China Care is looking for volunteers who are interested in traveling to China and working with special-needs orphans. If you want to know how the system works and what these kids are really like, this seems like it would be one of the best ways to do that.

China Care also runs foster care services and supports Social Welfare Institutions in China by providing "renovations, foster care funding, infant formula, staff training, donated items and other... more

So, the other day, Daughter and My Callipygian Spouse were in the store and Daughter's eyes fell, as they do, on this doll. The one being held by that dashing man in that picture off to the right there. Normally, the eyes fall on something, Daughter makes a remark, and that's that. But on seeing this doll, she insisted she had to have it.

"Mama, Mama!" she said. "I love that Barbie! Look at her hair! Look at her color! She looks like me!"

So of course, My Munificent Spouse had to buy it for her. The reasoning behind Daughter's fascination seems a little... more

I've just been pointed toward a post on the Adoptive Parents-China yahoogroup (also known as "the big group") wherein is advertised the creation of a rather interesting, smaller group - the China Birth Family Search group. Some people, you know, have already gotten in contact with birth parents in China, despite all the odds against it. You might already have read some birth parent... more

Traveling to China? The future seems to be arriving there in some pretty spectacular ways. I mean, more than just the kind of future you see in a child's eyes - I'm talking about the kind of future you used to see in movies with the number "2000" stuck at the end of the title.

No ordinary Olympic pool.

Like, for instance, you have to see the pool they've built in Beijing. It's like a mad hybrid of Roger Dean... more

Here's the second half of an interview with James K., following from the first half over here, in this post.

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Are there lots of Chinese or Asian kids where you live? Do your kids attract a lot of attention for being "different"? There are a number of adopted girls in our town, though they're still a tiny minority. So far we haven't really gotten the idiot questions we expected from the masses on our adoption. Mainly, we just get, "oh, your girl is so pretty!" mainly because she is, in fact, absolutely gorgeous (and that's... more

Rather than continually boring you with stories of my superior family and our superior children, I thought it might be interesting to try interviewing other people who've adopted (or been adopted) from China to get a few different perspectives. James K. lives in Medina, Ohio, and can be read on the web here and seen here.

---- How many children do you have? Two stepchildren, ages 15 (F) and 10 (M), and my daughter, Laurana, who'll be 3 in November.

What made you decide to adopt from China?... more

The perfected person penetrates infinity with a wonderful mind, and the finite world can't stand in the way. He absolutely dedicates his ears to listening and his eyes to seeing, and neither sound nor color can hold him back. Is this not because he leaves the emptiness of things in ordinary reality, so these things can't affect his innermost mind?

Thus, the sage uses his true mind. He is in agreement with li (principle or propriety), and there's no obstacle he can't overcome. He sees the transformation of all things and clearly understands that... more

I like reading stories about Chinese adoption... but I also think it's important for traveling families to keep up with what's going on in China right now, and for families at home to know what's going on with Chinese people that they (parents and children alike) might be running into or looking up to.

So here are a few of those stories, fresh off the wires:

The Cincinnati Post reports on teenagers from America returning to their birthplace in Changzhou. Funny, my first reaction to that is: maaan, teenagers. I'm so dooooomed! My... more

I'm a big advocate for adoptive parents learning Mandarin - even just a few words (which is all I know) - in part because it makes the process of being in the country for the first time easier, but also because it makes going back later in your kids' lives easier, and, most importantly, it's kinda fun, too.

It's hard enough dealing with official paperwork and anxiety over small, new, hungry human beings without having to wonder about what strangers are telling you when you bump into them in the street. In general, the best tools for picking up your first few words... more

While browsing the adoption forums, I came across a notice about Arthur. If you have a child under 4, you probably already know Arthur, his relentlessly upbeat Ziggy Marley theme song, his gang of animal friends and his occasional nuggets of only-parents-will get this cleverness. Well, now Arthur is doing adoption.

Yep, Arthur's buddy Binky* is getting a baby sister named Mei Lin. There... more