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 I feared, it sounds like substance was hard to come by. As Kelly from Guatadopt so pithily put it, there were, "a lot of idealistic suggestions and no bridge to get there."

Kevin does a great job of conveying both the gist and the tone of the Guatemalan adoption session, which could also be considered a 'UNICEF vs adoption in general' conclave. Yes, the focus on the day was Guatemala, but UNICEF's tentacles reach far beyond Central America, so their actions there are symptomatic.

Comparing the organization's presentation to a political appearance and the head of UNICEF Guatemala to a polished politician, Kevin lets us understand how good they are at the game and how tough it is to keep a fire stoked in the face of such calm control coming from such nice people.

Of course the UN isn't going to send their bulldogs to a conference attended so overwhelmingly by those who agree so completely with their agenda. And, of course, those they do send will be well practiced in dealing with the few who are armed to stridently take issue. In this sort of disarming, the UN reigns preeminent.

I'd like to thank Kevin and Kelly for their work at the conference, and for this posted report. I'm assuming Ethica and the Adoption Institute are working on their own to publish soon, and I look forward to seeing what both organizations have to say about their impressions, reactions and predictions coming out of the weekend.

If you've seen information coming from other directions, please share.