Early this summer, I took a look at hosting programs. They bring older Russian orphans to the United States for a vacation that, with luck, leads to adoption by the hosting family. Many of the programs have been on hiatus as adoption agencies tried to decipher whether hosting and adoption can co-exist under the new accreditation rules.

At the time of that post, I was alerted that there was one program I missed, the Russian Orphan Lighthouse Project. And this past week, I had a chance to talk to its director, Lisa Smith, about an impending hosting program in Michigan and how the Lighthouse operates.

It's sort of fitting that Grand Rapids, Mich., will be the site of the upcoming hosting from November 1-10; Michigan was where the Lighthouse got its start a decade ago. Since then it has managed 34 hostings of Russian orphans, to cities in Texas, Washington, Illinois and North Carolina.

Smith walked me through the work of organizing a hosting program, which is substantial, but not impossible. In each city, she works with a volunteer coordinator to identify host families--she needs five to green light a project--which can take up to four months. There's a $600 fee to be a host family, and all host families must have a criminal background check, the same that you would get for an adoption home study. And since many of hostings turn into adoption proceedings, Smith also needs a "reliable" social worker in each area.

The Lighthouse bills its efforts as a vacation bible school, which makes two key points. It brings children ages six to 15 from 10 different regions in Russia over for a break during their school vacation periods. That, Smith feels, helps smooth its way with Russian officials, who are now emphasizing domestic adoptions and foster parenting. And, while many of the volunteer organizers are Christian churches, Smith is quick to emphasize that it is not an exclusively Christian organization. "We are open to people of all faiths," she says.

While most of the children the Lighthouse brings to the U.S. are eventually adopted, Lighthouse is not, Smith notes emphatically, an adoption agency. All of the adoptions are completed as independently in Russia. And here's one other surprise: About 25% of the children are adopted by people other than their host families--by neighbors and host family friends. Occasionally, a child will choose not to be adopted. "Not because of the hosting," Smith says, "but because they love Russia."

Adopting a hosted child is not cheap: About $40,000 for one child; fees for a sibling group are about $45,000 total. But working through the Lighthouse program may have its advantages. Adoptive parents--who can be either couples or single women--make just one trip, which lasts two to three weeks, to complete the adoption. Most adoptions of hosted children are completed in six to eight months, Smith says.

Smith is looking to find a host city now for the Jan. 4-14, 2008 school break and the March 20-30 break, and there are plenty of opportunities for June, July and August. "We are looking for new cities all the time," she says. If you feel you could organize a hosting, take a look at the Lighthouse's Web site.