Do we live in a fabulous time, or what?

I'm guessing birth mother Lori Haas would vote 'yes' on that. Thanks to the wonders of the modern world, she found the son she'd been searching for.

Facebook provided the key to locating her now-twenty-year-old son after a friend suggested she give the site a try.

First time lucky, it took only a second between typing in his name and pulling up a thumbnail photo. Turns out he had been looking for her, too, and had even relocated in hopes of facilitating a meeting.

They now each have Facebook pages, both sporting a shot of them together.

Okay, maybe this time we live in isn't fabulous for everyone.

This story out of Florida details the tough time many families face when economic reality means living paycheck to paycheck.

Adoption-related in that one of the homeless mothers is an adoptee, and her parents now have custody of her kids, as she struggles with job hunting and life in a tent since being evicted from a trailer.

Low wages, high rents, severe weather and "choosy landlords" appear to be forcing more families into homelessness, a fact that is bound to impact thousands of children.

On the "Hey! Here's something that could help!" front, an article from Ms Magazine takes a good, long look at Paid Family Leave, and why it's time for it.

The U.S. lags far behind most industrialized countries in granting this benefit to its workforce. According to researchers at Harvard and McGill Universities, 163 other countries guarantee paid maternal leave and 45 countries provide paid paternal leave. Additionally, 37 countries already ensure paid leave for the care of an ill child. By contrast, our present system grants only unpaid leave, and only to employees of large companies. Most can’t afford to take it. This legislation would help close that gap, and begin to bring the United States up to par with other industrialized nations.

If this little developing country I live in ... Seychelles, with a population of around 85,000 ... can manage paid leave, a huge, rich nation like the US should certainly be able to pull it off.

A last bit of news, this report, on a Quebec study that suggests that babies, and especially infants under one-month-old, should not be left asleep in car seats. Apparently the element of risk of stopping breathing is higher due to the reflex a child has to keep the head upright.

The respiratory experts also warned parents that they should ensure their young children are never placed in a sitting position at home, or that they do not, for example, fall into one while resting on a parent.

This will probably cause some stress to parents, since kids do have to be in car seats, and they will fall asleep when riding.

The evidence seems pretty thin to me ... out of 508 babies who died unexpectedly, 17 were sitting at the time, mostly in car seats ... but I'm passing along the info anyway. Never hurts to keep a close eye on our babies.

More news in the next post.