Summertime used to be filled with news of Russian orphans coming to the United States for summer camp programs that brought them into contact with prospective adoptive parents.

Not this year. Thanks to the uncertainty surrounding the re-accreditation of their adoption programs, all the stalwarts of the camp-to-adopt movement have put their programs on hiatus this summer. I've found only one camp-to-adopt program for kids from Russia that is running now, and I'll tell you more about that in a minute.

For some, the break will be permanent: Kidsave International told me it is no longer running its summer camp program. Instead, it will be focusing on its mentoring and foster care efforts in Russia, which include a camp-like break for an orphan with a Russian family.

Others seem to be hoping that, once the accreditations are out, they can revive or revamp their previous programs. That includes Buckner International's Angels From Abroad program and Cradle of Hope's Bridge of Hope, the oldest camp-to-adopt program.

In case you've never heard about these programs, they were drawn up to introduce prospective American parents to some of the hardest children to place: older orphans, those generally aged 8 to 14. Host parents were not required to adopt, but many did and they opened the eyes of other Americans to the possibility of adopting an older child. I spent a lot of time considering Bridge of Hope a few years back for my second adoption before I decided to adopt an older child who would still be younger than my older son. Yes, I know these programs have had their critics. You can read the story that The New York Times did earlier this year (it's now in the paper's paid archives) and decide for yourself.

The lone program I have found this summer belongs to Camp Hope, run by the Stork Adoption Agency out of Des Moines, Iowa. Ten Russian kids have been in Iowa for the past week; by the time you read this, they will be headed home. What happens next though is unclear to me. Stork does not have NGO status or accreditation according to the list maintained by the U.S. Embassy in Moscow and, if its adoption work in Russia operates under the umbrella of another agency, its Web site does not indicate which agency that is. Still, a story in the Des Moines Register about the program indicates that Stork has found homes for more than 130 Russian orphans.

I'll go on record as saying that I hope that, when I write the summer camp story next summer, there will be dozens of older Russian children experiencing America again.