There have been so many gains in the world of adopting from Russia lately--the 12 agencies accredited, the promise of more to come soon--so many gains that loss seems almost unthinkable. But loss is what I have to write about now.

This week, one of the brightest voices in the Russian adoption blog world lost her referral. This wasn't an abstract, paper loss: Suz--you may know her by her blog title, "Russian Adoption Dva"--had been to Russia twice to be with this little girl. She... more

Where is it? Yaroslavl Oblast is located in western Russian about equidistant from Moscow and St. Petersburg. It borders the Tver, Moscow, Ivanovo, Vladimir, Kostroma and Vologda Oblasts. It is in the same time zone as Moscow.

What's the biggest city? Yaroslavl, whose population was recently estimated at 613,088 out of a total of 1.4 million for... more

Rose Alaimo has only been in Russia a few days, but her experience is already proving an eye-opener.

You might remember that, back in late May, I introduced you to a Cornell University veterinary student who decided to go to Russia for what some people call a "volunteer vacation". Rose is doing a lot of volunteering, but she clearly isn't getting a lot of time for rest. And it doesn't seem to bother her one bit.

Rose arrived in Yaroslavl on July 23... more

Where is it? Perm Krai is located in western Russian at the foot of the Ural Mountains. It borders the Komi Republic, and the Bashkortostan, Udmurtia, Kirovskaya and Sverdlovskaya Oblasts. It has a two-hour time difference from Moscow and you can find the local time here.

What's the biggest city? Perm, whose population was recently estimated at 976,116 out of a total of 3 million for the entire region. The city's name is derived from... more

I've been reading a bit about families who have used baby sign language to communicate with the children they adopt from abroad, and I think it can be a useful tool to help you bridge the language gap. There was a story about one family who used it with the children that they adopted from Russia in a Michigan newspaper earlier this month.

Baby sign, as it is sometimes called, is about two decades old. The basic idea behind it is that learning... more

The other day, I told you about how two professors from the University of Pittsburgh's School of Education came to be involved with Russia's orphanages. Now, I'd like to tell you what they have achieved through their work.

Their goals were two-fold: make care more consistent and more responsive. They had found that the average child in a Russian baby home could expect to encounter as many as 100 caregivers during his or her time there. Most of... more

Only July 19, five more American adoption agencies were accredited to work in Russia. The decision by the Ministry of Education brings the total number of accredited American agencies to 12. Two agencies from France and one each from Spain and Israel have also been accredited. Let's hope that the MoE keeps working on this through the traditional August slow season and gets the rest of the waiting agencies their paperwork soon.

In political news, on... more

What a great way to end the week: Five more U.S. adoption agencies have been accredited by the Russian government. The July 19 round of accreditations also included one agency each in Israel, Spain and France.

The American agencies are Pittsburgh-based Adopt-A-Child, Adoption Associates in Jennison, Mich., European Adoption Consultants of Strongsville, Ohio, Rhode Island-based Gift... more

The English-language news channel Russia Today put up an interesting piece this morning on an orphanage in Moscow devoted to children with HIV and AIDS.

In case you are not familiar with Russia Today, it is an offshoot of the RIA-Novosti news agency. Like its parent organization, it covers breaking news, politics, business and human interest stories in Russia and other Eastern European and Central Asia countries. It also is taking full advantage of the Internet: It recently established its own channel on... more

Where is it? Novosibirsk Oblast is located, as you might have guessed from the name, in western Siberia. It is bordered by Omsk and Tomsk oblasts, Kemerovo Oblast and Altai Krai. Kazahkstan is just to the south. The Ob River cuts through the region. Though it is small, the economic importance of its largest city has merited the Novosibirsk region its own time zone, and you can find the local time here.

What's... more