The title of this news article says it all. A Ukrainian drunk escapes dolphin gang drowning attempt in the Black Sea.

But what really made me giggle was the statement below. And do the dolphins really enjoy their "love" reputation? I guess the poorer nations get assigned the mean dolphins? Wealthy nations get the cuddly ones? ... more

Continuing from part 1.

Here is another paragraph that was a problem for me.

In some cases, reform campaigns are coupled with skepticism toward foreign adoption, including concern about occasional cases of abuse. Romania has banned adoptions by foreigners except for relatives; Ukraine and Kazakhstan insist that foreign parents submit regular reports on adoptees.

From: Tightened rules lower adoptions of foreign babies

Oops.. someone didn't fact... more

The news media has jumped all over the 2006 visa numbers from the US State Department. These visas numbers reflect the number of children adopted internationally by Americans.

I think the stories are puff pieces... over blown... generalizations... too simple.

After tripling in the past 15 years, the number of foreign children adopted by Americans dropped sharply in 2006, the result of factors that have jolted adoption advocates and prompted many would-be adoptive parents to reconsider their options.

From: Tightened... more

I found an interesting charity. The United Orphaned Children's Fund of Pennsylvania (UOCFP) was founded in 2002.

Steve Vetterlein founded UOCFP because:

In the spring of ’99, I was watching a TV show about this humanitarian organization up in Canada called "Help Us Help The Children" (HUHTC). It was a whole hour long, and the scenes from that program haunted me for many months afterwards.

From: History... more

Thinking about adopting from Ukraine? Me too... I have been thinking about adopting a second child from Ukraine for a while now.

I have always wanted to parent 2 children. I think the sibling relationship is important. But things got in the way.. finances, work, special needs that turned out to be more special the I realized.

I posted why I adopted from Ukraine in 2000. And it did involve analyzing ... more

I found an interesting "letter to the editor". It is dated December 25, 2006.

In July, Friends of Our Orphanages brought eight children from Orphanage No. 9, Krivoy Rog, Ukraine. It was very difficult to get them out of the country and took us nearly two years from the first time we applied.

Few people thought we could actually do this

.......

I have struggled to find a way to thank all [donors and helpers]

.......

Jote' Thompson,... more

Food and sleep... These are typically the 2 biggest issues for a post institutionalized child.

I adopted my darling daughter Natasha from Ukraine when she was 3.5 years old. At first I didn't fully understand just how afraid she was of the dark.

And to be honest, it look me a full year to really understand what Natasha was... more

Hope is a 5 year old girl. The Randle family adopted her from the Republican Children's Hospital in Crimea under the SDAPRC. They recently returned home on November 20, 2006.

Based on the news article, the Randles were doing an independent adoption (without an adoption agency). And they were using a lawyer to facilitate the adoption.

They... more

Ukraine is a blind referral system. The family must travel to Ukraine to receive a referral.

referral = Ukrainian government employees (SDAPRC department) met with an approved family for 1 hour to discuss specific children.

Family may not receive a referral that mets their expectations on gender, health or age. Under the old system with the NAC department, this happened to about 1% of adoptive families every year. So some families would return home without meeting a child.

2005 was an awful year. This... more

I love FRUA. They are an Eastern European adoption support group. And they have a "chat board" that is typically a source of interesting information. You have to take it with a grain of salt. While folks do have to register to use FRUA's board, anonymous postings are common.

Right now the Admin for FRUA's board is stressed out. He is experiencing... more