I was recently looking through the International Articles Directory, trying to decide what to write about next, when I stumbled across this article : Coping as a work-at-home parent. Not sure why it was there, except that becoming a parent in any way, shape, or form makes you have to decided where and how you're going to work.

Recognizing myself, I clicked on the link. I am always looking for tips on how to run my life... more

This just over the wire from The Moscow News:

12 U.S. Adoption Agencies Targeted

Combined Reports The Prosecutor General's Office on Tuesday called for revoking the accreditation of 12 U.S. adoption agencies, saying the companies had failed to file reports on the condition of Russian children after adoption.

Deputy Prosecutor General Sergei Fridinsky warned in a letter to federal education officials that the agencies were in violation of laws and regulations.

The agencies are... more

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about our new good behavior encouragement plan, where Little J would get a gold star for every day he was "good." "Good" meant no calling us names, no spitting, no screaming or tantruming, and no hitting. After five stars we were all going to the old-fashioned soda shop in town to get an ice cream. His brother, Big J, got the same deal. Big J got his 5 stars in 5 days. No problem.

It took Little J almost ten days to get 4 stars, and two of those were complete "gimmes" because I wanted him to have some success.

The star system was implemented... more

This is the 4th installment in my series about child abuse and children adopted from Russia. I started with the twelve Russian-adopted children killed by their parents over the past ten years and it's only fitting that I end with them. Or rather, end with one of the unforseen consequences of their deaths.

The following is from the International Adoption Info newsletter, #12, and is repeated here with the permission of its author, Dr. Boris Gindis. Dr. Gindis is a psychologist at the Center for Cognitive-Developmental... more

This is part 3 of my 4-part series on Russian adoption and child abuse. In the last post I listed risk factors for child abuse, and I singled out 4 that seem particularly relevant for parents of children adopted from Russia. They were: lack of social support, lack of parenting skills, lack of preparation for the extreme stress of having a new infant, and a history of depression or other mental health problems.

In my last post I talked about the lack of social support and its impact on the parent of a child adopted from Russia. In this post I will talk about the other three risk factors.

Lack... more

This is part 2 of my 4-part series on child abuse and children adopted from Russia. My last entry was about the 12 children adopted from Russia in the past 10 years who were killed by their adoptive parents. This entry is about the risk of abuse by adoptive parents. According to the American Academy of Family Physicians, certain risk factors contribute to the possibility of child abuse. They are:

Community/societal • High crime rate... more

This is part one of a four-part blog entry on child abuse deaths in children adopted from Russia.

April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month. In my first blog entry on this topic, I want to write about the twelve Russian-adopted children who have been murdered by their adoptive parents in the past ten years. Each death has been a terrible tragedy, and each death has had huge repercussions in the realm of Russian adoption.

The second and third parts are about factors that contribute to child abuse and how a parent of a child adopted from Russia might be at risk for becoming... more

Yesterday I posted the results of a study that F. Jummer and M.H. van IJzendoorn published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) that basically said that through a review of the literature, they discovered that adopted kids exhibit no greater behavioral problems than non-adopted children.

In an editorial in the same publication other findings were commented on, most notably, that age of adoption did not correlate with greater problems, children who are adopted into families of lower... more

Despite my recent posts about my own naughty little boy, a recent scientific study shows that adopted children don't, by and large, exhibit significantly more behavioral problems then non-adopted children.

Whew! That's a relief.

Steve M., from the Russian adoption group at yahoo.com, summarized it for that group and has given me permission to repost his summary here.

Fears about developmental (and various other) issues are justified; however, there is some good news, too. According to a recent, important, and widely cited paper [Jummer, F., and M.H. van... more

Yesterday I wrote about how Little J has behavioral problems. I was at a low point when I wrote it - frustrated with the weekend and really worried about what to do with my little guy.

I got some wonderful feedback and support. Thank you all so much! My husband and I have also decided to take Jamie to a behavioral clinic to start to find some answers. He's already been evaluated for Sensory Integration Dysfunction, and we're addressing that, but a lot of his more recent behaviors don't seem connected to that,... more