Angelina Jolie Needs a Real Understanding of Third World Children Apr 30, 2006
By Jesse Smith
Recently it has been rumored that Angelina will be adopting a Namibian child to add to her brood of Jolie-Pitts including Maddox and Zahara plus one biological baby in progress. She is seen as a role model and inspiration by stars including Alyssa Milano and Jessica Simpson who have publicly stated that they too want to adopt third world orphans. It is not a new trend among the stars, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman having adopted children years ago. [More...]

Orphan's visit to America could lead to better life -- or not 04/30/06
By DAVID A. MARKIEWICZ
The first thing you notice about Losha are his legs. They're bent inward at the knees, and he walks so awkwardly you wonder what's the matter. Turns out it's his shoes. They are three sizes too small. Girls' shoes, at that. Size 6, pink and white, with "Barbie Magic Disco" written on them. "And they're probably the best he has," says someone in the crowd of people waiting for Losha and 41 other Russian orphans at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. "They wouldn't have sent him over in anything else. He has to make a good impression." It's a few weeks before Christmas, and Losha and the other children are here to meet families from Georgia, Alabama, Florida and Illinois who will take them into their homes as part of an international hosting program. [More...]

Disabled girl, old pony are kindred spirits Sat, Apr. 29, 2006
By DAVID CASSTEVENS
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
The old pony was found starving in Northeast Texas and was placed in a rescue shelter. The little girl born with a physical defect faced a bleak future in a Russian orphanage. Two years later, here they were together, as unlikely as that might seem. Smiling in anticipation, the child who is almost 3 sat astride the docile sorrel whose home is now a small ranch south of Denton, the SpiritHorse Therapeutic Riding Center. [More...]

Little hope left in adoption case: 4-year battle will continue Fri. April 28, 2006
By Karen Dandurant
kdandurant@seacoastonline.com
STRATHAM - After almost four years, the hopes of the Schaaf family to adopt a young girl from Romania appear to be going downhill. Allyson Schaaf said there is hope. "We still do not have all the details, and the support and the phone calls from here and abroad have been overwhelmingly positive," said Schaaf. "I am very encouraged and can say that confidently because it’s in the best hands possible and being handled at the highest levels." [More...]

Lakeland Teen Speaks During EU Parliament Friday, April 28, 2006
She testified about lifting the ban on adoptions from Romania.
LAKELAND -- Sara Romine, a Lakeland teenager, made an unlikely foray into European politics this week, testifying before the European parliament in Brussels that the ban on international adoptions from Romania should be lifted. Romine, featured in The Ledger on Sunday, was adopted from a Romanian orphanage by a Lakeland family in 1991. [More...]

ORA: Adoption law interpreted in different ways
Romania does not have enough judges capable of dealing with child issues, and child protection departments do not have clear criteria when they evaluate families that want to adopt children, according to state secretary Theodora Bertzi, the head of the Romanian Adoption Office. Bertzi met yesterday with heads of social assistance services in Bucharest and judges handling [More...]

Couple lose bid to adopt Romanian April 25. 2006 8:00AM
A Stratham couple fighting to adopt a Romanian orphan got bad news on a trip to Europe to enlist help from the European Union. They were told the 4-year-old girl they hope to adopt has been assigned to a family within Romania. Allyson Schaaf called the news "absolutely devastating" but also said she believes it was a maneuver intended to block further discussion of her family's case. "It clearly is in direct retaliation for the fact that we were in Brussels," she said. [More...]

Couple fights to adopt despite bad news Tue. April 25, 2006
By Associated Press
STRATHAM - A couple fighting to adopt a Romanian orphan got bad news on a trip to Europe to enlist help from the European Union. They were told the 4-year-old girl they hope to adopt has been assigned to a family within Romania. Allyson Schaaf called the news "absolutely devastating," but also said that she believes it was a maneuver intended to block further discussion of her family’s case. [More...]

Blunt adopts son from Russia Fri, Apr. 21, 2006
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Missouri Rep. Roy Blunt and his wife, Abigail, have adopted a son from Russia, the congressman's office announced Friday. The 18-month-old boy, Alexander Charles Blunt, was born near Moscow in 2004 and had been raised in orphanages and hospitals until the adoption, Blunt said in a statement. They are calling him Charlie. "Abby and I are so glad to add this little guy to our family," said Blunt, the House Majority Whip. "We are so fortunate and so pleased to be able to share our lives and opportunities with him." [More...]

Stars Call Attention to Single Women Adopting Monday, April 24, 2006
By Sara Bonisteel
•Jessica Simpson May Want to Adopt Kids •Meg Ryan Adopts Baby Girl From China•Pitt Looking to Adopt Jolie's Kids• Jolie Wants to Adopt Another Child •'Saw It on Maddox': Jolie's Kids Set Trends•Official: Angelina Jolie Adopting Ethiopian Girl •Brad, Angelina in Ethiopia to Pick Up Child•Sharon Stone Adopts Baby Boy •Edie Falco Adopts Baby Boy•Jolie, Thornton Adopt Cambodian Boy Jessica Simpson wants to do it. Angelina Jolie has done it twice. These celebrities are following a growing number of single American women who have chosen to adopt. "We've had a steady stream of single women in all our programs, from international to African-Americans, adopting," said Sabra Larkin, director of communications for Spence-Chapin Services, an adoption agency in New York founded by a single woman, Clara Spence, in 1908. [More...]

U.S. Adoption Revocation Sought in Russia 18 April, 2006
MOSCOW - A top Russian prosecutor called Tuesday for revoking the accreditation of 12 U.S. adoption agencies, saying the companies had failed to file reports on the condition of Russian children after adoption. "At the current time, the named organizations, as before, are not fulfilling their obligations for carrying out control for the conditions of life and upbringing of the adopted children and presenting corresponding reports and information," Fridinsky said in the letter posted on the Web site of the Prosecutor General‘s office. [More...]

Couple ‘still holding hope’ for adoption Fri. April 21, 2006
By Karen Dandurant
kdandurant@seacoastonline.com
STRATHAM - While talks with European Union officials were, for the most part, promising, it might be too late for Michael and Allyson Schaaf to adopt the little Romanian girl they have spent four years trying to bring home. "Coincidentally, while in Brussels, we learned from the Romanian ambassador that a family might be interested in adopting our daughter," said Allyson Schaaf. "There has been no interest in four years and all of a sudden a family appears. This is devastating. [More...]

Toxic memories April 29, 2006
Jamie Dean
Chernobyl: A 20-year-old disaster continues to haunt Eastern Europe, but children from Belarus are finding a haven in the United States In the eerily empty town of Pripyat, Ukraine, where 47,000 Soviet citizens once lived, a rusty Ferris wheel sits in a desolate amusement park against a bleak landscape, serving as a stark reminder of a city frozen in time. Five days before the park's scheduled opening in the spring of 1986, Reactor No. 4 exploded less than a mile away at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station, spewing a cloud of 190 tons of radioactive material over millions of unsuspecting Europeans, and spawning the worst nuclear accident in history. [More...]

Half of Russian families are childless 4/21/2006
MOSCOW, April 21 (UPI) -- Russia's population is declining rapidly, with almost half of Russian families childless, a senior member of Russia's lower house of parliament has said. Yekaterina Lakhova, chairwoman of the parliamentary committee on women's affairs, said Thursday, "Today, almost half of the country's 41 million families have no children at all," RIA Novosti reported. Addressing parliamentary hearings on family policy, Lakhova said that 34 percent of Russian families have only one child, 15 percent have two children, and less than 3 percent have more than two children. [More...]

Twelve U.S. adoption organizations might be banned in Russia Apr 18 2006
MOSCOW. April 18 (Interfax) - The Russian Prosecutor General's Office has demanded that several U.S. adoption organizations working in Russia be closed. "Owing to failure to comply with accreditation terms, including the reporting on the living conditions of Russian children adopted by foreign citizens, we recommend early termination of the accreditation of foreign adoption [More...]

U.S. adoption revocation sought in Russia Tuesday, April 18, 2006
The Associated Press
MOSCOW (AP) - A top Russian prosecutor called Tuesday for revoking the accreditation of 12 U.S. adoption agencies, saying the companies had failed to file reports on the condition of Russian children after adoption. Deputy Prosecutor General Sergei Fridinsky warned in a letter to federal education officials that the agencies were in violation of Russian laws and regulations. "At the current time, the named organizations, as before, are not fulfilling their obligations for carrying out control for the conditions of life and upbringing of the adopted children and presenting corresponding reports and information," Fridinsky said in the letter posted on the Web site of the Prosecutor General's office. [More...]

Bradley asks EU assembly members to push Romanian adoptions April 18, 2006
BRUSSELS, Belgium --A U.S. congressman urged members of the European Parliament Tuesday to persuade Romania to process more than 1,100 adoption requests by foreigners -- including some 200 American cases -- that have been declared ineligible. [More...]

U.S. adoption offices under fire in Russia
MOSCOW, April 18 (UPI) -- Russia's Prosecutor General's Office urged Education Minister Andrei Fursenko to consider canceling the registry of 12 U.S. adoption agencies, reports said. Deputy Prosecutor General Sergei Fridinsky cited the U.S. adoption agencies, among others, for failiing to report on the living conditions of children adopted outside of Russia and for other rules violations, the Interfax news agency and Moscow News reported Tuesday. [More...]

Romania halts foreign adoptions Apr 19, 2006
Romania has rejected all applications from foreigners seeking to adopt a Romanian child in line with its ban on international adoptions, authorities said on Tuesday after a final review of pending cases. The Black Sea state banned foreigners from adopting Romanian children in 2005 after a three year moratorium in response to concerns in the European Union that a wave of international adoptions in the 1990s had triggered baby trafficking. Would-be parents in the United States and other Western countries have repeatedly called on Romania, which wants to join the EU next year, to rescind the law. [More...]

Prosecutors propose amendments to adoption system for foreigners 18/ 04/ 2006
MOSCOW, April 18 (RIA Novosti) - The prosecutor's office Tuesday submitted to the Education Ministry proposals on amending the procedure for foreigners to adopt children. Deputy Prosecutor General Sergei Fridinsky said his office had already made proposals aimed at tightening control over the activities of foreign adoption organizations. "However, inspections have shown that not all violations were removed," he said. Fridinsky said the Prosecutor General's Office had proposed stripping a number of mainly American adoption organizations of their licenses for failing to oversee the living conditions and upbringing of adopted children and to submit relevant reports, but added that nothing had been done in this sphere. [More...]

Adopted Romanian To Testify On Success Tuesday, April 18, 2006
By Shelley Preston
Life as an orphan in a Romanian orphanage is a shadow of the past for Sara Romine. When she was adopted by a Lakeland family at age 2, Romine had the skills of a 6-month-old. Now 16, she has overcome learning and health disabilities to become a successful student at the Harrison Center for the Visual and Performing Arts in Lakeland and dreams of becoming an actress. Congressman to press for answers on Romanian adoption cases April 17, 2006
MANCHESTER, N.H. --U.S. Rep. Jeb Bradley is headed to Europe this week, to try to pave the way for a New Hampshire couple to adopt an orphan from Romania. Allyson and Michael Schaaf are joining Bradley, R-N.H., in a trip to the headquarters of the European Union in Brussels, Belgium, to meet with officials from the European Parliament and European Commission. They also plan to meet with the Romanian ambassador to the EU, Lazar Comanescu, and the U.S. ambassador to the EU, C. Boyden Gray. [More...]

Adoptions office: No child is to be adopted internationally Tuesday, April 18, 2006
Denisa Maruntoiu
The Romanian Office for Adoptions (ORA) yesterday published the final report concerning the situation of the 1,399 international adoption requests made by various foreign families after the moratorium banning international adoptions came into effect in June 2001, and before the enforcing of the new law on adoptions in January 2005. The report was completed by an inter-ministerial group that included judicial experts and child protection specialists who analyzed the situation of each child with regards to two criteria: their rights as minors and their judicial statute. [More...]

Elena comes home for Easter Sat, Apr. 15, 2006
CHARLES CHANDLER
cchandler@charlotteobserver.com
Charlotte couple host Russian girl for 1 month, then can't give her up Elena skipped and danced on the sidewalk a few feet ahead of my wife, Susan, and me during a neighborhood stroll this week. Dressed in pink, Elena, 9, looked so happy, so free. Just a few months ago, she lived in a Russian orphanage. Now, she's our daughter. This is our first Easter together as a family. New life has taken on new meaning. Friends say I must be glad, at age 46, to finally be a father. I am, but what I'm most delighted about is to be Elena's father. [More...]

Tajikistan bans foreign adoptions 12/ 04/ 2006
DUSHANBE, April 12 (RIA Novosti) - Tajikistan will ban foreign adoptions, following a move by the country's lower house of parliament on Wednesday approving amendments to the family code. "According to the amendments, foreign citizens are barred from adopting children from Tajikistan," said Makhkam Makhmudov, deputy head of the Central Asian republic's presidential administration, who proposed the amendments. He added that 20 children from the former Soviet republic had been adopted by foreigners since the family code was adopted in 1999. [More...]

Russia to Impose Stricter Control Over Adoptions by Foreigners — Minister 12.04.2006
MosNews
Russia’s Justice Ministry is looking to tighten up controls on the adoption of Russian children by foreigners, Justice Minister Yuri Chaika told reporters on Wednesday. The RIA-Novosti news agency quoted the minister as saying that the current adoption system was not properly coordinated and that there were many problems in cases of adoption by people outside the country. [More...]

Child adoption procedures need to be improved - minister 12/ 04/ 2006
MOSCOW, April 12 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's justice minister said Wednesday that his ministry was looking to tighten up control over adoption of Russian children by foreigners. Yury Chaika said Russia's adoption system was not properly coordinated and that there had been many problems in cases of adoption by people outside the country. "The media has recently given a lot of coverage to proposals to stop adoption of Russian children by foreign citizens," Yury Chaika said. "It seems that the most important issue here is a proper mechanism of control over the adopting family." [More...]

From Russia with love Tuesday, April 11, 2006
By JILL SCHRAMM,
Staff Writer jschramm@ndweb.com
ESMOND ­ Lynn and Robin Arnold knew when they married nearly five years ago that they wanted to someday adopt a child. Today, after four trips to Russia, the Arnolds are not only parents to Jacob, 4, and Andrea, 2, but are advocates for international adoption. The Arnolds, who farm near Esmond, have been sharing their experiences wherever possible and hope to be a resource for other couples considering adoption. They would like other families to consider adopting from Russia because of their positive experience but also because of the many children they saw in a Russian orphanage still in need of parents. [More...]

Congressional Resolution Urges Romania To Amend Adoption Ban 11 April 2006
"The intercountry adoption is a loving, compassionate option," says sponsor
By Jeffrey Thomas
Washington File Staff Writer
Washington -- The United States House of Representatives unanimously passed a resolution April 6 urging Romania to modify its ban on international adoptions to put the interests of the individual child first. The resolution (House Resolution 578) calls on Romania to “amend its child welfare and adoption laws to decrease barriers to adoption, both domestically and intercountry, including by allowing intercountry adoption by persons other than biological grandparents.” The resolution expresses the sense of the House and is nonbinding. [More...]

Families Berate Adoption Lawyer April 11, 2006
Attorney's Actions Assailed In Grievances <\b> By ALAINE GRIFFIN,
Courant Staff Writer
MIDDLETOWN -- The small, pink baby blanket Teresa Smith carried to court was supposed to swaddle the newborn Romanian orphan she had planned to adopt two years ago. Instead, Smith keeps the blanket hidden inside a drawer at her Clinton home. "It's a reminder of a big, hateful lie," Smith, 42, said Monday during an emotional disciplinary hearing for Westport attorney Maria Tomasky, at which four families recounted heartbreaking stories of stalled - and in some cases unrealized - foreign adoptions at the hands of Tomasky. [More...]

Bradley pushing Romania on adoption case WASHINGTON (New Hampshire) Congressman Jeb Bradley took to the floor in Congress to push Romania to complete work on eleven hundred pending adoption cases. Bradley has been working with the Schaaf family of Stratham for two years, as they try to adopt a daughter from Romania. After completing the paperwork, Allyson and Michael Schaaf ran into a new law in Romania that states Romanian children can only be adopted by foreigners if they are their grandparents and a search for Romanian adoptive families has failed. [More...]

Local families celebrate Russian Easter traditions Monday, April 10, 2006
BY SUSANNAH PATTON Northwest Arkansas Times
The local chapter of Families for Russian and Ukrainian Adoption (FRUA) celebrated Easter in Gulley Park Sunday with traditional Russian holiday customs. Debra Stinchcomb, an organizer of the Northwest Arkansas Chapter, and mother of an adopted child from Russia, said the celebration is a way for families to honor their children’s heritage. "Our goals are to teach families Russian traditions so they can carry on their child’s heritage, provide resources to families looking at adoption, and to provide social gatherings for families," Stinchcomb said. [More...]

House Passes Resolution Supporting Intercountry Adoptions in Romania; Commissioners Welcome Vote 4/7/2006
To: National and International Desk
WASHINGTON, April 7 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Last night the House of Representatives unanimously passed H.Res. 578, encouraging the Government of Romania to "amend its child welfare and adoption laws to decrease barriers to adoption, both domestically and intercountry, including by allowing intercountry adoption by persons other than biological grandparents." [More...]

Majilis to moot intercountry adoption ASTANA. April 5, 2006.
KAZINFORM./Zhiger Baitelessov/ The Vice Minister of Justice Serik Nugmanov is expected to report on the current situation concerning intercountry adoption to the Socio-Cultural Development Committee of the Majilis of the Parliament of Kazakhstan. Since the last year the Committee has been considering the governmental amendments to the law in effect “On marriage and family” as related to surrogate maternity. The Majilis deputies submitted also amendments pertaining to intercountry adoption of Kazakhstan children. [More...]

The Romanian connection Sun, Apr. 02, 2006
KC volunteers encounter kids with a lot of problems — and a lot of patience
By Nancy Besa
It took three planes, a train and a bus to get from Kansas City to Botosani (Bo-TA-shawn). As we wound through the farmland of northeastern Romania, what I noticed first were the sunflowers. I had traveled for two days and halfway around the world, and I was looking at sunflowers. [More...]

Cookbook: To Russia with love April 2, 2006
BY JESSICA DAMIANO
Special to Newsday
After tucking her daughter into bed one night last year, Jane Waldman logged onto her computer and entered an adoption chat room. While enjoying the camaraderie of moms who also had adopted children from Eastern Europe, Waldman was stricken by one in particular. Lisa Finneran, a freelance writer from Virginia, suggested publishing a cookbook to raise money for Cradle of Hope, the adoption agency that united Waldman with her then-3-year-old daughter, Elaina. [More...]