Owlhaven, our Ethiopian adoption blogger, just wrote a post about a petition being circulated asking Disney to create a movie about a Black heroine. This is a wonderful idea, and I don't understand why the marketing geniuses over at Disney haven't yet come up with it. The audience is ripe and waiting for a movie like that - and has been for years.

Us in the library field know how hot the multicultural market is for stories about princesses of varying ethnicities. I'm talking about... more

This is from the U.S. Department of state. It looks like things may change in Haiti, or they're at least going to reassess the current situation.

October 2006

The U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince has reported that a new director was appointed on Tuesday, October 3, to lead the Haitian social services agency, “Institut du Bien Etre Social et de Recherches” (IBESR). Prospective adoptive parents should expect adoption processing to be temporarily slower as the director settles into the position. The Department of State and the U.S. Embassy continue to monitor the situation... more

Here's a nice little article in the Charlotte Observer about how families who've adopted their children internationally manage to integrate a little bit of culture into their family's lives.

I was interviewed for this article but alas, I did not make the cut. Probably because I don't live in Charlotte! And also because despite all my big talking I don't integrate very much Russian culture into my son's life besides the odd folktale and picture book. But this has more to do with his age than... more

I've written about this website in the Russia adoption blog, but in case you weren't around that day or didn't care because it was about Russia, I want to mention it again for those of you who have or are thinking about adopting internationally: Kids Culture Center.

The site contains links and/or kid-friendly activites for the countries of Russia, Mexico, Guatemala, China, Korea, India, Vietnam and soon, Ethiopia and Ukraine,

Here's how Barbara Blackwell,... more

I have a dear, dear, dear friend who is the father of two transracially adopted children.

The wife of this dear, dear, dear friend makes much effort to expose her kids and involve her kids in African American culture (her kids are biracial/African American and Caucasian). She has worked with local black churches and has made many friends and acquaintances there, she goes to get-together of a local group of Women of Color, she buys them books that emphasize African American heroes and achievers, she makes effort to seek out friends for her children who... more

Here is part 1 of this post.

Here's what one writer (Susan Ward) says about the advantages of adopting an older child:

You can learn more about an older child as to their abilities, interests, and personalities than you can with a baby.

You have more history (childhood illnesses, developmental milestones, skills, talents) that can be evaluated by specialists... more

Of course we have an Older Child Adoption blog on this site, so please refer to that for more complete coverage of this topic, but since many of the people who click on the topic "Hoping to Adopt" may be in the beginning stages of adopting, or just starting to think about the topic, I think it's appropriate to cover it here as well.

Adopting an older child can happen in all adoption situations: international, foster-to-adopt, and even private domestic adoption in rare circumstances.

In international adoption,... more

Big J, my oldest son, had a friend come over after school the other day. It was N., a friend we've known a long time. N. happens to be a kiddo who was adopted. N.'s grandfather happens to be a small town physician and through his doctor connections he helped arrange the private adoption of his grandson. It is a semi-open adoption, which is what N.'s birth mother wanted.

Now N.'s mom and dad wanted more children after N. It's kind of ironic, because they happen to be Catholic and they're the kind of Catholic who say to heck with the birth control! Let's have 12 children!... more

Mocha Moms, according to their website, is a support group for stay-at-home moms of color. I first heard about this organization because my good friend Laura used to go (back when her kids were at home and she wasn't working so much).

Here's the thing - my friend Laura is not a person of color, although she does happen to be a parent of children of color. She attended the meetings and get togethers because a)she has a lot in common with the women (stay at home/work at home mom parenting children of color) and b)she... more

It looks like India is moving in the right direction by providing benefits for its citizens who want to adopt. In this article in the Hindustan Times, it reports of an amendment that a large organization has passed in their employment guidelines to allow for adoption leave:

According to the amendment, a female employee of Mahila Samakhya with less than two surviving children, may be granted leave (similar to maternity in terms of pay and medical due and balance without production of medical certificate, if required) if she adopted a child till such time the latter turned three years of age.... more