It's nice to see some good finally coming of the mess that was Yunona USA.

If you've been in the world of adoptions from Russia for a long time, the last two words of that first sentence probably have you spitting fire by now. Of all the scammers that have decided to try their hand at adoptions, Napa, Calif,-based Yunona was undoubtedly the worst. California prosecutors last year determined that it ripped off over $1.1 million from more than 100 couples and families across the United States trying to adopt from Russia before it was shut down in 2005. The new accreditation rules in Russia are one step to closing the loopholes that allowed Yunona, and its ilk, to pretend to operate there. California law SB 1758 is another.

Proposed in the wake of the Yunona scandal and enacted in January 2007, SB 1758 is in the news now because it is just now clearing the final hurdles of implementation.

Yunona was not a licensed adoption agency but rather operated in the often gray world of an "adoption facilitator." Adoption.com's own glossary defines adoption facilitators as "individuals who are not licensed as adoption agencies or licensed as attorneys, and who are engaged in the matching of birth parents with adoptive parents. The use of unpaid Adoption Facilitators has been permissible in almost every state in the United States from the very early days of adoption."

SB 1758 does not eliminate adoption facilitators in California, but it does significantly close the gap between them and adoption agencies. The law raises the amount of the bond that a facilitator must post to operate to $25,000 from $10,000, and, if there is ever a recovery from the bond, to pause its operations until the bond is replenished. Facilitators must now undergo criminal background checks and social work training, and they are banned from using photo listings.

And, perhaps most importantly, anyone looking to check the bona fides of a California adoption facilitator will soon be able to go on the California Department of Social Services to do so. (You can already look for licensed adoption agencies in California here.)

The changes won't erase the memory of what Yunona did, but it's a good step toward making sure there won't be another Yunona. At least in California.

Image credit: Xandert at Morguefile.com