What with the need for a trip one, trip two, packing, regional pointers and the like, there's always a lot of talk about travel on the Russia Adoption forum board. But a new thread popped up last week with a fun idea: Travel to Russia to see the 2014 Winter Olympic Games and take the kids along.

As you may have seen in the news last week, on July 4 Russia won its... more

One of the readers of the Russia Adoption Blog recently took me to task for saying that a good agency collects the bulk of its fees for an adoption near the end of the process. Why shouldn't an adoption agency be treated like any other professional services firm, this poster wondered? Why shouldn't it be paid ongoing fees?

In many ways, an adoption agency should be treated like any other professional services firm. You should thoroughly check their references and get a written fee agreement before you commit to work with them, just as you... more

I'm sure all the parents who are already home from Russia celebrated the new accreditations just like the parents who are waiting. But if the agency you used was not among this first group to be accredited, ask yourself this question: Could your late post-placement report be holding things up?

For those of your now waiting to travel to Russia for an adoption, you should know that your paperwork obligations to the Russian government do not end when you leave Moscow... more

We spend a lot of time without shoes in my family. We have a "shoes off" policy year round when we enter the house, which cuts (but by no means eliminates) the amount of mud that gets tracked through.

But in summer, it's hard to keep the shoes on wherever we are, inside or out. And when I was looking at my little guy's toes the other day as he got ready to head outside, I was struck by how far he has come since coming home from Sakhalin Island in October 2005.

Then,... more

Well, there was absolutely no doubt what the top story was this week for this audience: Accreditations! Yes, Moscow finally delivered the new licenses for eight American agencies and one French agency, L'Agence Francaise d'Adoption. The new accreditations were apparently signed June 27, but only delivered to agencies on July 4. The American agencies are Adoption... more

I made an interesting find when I was researching the post on Krasnodar Krai the other day: An adoption blog written by a Russian.

Olga Spachil's "carefororphans" blog is one of those rare insider looks at the world. In the interest of full disclosure, I should tell you that Spachil does have ties to the adoption communities in Russia and the United States: She's listed among the regional contacts for Adoption... more

Look at the image to the right of these words. It is something that many adoption agencies have not seen in a long, long time. It is a certificate of accreditation from the Russian government to operate as an adoption agency in Russia. And it is absolutely beautiful. OK, maybe not as beautiful as your children or the children who will be joining your family soon, but as stunning as official documents ever get. And I wish I could have published it to fit the full page.

This one belongs to International... more

Where is it? Krasnodar Krai, or territory, is located in southwestern Russia between the Black Sea and the Caucasus mountains. It includes the Republic of Adygea and is bordered by Rostov Oblast, Stavropol Krai and the Karachay-Cherkess Republic. Krasnodar is in the Moscow time zone .

What's the biggest city? Krasnodar, which had a population of 646,175 as of the 2002 census, out of some 5.1 million inhabitants in the... more

Here in the United States, we've all been doing a bit of Fourth of July celebrating today. But some folks in Maryland and Virginia have been doing a bit more celebrating than others. They are the people at Cradle of Hope Adoption Center and, today, it became the first American agency to be re-accredited under Russia's new rules. Congratulations to all of you and to the families you serve.

And now, could the other big shoe please drop?

OK, I don’t mean to seem greedy, or steal any of Cradle of Hope's justly deserved... more

Think Russia is the only country with a drinking problem that affects its kids? Think again.

A new study estimates that almost one American in three--30.3% to be exact--has a problem with alcohol at some time in their lives. Of that group, 17.8% say they abuse alcohol and 12.5% say they have problems because of alcohol dependence. And most of these problems go untreated.

The study, which is published in the July issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, was an enormous undertaking. Researchers including Columbia University... more