Lots of adoption information in the news today, some specific to countries while some relates to a wider spectrum touching adoption; information great and small, so to speak.

Starting with a website for international adoptive parents who would like their children to maintain or re-establish relationships with un-adopted siblings in birth countries.

"Save Orphaned Siblings" encourages " ... adoption when appropriate, but also work to raise awareness about the plight of orphaned siblings and how to create alternatives to adoption in order to foster sibling relationships, when adoption is not feasible."

Changes are taking place all over the adoption world all the time.

Russia is in the process of reopening its doors to adoption by American families, and is once again accrediting US agencies.

Seven agencies ... International Assistance Group in Oakmont, PA.; The Cradle in Evanston, IL; Cradle of Hope in Silver Spring, MD.; The Frank Adoption Center in Raleigh, N.C.; Family and Children's Agency in Norwalk, Conn; Catholic Social Services, which is nationwide; and Children's Home Society & Family Services in Minn ... are the first through the process.

See Virginia's Russian Adoption Blog for a lot more information, and here is the US State Department's page on adoption from Russia.

There are also some big changes in adoption from India that I've written a lot about on today's International Adoption Blog.

Short version: The Central Adoption Resource Agency (CARA) has proposed a new system, the responsible Ministry is in agreement, and adoptions are soon to be streamlined. Costs, wait times and corruption are all expected to drop considerably.

The Connecticut Supreme Court has ruled that a law designed to give children of unwed parents the same rights as those born to married parents applies to all child support cases, even those decided before the statute took effect in 2004.

And from London, where the Times is reporting that although evidence appears to show that children of married parents do better on average than children of unmarried parents, it is not the fact that their parents are married that gives children of married parents better lives – it is more likely to be the fact that their parents are the type of people who wanted to get married in the first place.

The argument boils down to tax allowances, but the issue is interesting from our perspective, isn't it?

Anyone traveling to Southeast Asia should be aware of an early and dangerous outbreak of Dengue Fever in the region. Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia and other countries are seeing record numbers of cases. Caution is urged.