Early this month, Rebecca at the Viet Nam Adoption Blog had a solid, sensible post on five basic steps to talk to your child about adoption. They are the framework for discussion in my house, too. But we've been having an interesting conversation recently that I'd like to share with you, in a somewhat paraphrased form.

My older son has known for a long time that I picked him, and we have a somewhat fanciful story about what it was about him that compelled... more

Where is it? The Jewish Autonomous Oblast, or region, is located in the Russian Far East, bordering on Khabarovsk Krai. It is in the same time zone as Vladivostok. You can find the current local time here.

What's the biggest city? Birobidzhan (sometimes written as Birobidjan), population 77,250 as of the 2002 census, out of 190,915 total inhabitants... more

Where is it? Kamchatka Oblast, or region, is a peninsula in the Russian Far East, northeast of Primorye Krai and Khabarovsk Krai and bordered by the Sea of Okhotsk and the Pacific Ocean. It shares a northern border with Magadan Oblast. It is in the same time zone as... more

You all know how long your agency has been waiting to be accredited by Moscow, and how much paperwork it has filed. But do you know where it stands with its Hague accreditation?

Say what?

The Hague Convention on Inter-Country Adoption is a piece of international law dating from 1993. It governs the rights of children, birth parents and adoptive parents in international adoption situations. The goal is to have a clear, universally accepted set... more

I got a rude awakening the other week: My Russian is in terrible shape.

Full disclosure: It was never in great shape to begin with. It's the last of the five foreign languages I have learned, and when I learned it, I focused on a very narrow vocabulary. Basically just what I needed to communicate with a small child and the people who cared for him.

But my minister wanted to try something new for Pentecost, so she asked several members of the congregation to read the same passage, each in a different language. I got... more

Many of the longstanding blogs about adopting from Russia have been, understandably, very quiet in the last few months. But even as we all wait for word from Moscow on the re-accreditation (Andrei Aleksandrovich, if you are reading, please give everyone in the Ministry of Education the "hurry up" sign), a handful of parents are beginning their adoption journeys. I'd like to introduce you to some of them today.

First up are Troy and Rachel at "Journey With The Williams Family". I found them... more

One small bit of good news on the adoption front: Sean and Robin, who are blogging at "His, Hers & Ours", are in Russia for Trip 1. Best wishes for a happy trip.

But once again, no news on accreditations. And frankly, if anybody in Washington is paying attention, I don't think all the very undiplomatic diplomacy that's going on now is of much help.

On Thursday, David Kramer, a State Department Russian expert rebuked... more

So much for hoping the U.S. government would have an enlightened attitude on the fees it charges for adoption-related documents.

According to a statement issued today, effective July 30, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will be slapping a whopping 38% increase on the cost of an I-600A. Fingerprinting costs will rise to $80 from $70 for each member of an adoptive household over the age of 18. And the price of a citizenship certificate... more

It's not often that I get to say nice things about New Jersey politicians. But a group of them did something very smart yesterday and I'd like to bring it to your attention.

The New Jersey Senate's Budget and Appropriations Committee approved, 8-6, a bill that extends the state's Temporary Disability Benefits law to cover those caring for sick family members, newborns or--drumroll please--newly adopted children. If the bill, which grants 10 weeks of partially paid... more

Whether you are a prospective adoptive parent needing motivation because Moscow is taking so long to sign off on the re-accreditations or a parent already home needing some inspiration, you'll be in luck this weekend: Dateline NBC is going to re-run a remarkable story on Russian adoption.

Correspondent Keith Morrison's story originally aired last June. It is the story of Lisa and Hythem Salem, "two regular people in an average suburb in America", as Morrison called them. Not... more