"The convention outlines the process by which a child becomes eligible for adoption and also outlines the processes whereby a family is deemed eligible to adopt a child. This protects children because it ensures that every attempt has been made to keep the child in his or her birth family and birth country. It protects adoptive families, who can be confident that any child they are considering for adoption has been previously designated as eligible for adoption."

Labels: inter-country_adoption, international, protection

"Norman and Josephine adopted Yvette when she was just 6 months old. The couple decided to adopt after Josephine had some physical problems that kept her from being able to conceive. They adopted Yvette from out of state and from the moment they saw her they fell completely in love."

Labels: adoptive_parents, confidence, support

"We want to increase public understanding and awareness of adoption and create a more pro-adoption culture in which everyone, including women facing unplanned pregnancies, can consider adoption freely without fear, bias, or misunderstanding."

Labels: acceptance, awareness, media

"Keeping the birthmother in the family has become more common since Dischler made her decision more than 20 years ago. But it doesn't mean the concerns - and subsequent scars - aren't difficult to deal with."

Labels: open_adoption, teenage_pregnancy, unwanted_pregancy

"In two of the five alleged false identity cases, the birth mothers assumed the identities of babies who were stillborn two decades ago. Two other mothers stole the identities of living women whom prosecutors later located."

Labels: birth_parents, fraud, unwanted_pregancy

"At least one human rights group in Republic of Congo has been calling for action on suspected child trafficking in the country since August. The head of that group, Loamba Moke, said he was glad the government was taking action to assure the safety of adopted children, but called for tougher laws in the prosecution of child trafficking networks."

Labels: governments, international

"It also would allow birth parents to designate whether they eventually want to be contacted by the child, an intermediary or not at all."

Labels: adoption_rights, birth_parents, legislation

"Again, we didn't care. We had so much love in us that we wanted to share. We made a promise that we would not go the medical route for future children, and instead committed to adopting mixed children so they would share their ethnicity."

Labels: adoptive_parents, birth_parents, interracial

"Police spokeswoman Sarah Huntley on Friday said investigators are still looking into allegations that Claar officials, including former Erie Trustee Lisa Novak and her husband, Martin Claar, defrauded and stole money from hopeful parents."

Labels: agencies, fraud, licensing

"Stephanie Bennett has been fighting to regain custody of her daughter, Evelyn, since 2006, saying she regretted her initial decision. Evelyn was only a few months old at the time."

Labels: consent, teenage_pregnancy, unwanted_pregancy

"Twenty-one entry visas for children have been rejected in the last two years, according to the State Department. More than half the denials have come since last October, prompting complaints that the department is singling out individual cases to embarrass the Vietnamese government into changing its adoption process."

Labels: inter-country_adoption, international, state_department