Here's something to read from someone who went there and did that: Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Jeff Gammage wrote a new book on his adopting from China, and his paper was nice enough to post an excerpt (with some great bios at the bottom of the piece). If I was just starting the process,... more

My Studious Spouse, the one with the job doing the home studies, recently pointed me toward a bulletin she'd received from the agency with which she contracts. It's about adoptions from Taiwan, which apparently are getting more popular (as previously alluded to in this space). If you'd like to be adopting from Taiwan, you should definitely include some descriptions of your exposure to and familiarity with the culture, and your... more

Lately, I've been looking at this "Trips" application on Facebook. I don't know how well it works in reality, but it's designed to be a way to organize a trip to anywhere with whoever else is interested in going (and who happens to be on Facebook, which seems to be everyone nowadays). So, if, for instance, you're interested in, say, taking your kids on a trip back to Chongqing to see the place where they were born, you could conceivably hook up with other... more

Going to China, but running around in a panic trying to figure out how and what and where? Journeywoman.com's "GirlTalk China" presents a big list of tips for women traveling in China.

Topics include: what to pack (and how), where to shop, how much things are worth, the etiquette of dinner invitations, and a whole bunch of other stuff. As the name implies, it's all geared toward woman travelers, but men can learn a thing or two, too.

There are also some sweet anecdotes (I like the "Will my adopted granddaughter remember?" series.)

Quick note to prospective parents (and some folks "enjoying" the long wait times): the fees for filling out I600 & I600A forms are going up. You can read the new fee schedule on this pdf from our beloved Homeland Security office.

I read about this in a ... more

So, yesterday we just had our post-placement. This is the last of our home studies, when a social worker (other than the one to whom I am married) comes and evaluates your family to make sure you're all, like, not going to toss a baby in the crock pot for dinner or something.

(We have been tempted.)

The post-placement gets done at the end of everything, a year after the bundle of joy is plopped in your arms at the Social Welfare Institute or Civil Affairs Office or hotel conference room or wherever and you're wondering, "Is this it? When... more

Item 1: Is Chinese business success based on lucky numbers?

That's what the Wall Street Journal seems to be asking up there. Actually that particular story is mostly about how individual investors make up the bulk of Chinese stock trading, rather than in America, where conglomerates and brokerages take up the biggest slice of the pie.

But it's got a nice chart of Chinese numbers in it, and a nice overview of why it's a good practice to give somebody you like eight of something, and why you won't find a fourth or 14th floor in a lot of tall buildings,... more

Chinese - or, I should say, Mandarin, the official spoken language of China*, has a bad rap as being a Very Difficult Language. I'm not sure this is entirely deserved - after all, more human beings speak it than any other language, and people are more or less the same wherever you go.

It's actually quite simple for most English-speakers to get a few sentences of Mandarin together - enough to a/impress people that you're trying,... more

Daughter, whose umbilical hernia starred in one or two old entries now has a new navel. There's a scar on it, and it doesn't stick out like it used to. She was not, technically, a "special needs" or "waiting" child, but there are things that are not like other children - the scar on her abdomen is already fading, but there are other, less obvious things. Being raised... more

"lingyang"="adopt"

My fellow Floridian Dave Thomas seemed like an interesting guy, as far as CEOs of fast-food giants go (no, not this Floridian Dave Thomas, but the one with the daughter named Wendy). His was the first burger joint to offer a salad bar. And he was the founder of the Dave... more