The study from Duke University and Johns Hopkins on embryos I wrote about recently ... the one stating that only 22% of those with spare embryos would consider releasing any for adoption -- implantation into someone else -- and that thousands are left with nowhere to go ... is being looked at askance by the conservative, Bible-based group Focus on the Family.

The article, titled, "Pro-Lifers Need to Spread the Word on Embryo Adoption", goes on to suggest that the numbers aren't true, and quotes adoption attorney and Snowflakes Embryo Adoption Program founder Ron Stoddart accusing the scientific community of ulterior motives, saying, "They’ll use the embryos and the stem cells from those embryos for preliminary, general research and then it goes the next step to cloning."

The Snowflakes Nightlight Christian Adoption website claims it is, "Helping some of the more than 400,000 frozen embryos realize their ultimate purpose -- life ... .

Along the same lines, the price of eggs is going up.

In this story from Ireland, infertile women there are paying up to more than $13,000 for donor eggs from Eastern European countries because ethical guidelines make it impossible to pay for Irish eggs.

The thinking is now to change those guidelines and perhaps even allow surplus embryos to be given for adoption. As it is, most eggs available for UVF in Ireland are from Ukraine, Poland and Romania.

While the price of eggs rise in Ireland, in England the Herefordshire Council is asking for more families willing to adopt.

Hosting an "adoption information evening", they're letting people know that, "There is no bar on age, gender or marital status to be able to adopt a child, although there is a rigorous process to make sure potential adopters are suitable and psychologically equipped to deal with the emotional issues adoption can produce."

(How's that for a different end of the same stick?)

And in the US, the Kansas Children's Service League, in an attempt to find homes for some of the more than 900 kids without there, is hosting a photo exhibit called, "Klicks for Kids".

Another example of anti-adoption backlash that hurts kids comes out of the Netherlands today.

Reports of children being abducted and sold into adoption in India have also affected the reputation of the adoption sector. "The Netherlands now thinks that adoption is child trafficking," says professor of adoption studies Femmie Juffer

She says this is unfortunate because adoption is still the best option for many children.

Hopeful adoptive Dutch parents are now expecting to wait eight to ten years before adopting a healthy, young child.

And to end on a pleasant note, how about a celebrity adoption story that hasn't been twisted completely out of recognizable form and maintains the positive glow of Happy Family-ness.

It's Michelle Pfeiffer and her family featured in Good Housekeeping's July issue, and in it the interviewer recalls a lesson learned years before during an interview when Ms. Pfeiffer admonished her for making reference to her "adopted daughter, Claudia". The lesson teaching that Claudia is "just a daughter" stuck, and the reporter has not make the mistake again.

If only more could learn that one!