The other day, I wrote about people who were putting some part of their adoption journey into video format. But I realized, as I was poking around YouTube afterwards, that video sharing sites can serve another useful purpose: As part of the process of educating the child you adopted from Russia on the country of his or her birth.

I started, of course, by searching for videos on the Russian cities nearest and dearest to my heart: Vladivostok and Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, on Sakhalin Island.... more

If you choose not to tell your adopted child that he was conceived through rape or incest, you will be living with a secret for the rest of your life. This secret can be an emotional time bomb waiting to explode if your adopted child finds out in another way. Before deciding to keep this information a secret, consider the following issues:

1. What will your cover story be?

Your child is likely to have questions about his birthfather that you will need to answer. If you choose to keep the truth a secret, then you will need to have alternative answers... more

Before getting to anything else in today's world o' news I'm posting this link to a BBC piece on booby-trapped links hackers are placing in fake entries on Blogger sites.

Apparently the gang out to make life miserable for millions has already managed to hijack hundreds of thousands of PCs by infecting them through booby-trapped fake links to what look like greeting card sites, YouTube links, and European storm-watch sites.

So, if you have a blog on Blogger, watch out!

My ... more

Raising money to adopt can be hard. With adoption costing as much as $30,000, it can be a challenge to raise the funds to adopt. There are not many people who have $30,000 lying around to use for an adoption.

Here are some ideas to consider:

Adoption Tax Credit

The adoption tax credit helps to offset the cost of an adoption. Right now, the adoption tax credit is $10,000, which means that you get a $10,000 credit on your taxes (not just a deduction). The credit phases out depending upon income, but it can really help to defray... more

Life is unimaginably tough for many Cambodian children, as illustrated in this report that says some 1.5 million Cambodians under the age of 14 are forced to work, foregoing schooling, and often toiling long and hard under hazardous conditions.

According to the World Bank, somewhere around a quarter of a million Cambodian kids work in recognized areas of danger like the dumps, mines and on the streets as beggars. (No mention of prostitutes in this report.)

The Cambodian human rights NGO... more

A story of innovation and determination caught my eye earlier this week, and I'm please to be able to pass along information about this new orphanage in Battambang, set up through the efforts of a young Australian woman who refused to walk away from other peoples' misery.

Tara Winkler came face-to-face with the reality of Cambodian orphanhood and the dire and despicable circumstances that often come with, took a minute to re-think her life; then dedicated herself... more

Missing an arm and a leg might make some people weigh in a bit light, but the UK's Chris Moon has more than enough heart to tip any scales in his direction with admirable force.

He lost his arm and leg while clearing landmines in Mozambique ... that would be the hard way, I'm thinking ... and is now riding a bike from Thailand's border with Cambodia to Sihanoukville, raising money for The Cambodia Trust... more

Not all adopted children will have attachment issues. But we as adoptive families would be wise to learn all we can about attachment so we can effectively parent our children if issues come up. Here are some of the most helpful attachment-related books I have read:

Attaching in Adoption by Deborah Gray This book is a great overview to help children of any age get well settled into their new family. It discusses factors that may affect attachment, common issue at various stages, and has lots of specific ways parents can help their children settle in well. I think... more

It’s not everyday a news crew comes to your house, but today this was a legitimate question. I was being interviewed about our school issues (more on that at a later date), so as I was scurrying around this afternoon, I told LuLu that she needed to pick up some toys and clothes and take them to her room.

She, of course, wanted to know why. When I explained that it was because the woman from TV was coming, her reply was

“Mom, I watch the news all the time and there are lots of people on there whose houses aren’t clean!”

She... more

Where is it? The Republic of Tatarstan is located about 500 miles east of Moscow on the European side of Russia. It is bordered by the Kirov, Orenburg, Samara and Ulyanovsk regions, as well as the republics of Udmurtia, Baskortostan, Chuvashia and Mari El. It is in the Moscow time zone. Though it is called a republic and it has its own president, Tatarstan is not fully independent from Russia.

What's the biggest city? Kazan, whose population was 1.1 as of the 2002 census, out of some 3.8 million inhabitants in the region... more