There's talk of adoption reform In Quebec, and it sounds like it's about time.

Unlike much of the rest of Canada, Quebec's present domestic infant adoption system sounds like something out of the dark ages, with relinquished infants immediately and irretrievably disappearing while birth mothers are left with nothing, as the law dictates all contact between mother and child be severed completely.

Although the study that is prompting talk of reform in the system isn't recommending anything as "radical" as allowing birth mothers to make their own arrangements for adoptive parents ... a situation that is allowed in Quebec only when the adoptive parent is a close family member ... they are suggesting that "... some children be able to to retain some links to their parents and grandparents. This makes sense for children old enough to have developed a bit of a history with their biological families before placement."

Proposing adoptive and biological families sign letters of agreement for limited contact ... two letters per year is the example ... they are sticking to their old, rusty guns on much of the stance, concluding that the "full adoption" system, meaning no information at all, is fine because it "... is the best guarantee for most children that they will be fully integrated into their adoptive homes."

I asked in an earlier News Blog what year is is in Australia, now I'll do the same for this Canadian province.

Hello? Bonjour? It's 2007, people!

Scary kid news from Australia, since I just mentioned the place ... this report of a mystery disease that's so far killed four children near Perth.

Apparently some strain of flu or a bacteria has hundreds of parents in a panic, bringing more than 500 kids per day into just one hospital to be checked out over the weekend.

The Western Australia Health Department is soliciting help from the Centers for Disease Control on the US.

Good luck to them, and let's all hope this doesn't spread. New strains of anything is one of the scariest scenarios in our world right now.

A scary story out of Mississippi, this, about a birth mom who gathered some helpers ... one dressed as a masked man for the occasion ..., then went to the home of her birth child, tied up the adoptive mother with electrical cord, and took off with the five-month-old baby, leaving another child behind.

The birth mother and her sister have been arrested, while another woman and a man are still being sought.

An FBI agent is quoted as saying: "Apparently (the kidnapping) was related to the adoption of the baby. Apparently Ms. Kiefer had changed her mind about the adoption."

Not anywhere near the same story, but in the news nonethless, this tale of "Mommy Wars" is another look at working mothers and stay-at-home-moms (SAHMs).

As trends go, the statistics on opinion shift with the times, and according to this article, more moms are now saying it's better to be a SAHM that were ten years ago.

Lack of concern by employers is the big beef here, though, with the author saying that it's the companies that hire the women who are benefitting from the strife between moms.

In general, they get exactly what they want. They get a mother's time, her best work and her full attention. That gets mothers a few dollars to rub together at the end of the day.

Another look at the supposed "Mommy Wars"

And check out the comments here on views of how little consideration kids get in today's world.