The French charity Zoe's Arc may be charged with kidnapping for attempting to fly over 100 children from the dangerous Chad-Darfur boarder into France.

"The French [citizens] are part of a group of 16 Europeans, including a seven-member Spanish flight crew, detained Thursday on suspicion of trying to smuggle the children out of Chad with the aim of adoption."

A spokeswoman for Zoe's Arc said the organization had permission to transport the children, but a spokeswoman from UNICEF said the action violated nearly all international adoption rules.

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Labels: international

November is National Adoption Month, and the Gladney Center for Adoption in Texas will be celebrating the many families that have been created through adoption. To date the center has places 27,000 children with loving families.

"It is appropriate for National Adoption Month to be positioned in the month of November celebrating a time of Thanksgiving. Using white ribbons to raise awareness, National Adoption Month celebrates families touched by adoption, honors birth mothers for their courageous choice, and remembers children who still need permanent homes."

The white ribbons are meant to remind people of the lifelong benefits that adoption offers and of the millions of lives that are directly, and positively, impacted by adoption.

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Labels: celebration, encouragement, support

Traveling is one of the more exciting parts of the adoption process. But it can also become one of the most stressful parts if you forget to pack important or necessary items - especially if you're traveling internationally.

"I am all for packing light... and especially when you're traveling to adopt a child, I think you should bring everything that you need. While it is true... that you can often find what you need when you arrive, you don't want to have to spend your first few hours or days with your child in a store in a new place trying to find diapers, formula, lotion or dish soap."

Carefully create a list of things you'll need. If you're traveling internationally, consider the climate you'll be traveling too, and medical needs that may be unique to the country or area. Pack thoroughly, but don't over pack. Bring what you need, but not too much of what you need. Be sure to leave enough room to bring home some of your child's personal items, and for cultural items that you may want to purchase for your home.

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Labels: international, stress, traveling

Researchers from Brigham Young University and the University of Utah are looking for participants for a study on transracial adoption. They are looking primarily for white couples who adopted black children or black children who were adopted by white parents.

"This study hopes to take a deeper look at the identity formation of black children who grew up in white families, the methods that parents use to socialize the children about their own race and the racism they may experience in their lives, the successes, but also the difficulties that the children may have experienced as they developed an identity as a black person and the experiences that may have been important in the development of their identity as a person of color."

The number of transracial adoptions has increased dramatically in the last two decades, but little is known about how the adoptions affect the children or the parents. The researchers have set up a web site that contains a survey which takes approximately 15 minutes to complete. Transracial family members are encouraged to participate.

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Labels: identity, studies, trans-racial

New adoption rules recently passed in India will make adopting Indian children easier for foreign couples. Previously, foreigners needed clearance from Indian adoption coordination agencies. The process often took over a year. Now, that step will be bypassed.

"Under the new rules, the government will be responsible for identifying the agency in India that can offer a child for adoption. Now, foreigners have to first apply to their [own] governments, which have to find and get in touch with adoption agencies in India on their own."

Though rules will be easier for foreigners, they will become stricter for Indians. Currently, Indians can contact adoption agencies directly, but critics say this increases the chances that children will be trafficked. Under the new rules, Indians will have to first register with a state adoption agency.

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Labels: adoption_process, foreign_adoption, India

Lynn and Robin Arnold didn't know what to expect when they adopted first one, then a second, child from Russia. Their first child, Jacob, came home with them in 2003. The second, Andrea, came home two years later. The Arnolds visited each child twice in their Russian orphanages before bringing them home.

"The Arnolds were told to bring a picture book of themselves and a blanket they've slept with as a way to familiarize the children with their prospective parents. That process worked so well, the Arnolds said, the children were actually excited to go home with them when it came time to depart."

Both Jacob, who's 4, and Andrea, 2, have adjusted well to life in America. Andrea is still learning to communicate, but Jacob speaks English well. The Arnolds call their experience a great one and refer back to their Russian interpreter who didn't call it "adoption" but "rescuing".

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Labels: communication, preparations, Russia

In June, the U.S. government warned Americans against adopting children from Guatemala, citing a lack of government oversight. Then, in August, Guatemalan authorities raided an "orphanage" where 46 children were living and awaiting adoption. Currently, the adoption process is not controlled by the government, but by private lawyers who, some speculate, are able to complete the process quickly because they bribe officials and buy babies.

"The lawyers find babies, obtain power of attorney from the mothers, secure governmental adoption approval, arrange housing for infants pending paperwork and deliver the children to the new parents. Foster parents and doctors are paid by the lawyers."

After the August raid, several adoption lawyers took out newspaper ads protesting the government's interference. The Guatemalan government also ratified the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoptions, which will take effect in January and force the adoption process to become more centralized. In addition, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services says it will more closely scrutinize visa applications for children from Guatemala, to ensure that adoptions are being handled appropriately.

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Labels: governments, laws

Several families on Canada's Prince Edward Island (P.E.I.) claim that the government's new policies on international adoptions have created unnecessary obstacles and undue stress on families wishing to adopt internationally.

"Four P.E.I. children have been adopted under China's Waiting Child Program... The program arranges the adoption from China of children with minor medical needs... but the P.E.I government now believes it is illegal for the province to allow agencies to match children and families, as was done previously."

Instead, matches must now be made directly between governments, with no third-party involvement. The province cites China's inclusion in the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoptions as its reason. A handful of P.E.I families have formed the P.E.I. Adoption Coalition and are lobbying for the province to overturn its decision.

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Labels: Canada, China, international

Jeanne Reyer is the Executive Director of Captain Hope's Kids, a Texas-based charity that seeks to meet the needs of children living in homeless shelters, group homes and domestic-abuse safe houses. Reyer often asks herself why the majority of couples choose international adoption when there are so many kids in the US who are in need of stable, loving homes.

"'Why is everyone going to Russia and China? There are 114,000 children in this country waiting for permanent families,' Jeanne said."

Ray and Brandy Harris first considered international adoption, thinking it would be easier and faster. But health issues disqualified them with several international agencies so they began to look domestically. Now, after having adopted two brothers, the Harris high-energy house has become home to Martin and Zachary.

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Labels: domestic_adoptions, homelessness, safe_houses

Though adoption of Chinese children has declined due to heightened restrictions placed by the Chinese government, there were still 6,494 adoptions last year. Most of these were by families that flew to China to pick up their adopted children and then flew home to the United States. But a small percentage of Chinese adoptions are made up of American expatriates living in China.

"The U.S. is one of just six nations that allow its citizens to adopt a Chinese child while living in China. Other countries are concerned about the lack of control and oversight they have over their far-flung citizens, but American expats seeking to adopt follow the same well-defined adoption process that is required of families living in the U.S."

Though no one currently tracks expat adoptions, some people estimate that between 200 and 300 of these types of adoptions occurred last year.

Labels: China, expatriates, international

A festival in Reno, Nevada will give adopted Asian children the opportunity to experience the culture of their birthplace. Attendees will celebrate the Chinese Moon Festival, which is considered one of the most important of the traditional Chinese festivals.

"The children also will make lanterns and listen to the story of 'Change E and Hou Yi', which is a common legend about the origin of the mid-autumn festival that often doubles as a family reunion. Dozens of families who have adopted children from Asia, mostly daughters from China, are putting on the event."

Organizers also believe that it's important for the families to be able to interact with other interracial families like themselves.

Labels: cultures, interracial, traditions