This is a very nice way to end the month of January: Seven more adoption agencies have been accredited by the Russian government. The decrees, all dated January 28, cover three agencies from the United States, and one each from France, Italy, Spain and Sweden.

Here's who they are and a little bit about what they do:

The agencies accredited from the U.S. are ABC Adoption Services of Roanoke, Virginia, Beacon House Adoption Services of Pensacola, Florida, and... more

I don't know what to make of the story that showed up on RIA Novosti yesterday.

RIA Novosti is a news agency owned and operated by the Russian government. It grew out of a news service started by the Soviets in 1941. And as such, you probably wouldn't be surprised to see stories on it that reflect an official viewpoint.

The story that showed up yesterday on its English-language site (RIA Novosti publishes in Russian, English, German, French, Arabic, Persian, Japanese and Chinese) carried the headline "40,000... more

Apologies. A host of reasons--personal, professional and most of all technical--kept me from getting this news to you as fast as I should have: There has been a new round of accreditations issued in Russia. The accreditations apparently were signed on November 22 or 23, but word of them did not get out until last week.

The list includes nine agencies, four of which are American, and the rest from Belgium, Canada, Israel and Italy. That was somewhat disappointing news to those of us who have been waiting for a large group of American agency re-accreditations. But given... more

Two years ago, as I was completing my second adoption from Russia, there was talk that Russia would soon begin requiring some sort of psychological test to determine parental fitness. Remember that, two years ago, Russian adoptions were being roiled by three high-profile cases of Russian-born children murdered by their American adoptive parents. An independent test of someone's suitability to be a parent didn't seem at all out of place.

Russia still hasn't passed a law mandating a psychological examination. But, speaking at the recent Adoptive Parents Committee conference,... more

Want something fun to do this morning if your agency is among the 46 that have not yet gotten accreditation to handle adoptions in Russia? Call Martin Renkiewicz and ask him why his agency is holding things up. No, this is not an overseas call. Mr. Renkiewicz's agency is right down in Washington, D.C.

Yes, you read that right. It looks as if the fault for the slow pace of accreditations lies not with Moscow, or with late post-placement reports, but with an obscure American bureaucracy that goes by the name of the U.S.... more

So, as I told you in part one of this post, the U.S. National Central Bureau of Interpol has stopped processing background checks on U.S. adoption agencies. Russia's Ministry of Justice needs this information to complete the accreditation of these agencies, so that they, in turn may complete the adoption of thousands of children now in Russian orphanages.

Now what?

One agency awaiting re-accreditation told me that the MoJ indicated that it would allow agencies to... more

Ordinarily, I do everything I can to avoid printing rumors about what is or isn't happening with adoptions in Russia. There's enough of that kind of stuff floating around on the Internet and an unconfirmed rumor is just that, an unconfirmed rumor. And unconfirmed rumors drive people nuts.

But I've gotten e-mails from several of you recently asking when I think the next round of accreditations will be issued. The truth is, I don't know and probably no one in Russia does either, with the possible exception of Andrei Alexandrovich Fursenko, the minister of education, whose signature... more

How did I miss this one?

In mid-July, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty ran a story about Russia's efforts to find more families interested in domestic adoption. It is an eye-opener, both for what it reveals about Russian attitudes toward adoption and for how the domestic adoption process differs from inter-country adoption. And somehow, it didn't make it onto my radar screen until this morning.

I was only on my first cup of coffee when I clicked on the... more

Post placement report number three has come and gone. Well almost: Our social worker came to the house last week for a visit, but there are a few bits of paperwork and photos that still need to be gathered before everything can be shipped off to Russia.

As I have written before, Russian authorities view the post-placement reports as being as critical--or more--as any piece of paperwork that preceded it in your child's adoption. I have been told, many times during the long, long wait for re-accreditation,... more

Yesterday morning, I looked at some of the general issues in the adoptive parent training required by the Hague Convention. Now, I'd like to tell you about a nifty online training class I've just completed.

This summer, the National Council For Adoption, an adoption advocacy group based in Alexandria, Va., released "The Intercountry Adoption Journey", a seven-part tool that allows you to get eight of the 10 hours... more