A conference titled "International Adoption, after the Hague", and hosted by the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys will be held in Baltimore on the 11-12 October.

Speakers will include officials from the State Department and USCIS as well as the presidents of the National Council for Adoption and the Joint Council on International Children's Services.

For yet another look at a family trying to deal with the Casa Quivira mess in Guatemala, here's a report about a family worrying about the baby boys that they've accepted referrals for.

"I firmly believe, if not for Casa Quivira, they would not be alive. Now that they've been removed, they're not getting their medications or powdered milk. They were born 8-10 weeks early and their lungs weren't developed. They've had one lung infection after another," O'Meara said. "They've been moved out to orphanages that are overcrowded. In 6-10 months, they could not survive or have permanent damage. Both their birth weights were under four pounds."

I know there are people out there who are jumping for joy over this situation, and I'm ashamed for them.

In South Africa, the Constitutional Court is about to hear the case of an American couple's attempts to adopt a South African child that we've been following here for a while.

The couple fell in love with a baby girl who'd been found abandoned head-first in a bucket as a newborn, but apparently didn't understand what sort of hoops are involved in changing a child's life. (Yes, I know I'm being simplistic here, but sometimes it does seem to me that it should be a no-brainer that baby-dumped-in-bucket-meets-loving-parents is a GOOD thing.)

The baby is now two-and-a-half, and after some pretty darned shaky procedures, the case has made it as high as it can.

Although opposition from hoop-makers is rife, there is now some talk about the "best interests of the child", which should be a refreshing change. That is, of course, different from the best interests of people trying to protect the little bits of power they enjoy through their publicly paid positions.

And for a depressing reminder of what life is like for many of the 100,000 or so orphans in Ukraine, here's a report with details of an organization that's trying to help some of them, one an adoptive mom of a 16-year-old daughter.