When adopting a child from China, you enter a relationship with the Chinese government. Not just the country and the culture, but the whole system - at least temporarily, but if you're planning on returning in the future to show your child from where she (or he!) came, then for however long it takes. This makes some prospective parents uneasy.

Perhaps you'll rest easier knowing that ... more

I'm not a Chinese-American, but my kids are. Here's something about what that means.

The Fortune Cookie Chronicles is a blog that's mostly about all-American Chinese food, but recently devoted a little attention to Chinese-American history, thanks to the publication of a new book... more

You like the internet, right? (Otherwise, how did you get here??)

Here are three sites I've found to be useful:

Trendy, trendy Facebook has quite ... more

Not personally - I really mean adoptive parents of whom you might have heard.

I'm not sure you should call them role models, but they're Been-There-Done-That and they're famous.

Miami Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino, who has held every "serious" passing record in the NFL, founded a chain of restaurants and a foundation for autistic children, and who adopted Niki in 1998 and Lia in 2001. He is a hero.... more

A hand-edited manuscript of Pearl S. Buck's The Good Earth has been recovered and feuding heirs have finally reached an agreement that allows the book to be publicly displayed.

Here's why this matters:

PSBI (Pearl S. Buck International) is the organization behind Welcome... more

...On Universal Love.

When the princes love one another there will be no more war; when heads of houses love one another there will be no more mutual theft of office; when ordinary people love one another there will be no more mutual injury. When ruler and ruled love each other they will be benevolent and loyal; when father and son love each other they will be affectionate and supportive; when older and younger siblings love each other they will have harmonious words for everyone. When all the people in the world love one another,... more

Sometimes, with an intentional family like ours, one wonders what would have happened if we hadn't met. If the Magic Stapler in the referral room had attached someone else's photograph to our dossier.

This isn't necessarily a healthy thing to be wondering, but sometimes you can't help it.

See, I was reading about kids in China. Time had a (somewhat manipulative) story about the "disposable athletes" of China's Olympic... more

NPR is running a series called "Adoption in America" during Morning Edition this week, and yesterday's interview was especially interesting.

It was a profile of Susan Soon-keum Cox, who was adopted from Korea herself in 1956 and is now a vice president of Holt International, which (if you haven't run into the name yet) is a modern adoption colossus.

I can't really do justice to her story in a short summary, so I encourage you to head over to the NPR site to listen to her tell it, or at... more

What was I saying about moving to Shanghai?

Check this out: the usually thought-provoking Shanghaiist blog (a group blog by a bunch of expats in China) has taken a look at adoption & abandonment - especially what happens to those kids who are taken in by Chinese families in what's... more

The New York Times reports on an adoptive mom moving from the old capital of the world to the new one. She's leaving New York City to start a new life in Shanghai with her 12-year-old daughter. And she's... more