OK, let me state for the record that I have no idea whether Pamela Anderson is planning to adopt from Russia. Her blog entry on her trip to a Moscow-area orphanage after she hosted the MTV Russia Film Awards could be read in many different ways. Her manager hasn't yet returned my call seeking a clarification. But if Ms. Anderson is thinking along adoption lines, she will be glad that she is a citizen of both the United States and Canada. That's because Canadian adoption practices are significantly different than those in America.

(I didn't know it until I read her bio, but Pamela Anderson was born on Vancouver Island, which is part of the province of British Columbia on Canada's western coast. She got U.S. citizenship in 2002, but held on to her Canadian citizenship too.)

First, some statistics. Not many Canadians opt to adopt internationally. According to Citizenship and Immigration Canada in 2006, international adoptions have been fairly stable, totally between 1,800 and 2,200 a year for the 11 previous years. And Russia is not the primary focus, as it has been in the United States. There were only 88 adoptions from Russia to Canada in 2005, the most recent year for which statistics are available. That places Russia fifth as an adoption destination, after China, Haiti, the United States (!) and South Korea. (By way of comparison, 4,639 Russian children were adopted by Americans in 2005 and 3,706 in 2005, according to the U.S. State Department.)

That's not the only difference with the U.S. While prospective parents in America must follow state rules for their home studies, the ultimate adoption authority is federal. But in Canada, the adoption authority is the province or territory in which a person lives. Canada's regions have subscribed individually to the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption. There is a lot of back and forth between the 10 provinces and three territories and the central authorities (prospective parents must apply to sponsor their child with the federal agency Citizenship and Immigration Canada), but ultimately, if you are Canadian, your home region's child welfare authority sets the agenda.

That's challenge one. Challenge two is that there are only five agencies in all of Canada that have been accredited to conduct adoptions in Russia. Five, as compared with 59 American agencies that have gotten NGO status there. And though their numbers are smaller, the Canadian agencies are in exactly the same boat as their U.S. counterparts: They are waiting for re-accreditation. And Canadians must, just like Americans, make two trips to Russia, one to meet and accept the child, and the second to complete the adoption.

And you thought U.S. adoption rules were tough!