balanced information about risks, benefits and how to judge what is best for your child ... whether that includes drug treatment or not."

The guide addresses parental concerns like risk of addiction, side effects both... more