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Anyone with ties to Bulgarian orphans will be interested in this story on a photography exhibit at the Montserrat College of Art in Bevelry, Mass. that features the work of eight young Bulgarian kids without families.
The show called, “Uncovering Identity: The Bulgarian Photo Project,” began when Assistant Professor Kate Jellinghaus handed out camera to kids in state-run institutions.
… Jellinghaus gave them cameras to go out and chronicle their lives, she didn’t send them out to portray themselves as victims. Rather, she wanted to empower them with perspective on their childhoods, so they might more clearly grasp their identities and grow into adulthood.
For an interesting twist on helping orphans in China, here’s a report on a Korean businessman in the Chinese coastal city of Tianjin and how his sponsoring of now 18 kids in that city has inspired “hundreds of thousands of Chinese people”.
Kim was inspired to reach out to China’s orphans when the community organized an activity to help the poor in 2004. His own experience also encouraged him to help these children.
“I had a very poor life when I was young. I had to work during the day and attend school at night to finish my studies,” he said. “But these children are poorer still because they don’t even have parents.”
Kim said he also felt a sense of obligation to give something back to the community, even though he is from another country.
“Love goes beyond boundaries, and the world is a village,” he said.
Wide Horizons for Children, the agency that handled Angelina Jolie’s adoption of her Ethiopian-born daughter Zahahra, has stepped up to say that the adoption was legal and reject reports that birth relatives want her returned, stating that: The controversy is media hype by unethical journalists exploiting the poverty of the grandmother.
The 79th Annual Little Red Stocking Campaign in North Carolina has been launched by the Children’s Home Society. A fundraising effort that sees all proceeds going to provide “permanent, safe and loving homes for children”, the effort addresses the needs of the over 10,000 children in North Carolina in foster care, including the more than 3,000 that are awaiting adoption.
On the totally not altruistic side, a woman working for the Florence Crittenton League Adoption Agency in Lowell, Mass. is facing federal charges alleging that she stole more than $600,000 from the agency between December 1998 and March of 2006.
Minnesota Senator Norm Coleman is headed for Guatemala right after Thanksgiving to, “discuss ways to make sure changes in the adoption process there don’t hinder U.S. families.”
He’ll be meeting with both Guatemalan and US State Department officials to discuss implementation of the Hague and the adoption process as it impacts families.
And if you’re in the mood for a mess of a tale about crack-addicted mothers, foster care and family reunification, here’s one from Canada.
How many chances do you give a mother? And how much damage do you make a kid take?
