While waiting for son (son!), we joined one of those cyberspace squats where you all sort of check the calendar together and go "Is the paperwork there yet? Are referrals here yet?" and when the answer is "No," you reminisce about Buffy, the Vampire Slayer and swap mix CDs. There's some talking about adoption and ... more

Somehow, last Sunday I missed this brief story. On the page, it seems a little too small for its significance.

The One-Child Policy is the Chinese government's response to a crippling overpopulation problem, and it's the reason why there's an international adoption program from China.

Urban couples are allowed... more

File this under things I don't have to worry about *exactly*:

The popular science journal Nature has a story on a woman donating her eggs to her own daughter, who has a medical condition that makes her unable of creating eggs of her own. It's the first time this has happened, and has ethicists raising their eyebrows. If the girl uses the donated eggs, her daughter will also be her own half-sister.

At least that's now Nature is pitching the story. There's a ... more

There've been a few reports lately on a problem about which, well, everyone, really, but especially those of us involved in this international adoption business should be concerned. I was reading that aforementioned Aaron Cohen article, did a little random searching and came up with a handful of stories about human trafficking in China.

Not babies, like the problems in Hunan (and, erm, ... more

Things I've been reading worth passing along:

* How to foster attachment.

This is a page of great suggestions, one of many pages on a site filled with great suggestions. I'm not so sure about the business with singing goofy songs, but I have recollections of playing the Cheerio-passing Cereal Kisses game and it working on her.

Reader, she married me, and then... more

Brief note on something cool I just heard that'll help you call home from China easier and cheaper than Skype or Pandaphone.

Check this out: T-mobile's new cellphone plan gives you free calls from any wireless hotspot (they're also giving away wireless routers, so you can call for free from your home). But the hotspot thing is of interest to world travelers, since it uses the internet from wherever you happen to be in the world. If you have a cell phone in Belgrade, Maine, and stroll into a web cafe in Bahrain, Benares or (most relevantly) Beijing, the call will still be free.

I haven't tried it, so... more

Question 1. - Why is the least ethnically diverse city in Canada (and possibly North America) home to the greatest number of Chinese adoptions?

Because it is, you know. Quebec City. Where they speak French. And, per capita, adopt more Chinese kids than anywhere else... more

Just briefly: I was browsing over at the China Adoption forums and I found a discussion (more of an announcement, really, but this things can turn on a dime) about an interview with Jeff Gammage, author of China Ghosts, a memoir about his adopting his daughter from China.

It's now... more

So, if you've been wondering what's been up with this blog over the past couple of days, your humble typist was on the other side of Florida, having packed the kids and My Sojourning Spouse into our minivan (of all things) to drive 230 miles and hang out with two other families we met over the computer.

We were all in the same DTC group - not with the same agency (in fact, three different agencies), and not adopting from the same city or province, but all with the same paperwork going in at the same time. We... more

So, various members of my family have pointed this thing out to me, and I haven't been able to find much out.

But both Brian Stuy's Research-China (third sentence down) and The Rumor Queen (explanation #2) have recently alluded to rumors that China is opening more, possibly all, of its Social Welfare Institutes to the international adoption program. This... more