Richardsons mourn loss of 17-year-old daughter Saturday, December 31, 2005
Brenda Armstrong NORTH COUNTY STAFF
Adopting special needs children has become a calling for the Richardson family of Pleasant Grove, but sometimes it comes with heartbreak. The family recently lost its 17-year-old daughter and sister, Lizzie, who was born missing most of the grey matter in her brain, had complicated orthopedic problems and was what most people would consider severely disabled. Her obituary listed her parents, Greg and Holly, 10 brothers and nine sisters as survivors, and said she was preceded in death by five sisters and three brothers. [More...]

Couple's adoption hopes rise as Wexler courts Romanians Thursday, December 29, 2005
By Susan R. Miller
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Gabriella Springer woke up Christmas morning to find an Amazing Amanda doll under the tree. The interactive doll, the envy of many little girls, does just about everything a toddler can do. But what the 8-year-old truly wanted for Christmas remains half a world away: her 4-year-old twin sisters, Madalina and Manuela, who are living in foster care in Romania. [More...]

Abused Girl Asks Putin Not to Halt Adoptions Thursday, December 29, 2005.
By Kevin O'Flynn
Staff Writer
A 13-year-old Russian girl who was molested by her adopted American father has appealed in a letter to President Vladimir Putin to take measures to protect children but also to allow foreign adoptions to continue. [More...]

Adoption fulfills couple's Christmas wish Thursday, December 29, 2005.
By Todd G. Higdon / Daily News Staff Writer
BENTONVILLE, Ark. - “ We feel like we got what we wanted.” That phrase is ringing in the home of the Jimmie and Amanda Clark family as they received a Christmas gift a month early - a third child. Amanda, who is originally from Neosho, and Jimmie, originally from Carl Junction, have been married for seven years. Amanda's parents are Jim and Marcy Crawmer of Neosho and Jimmie's parents are Jim and Virginia Clark of Carl Junction. [More...]

Ukrainian mother battles Interior Ministry to keep her children Dec. 28, 2005 3:28
By DAN IZENBERG
A Ukrainian-born, non-Jewish woman married to an Israeli is fighting against the Ministry of Interior to keep her two children, aged 12 and 13, with her and not have them deported to their homeland, where there is no one to look after them. "I'm their mother," Ella Mubrakova told The Jerusalem Post. "I gave birth to them and I am the one who must raise them." She is currently petitioning against the government decision to expel the children in Haifa District Court and is represented by Nichole Ma'or and Einat Horowitz, of the Progressive Movement's Israel Religious Action Center. [More...]

Serving forgotten children Tuesday, December 27, 2005
Russian orphans with facial deformities get help from visiting Western doctors
By JERED STUFFCO
Peter Adamson was performing facial reconstruction on an orphan in a Russian hospital when the unspeakable happened -- the respirator that was keeping his young patient breathing stopped working. [More...]

A PLACE TO CALL HOME Monday, December 26, 2005
Mary Ann Arnett’s orphanage experience inspired her to help other children in need
By Pat Hambrick
The Daily Citizen
Children who have been abused, neglected or abandoned are of special concern to Mary Ann Arnett of Searcy. She serves on the board of Searcy Children’s Home, CASA (Court Appointed Advocates for Children) and of Tennessee Children’s Home. Arnett grew up with 180 children at what was then called Tennessee Orphans Home in Spring Hill, Tenn. She said children who need the services of Searcy Children’s Home (SCH) and of CASA volunteers touch her heart because of the way she grew up. [More...]

Empowerment of at-risk children is this volunteer's mission Monday, December 26, 2005
By Carole Johnston, Journal correspondent
When Suzanne Scholten graduated from college, she was all set to find a great job in marketing. It didn't take her long to realize that the business world wouldn't be such a good fit. Too much structure. Sitting in an office all day. No free time to do what she loves best -- helping others. That's when she sat down at the computer and typed in www.peacecorps.gov. What came up on the screen would change her vision for her life. It would require that she go to another country and learn another language. But it would be a unique way to connect work with her passion to volunteer. [More...]

Adoption fulfills couple's Christmas wish Monday, December 26, 2005
By Todd G. Higdon / Daily News Staff Writer
BENTONVILLE, Ark. - “ We feel like we got what we wanted.” That phrase is ringing in the home of the Jimmie and Amanda Clark family as they received a Christmas gift a month early - a third child. Amanda, who is originally from Neosho, and Jimmie, originally from Carl Junction, have been married for seven years. Amanda's parents are Jim and Marcy Crawmer of Neosho and Jimmie's parents are Jim and Virginia Clark of Carl Junction. [More...]

You lovable saps Saturday, December 24, 2005
It started with seven trees, equally alike in awkwardness. We found them, alone, cast off, crumpled like last year's wrapping paper, at the back of Christmas tree lots everywhere. We rescued them, brought them to The Post, and we did what no one else had ever done:
We listened. [More...]

International family celebrating first Christmas Friday, December 23, 2005
By Staff writer CHRIS MEYERS
After three trips to Russia within four months including more than 30 hours on planes, nine hours on trains and six hours in cars, Susan and Richard Leo returned home with two new members of their family. The Leos spent those grueling trips and months getting paperwork finalized and fees paid to be adopt two Russian children in hopes of giving them opportunities in the United States they would have never had in their homeland - including making this year their first American Christmas. [More...]

Dreams of adoption are fading December 23. 2005
Romania has moved to end its program
By MARGOT SANGER-KATZ
Monitor staff
For three years, Kathleen and David Richards have had a young Romanian girl's photograph on their refrigerator, a sign of their hope and their many preparations to bring her into their home. Last week, their wait came to a disappointing end. Their adoption agency told them that Larisa had been placed with a Romanian family. [More...]

Interpol is warned with the destinies of adopted Ukrainians 23 December 2005
Coming out in the press conference, the Chief of the Interpol working body in Ukraine, Kyrylo Kulikov declared about Interpol’s decision to control the upbringing of Ukrainian children adopted by the foreigners. The murder of adopted Russian two-year girl made Interpol in Ukraine assume the measures of strict control over the situation. “This family adopted Ukrainian girl too. But we do not posses any reliable information about her. It makes us extremely worry,” added Kulikov. [More...]

Bill increases child porn penalties December 22, 2005
By Cheryl Wetzstein
The Washington Times
WASHINGTON -- Adults whose images have been used for child pornography on the Internet will be allowed to sue for damages under bipartisan legislation introduced in the Senate this week. The bill, dubbed "Masha's Law" for a Russian orphan who was sexually exploited by her American adoptive father, also would boost civil damages from $50,000 to $150,000. "It's really a sad statement that we have tougher penalties for downloading music than for downloading sick images of infants and children," said the bill's author, Sen. John Kerry, Massachusetts Democrat. "What happened to Masha was a terrible tragedy that should never be repeated," said bill co-sponsor Sen. Johnny Isakson, Georgia Republican. "Unfortunately, reminders of her horrific ordeal remain posted on the Internet for all to see every day." [More...]

Romania Rejects U.S. Adoptions Appeal Dec. 22, 2005,
BUCHAREST, Romania — Romania's prime minister on Thursday rejected U.S. calls to allow adoptions by foreigners of about 1,000 Romanian children. About 200 U.S. families and 800 European families had filed paperwork to adopt Romanian children before 2004, when Romania enacted legislation that effectively bans all foreign adoptions, except for close relatives of the child. The U.S. has asked Romania to exempt about 1,000 children from that ban. [More...]

Romania rejects adoption exemptions December 23,2005
BUCHAREST – Romania’s prime minister on Thursday rejected U.S. calls to allow adoptions by foreigners of about 1,000 Romanian children. About 200 U.S. families and 800 European families had filed paperwork to adopt Romanian children before 2004, when Romania enacted legislation that effectively bans all foreign adoptions, except for close relatives of the child. The U.S. has asked Romania to exempt about 1,000 children from that ban. [More...]

A Story of Adoption By Elizabeth Foss
Herald Columnist
My son Christian was searching the bookshelves yesterday, apparently frustrated by the dearth he saw there. Since we have well over 1,000 titles at his disposal, I wondered what was missing. "There’s hardly anything on Joseph here! I understand why we need so many Mary books, but nobody says much about Joseph, you know? And he was a hero … " he trailed off. [More...]

U.S. official urges Romania to resume inter-country adoptions Friday, December 23, 2005
Denisa Maruntoiu
The new law banning international adoptions should at least include some provisions about the adoption files initiated before the 2001 moratorium. "The U.S. State Department urges the Romanian government to identify as soon as possible a legal mechanism that could solve the international adoption pipeline case," said the U.S. Assistant Secretary of Consular Affairs, Maura Harty, referring to the adoption requests handed in to the government by over 200 U.S. families before the enforcement of the ban on international adoption in 2001. [More...]

Man gets 30 years for sex abuse Thursday, December 22, 2005
Graphic video returned to a store showed abuse of an adopted boy
CARA ROBERTS MUREZ
Statesman Journal
A man whose sexual abuse of his adopted son was uncovered in video found in a camera returned to an electronics store will spend the next 30 years in prison, a Marion County judge decided Tuesday. William D. Peckenpaugh, 38, of Silverton pleaded guilty to 33 charges before Circuit Judge James Rhoades. The charges included nine counts of sodomy and three counts of sexual abuse. [More...]

UKRAINIAN BOY FINDS HOME IN NEWARK Monday, December 19, 2005
3-year-old finds place in local family
NEWARK -- William Artur Chann races around the condo, searching for things to play with, turning the television on and off 40 times and sticking his hands into the aquarium. At only 3 years of age, Will is very inquisitive -- much more than the average toddler. That's because everything is new to him. Will, who was born in Ukraine, has been in this country only three months, having been recently adopted by Michael and Ali Chann, of Newark [More...]

Adoption Bribe Charges Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Education officials in several regions have been charged with taking bribes from foreign families to facilitate adoption procedures, prosecutors said Monday. Investigations in the Irkutsk, Perm and Kurgan regions found that officials were receiving between $400 and $9,000 for helping foreign families expedite the procedure for adopting Russian children, according to a statement posted on the Prosecutor General's Office's web site. [more...]

Russian Officials Charged in Connection With Deaths of Adopted Children in U.S. 19.12.2005
MosNews
Several Russian officials involved in the adoption of Russian children who have died in the United States after being adopted have been charged with fraud and power abuse. Prosecutors in the Russian cities of Irkutsk, Perm and Kurgan opened criminal cases following inspections at the Russian offices of foreign adoption agencies, Interfax quoted Deputy Prosecutor General Sergei Fridinsky as saying. [More...]

Officials charged in deaths of Russian children adopted in USA Dec 19 2005
MOSCOW. Dec 19 (Interfax) - A number of officials involved in the adoption of Russian children, who died at the hands of their adoptive parents in the U.S., have been charged with fraud and abuse of office. [More...]

EP report amendment may prompt solution to inter-country adoptions Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Alecs Iancu
Adoption office head said the legislation will not be changed and will act in the children's interest. The amendment on inter-country adoptions submitted to the report developed by EP's rapporteur for Romania, Pierre Macovei, is a sign that Romanian authorities must step up procedures to notify foreign families who filed adoption requests before the international adoption ban that their requests were denied, according to the head of the Romanian Office for Adoptions (ORA), state secretary Theodora Bertzi. [More...]

All they want for Christmas is a better life December 18, 2005
All they want for Christmas is a better life
By Peter A. Sutters Jr.
I&M Staff Writer
For a group of orphans who have undoubtedly led a life that so few of us can even imagine, a bit of relief is in sight this Christmas. Six children from the Ukraine will be coming to Nantucket for two weeks beginning Dec. 23 and staying with four island families to learn about family, American life and enjoy their time away from the orphanage. [More...]

Adopted child marvels at new wonders Sunday, December 18, 2005
By EMILY WILSON | Lee Newspapers
WEST SALEM, Wis. — Samuel Wolden had never ridden in a car until July. He didn’t know what ice cream or Christmas were. But now that he’s in the United States, he’s getting a taste of all three. Samuel, 4, was adopted this summer by Mike and Michelle Wolden of West Salem. The couple made two trips to Samuel’s orphanage in Novosibirsk, Russia, between June and July and brought him home at the end of their second trip. Their son, Tyler, 7, and Michelle’s mother, Roni Westbrook, a day care provider at Christian Chapel Daycare in Onalaska, also went on both tri [More...]

A Russian baby? That’ll be €17,000 December 18, 2005
Kate Butler
IRISH couples are paying up to €17,000 to international agencies to locate children for adoption in Russia. The country is now the most popular for Irish people seeking to adopt abroad, even though there is no adoption treaty between Ireland and Russia. The payment of such large fees has been criticised by the chairman of the International Adoption Agency, who says the Irish government should take measures to stop it. [More...]

U.S. Backs European Request for Romanian Adoptions To Proceed 16 December 2005
European Parliament, United States ask that pending adoptions be resolved
By Vince Crawley
Washington File Staff Writer
The United States has welcomed a vote by the European Parliament asking that Romania resolve international-adoption cases registered during Romania’s 2001-2004 moratorium on foreign adoptions "with the goal of allowing inter-country adoptions to take place, where justified and appropriate …." “We call upon the Romanian government to use transparent and objective criteria in resolving these cases in a manner that serves the best interests of the individual children involved,” State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in a December 16 statement. [More...]

Herald reporter and her husband to share their arduous journey toward adoption Fri, Dec. 16, 2005
LABOR PAINS
By SUKHJIT PUREWAL
Herald Staff Writer
On a recent outing to San Francisco, my husband Len and I hiked up to the larger-than-life farmer's market at the Ferry Building. Sure, the fare was impressive -- juicy tangerines, vendors with tempting peanut brittle and seductive cheeses. But for us there was something far more pleasing -- tots. Tots of every size and every ethnicity. They were on foot, in strollers and on hips. They wore jumpers, flannel and corduroy. [More...]

International Recognition, Distribution and Availability Growing For Award Winning Adoption Documentary December 15, 2005
While adoptions of children by Hollywood’s glamorous continue to grace the covers of entertainment magazines and tabloids, the very real stories of ordinary adoptive families often go untold. Since “I Have Roots and Branches”... Personal Reflections on Adoption, was reviewed and featured in the June edition of Adoption Australia Magazine, international recognition of this wonderful documentary about adoption has expanded overseas. Adoption Australia Magazine is distributed to adoptive families and adoption organizations across Australia as well as China, Thailand, the Philippines, South Korea, Romania, England and New Zealand. [More...]

Nahant family offers Ukraine orphan a home for the holidays Thursday, December 15, 2005
By Debra Glidden
NAHANT - This holiday season, the Peterson family decided to give an unusual gift to a 14-year-old girl who resides in an orphanage in Ukraine. The family is bringing Masha Tsupina to Nahant to stay with them for two weeks during the holiday. Nahant residents Maria and Roger Peterson adopted an 8-month-old infant from Russia in 1998. Maria Peterson said the faces of children she left behind in the orphanages are still fresh in her mind. [More...]

Romania Says It Will Not Lift Ban On International Adoptions 14 December 2005
14 December 2005 -- Romania's government today said it will not revoke measures that effectively ban foreigners from adopting Romanian children. Prime Minister Calin Popescu-Tariceanu said Romania’s authorities will instead try to promote adoptions within the country. Romania passed legislation in 2004 that bans adoptions by foreigners, with the exception of relatives of the children. [More...]

From Russia, with love: orphans find families in southwest Va. December 14, 2005
By COURTNEY CUTRIGHT
The Roanoke Times
ROANOKE, Va. -- Eight-year-old Zhenya had almost given up hope.
Except for the month he spent this summer with Rick and Heather Prokopchak of Roanoke County and their two children, Zhenya's home for the past four years has been a Russian orphanage in the Tyumen region of southwest Siberia. [More...]

Russians (kids) are coming Tuesday, December 13, 2005
The Bridge of Hope program has matched Russian orphans with couples in Virginia who want to adopt children.
By Courtney Cutright 981-3340
The Roanoke Times
Eight-year-old Zhenya had almost given up hope. Except for the month he spent this summer with Rick and Heather Prokopchak of Roanoke County and their two children, Zhenya's home for the past four years has been a Russian orphanage in the Tyumen region of southwest Siberia. The morning of Nov. 21, Zhenya learned the Prokopchaks were scheduled to arrive that day to adopt him. [More...]

U.S. criticizes decision ruling out pending inter-country adoption requests Monday, December 12, 2005
Alecs Iancu The 1,100 adoption requests registered before the ban of international adoptions must be solved, the U.S. State Department emphasized. "We are deeply concerned at the announcement made by the Romanian government on December 7 regarding the ruling out of all inter-country adoptions," according to a U.S. State Department spokesman, Adam Ereli. [More...]

Closure of Inter-Country Adoptions in Romania Dec 11, 2005,
We are deeply concerned by the Government of Romania's December 7 announcement ruling out international adoptions. This affects all 1,100 Romanian orphans and abandoned children for whom foreign families had registered adoption petitions. These petitions were filed prior to a January 1, 2005 ban. [More...]

U.S. Concerned by End of International Adoptions in Romania 09 December 2005
Ruling on January 2005 ban affects 1,100 Romanian orphans and abandoned children The United States expressed deep concern December 9 at Romania’s recent announcement ruling out all international adoptions. This announcement affects 1,100 Romanian orphans and abandoned children for whom foreign families had registered adoption petitions prior to a January 1, 2005 ban. [More...]

Ava Grace's Christmas Story Thursday, December 8, 2005
The Christmas season brings stories of love, hope and, of course, of a baby.
I have a story like that. It's not really mine to tell, but it's a good story, so I'll tell it anyway. It starts with the birth of a baby, Ava Grace, in June 2004. Ava Grace was born to a poor mother in a remote village in southern Russia. Her mother had two other children and couldn't take care of any more, so she left Ava Grace at the hospital and put her up for adoption. [More...]

Operation Christmas Child December 9, 2005
News@www.adoption-net.co.uk
Children have helped load boxes of presents on to the world’s biggest plane, ready for them to be flown to disadvantaged youngsters. The boxes, loaded by pupils from Firfields Primary School, Derbyshire, formed part of a consignment of 70,000 being flown to the Ukraine as part of Operation Christmas Child. Founded 15 years ago, the project provides Christmas presents to orphans and poor families in more than 30 countries across the world. [More...]

Stratham woman among those shut out of Romanian adoption Thursday, December 8, 2005
BY TERRY DATE
Democrat Staff Writer
tdate@fosters.com
STRATHAM—Rep. Jeb Bradley, in response to an article in today's Bucharest (Romania) Daily News, said that he's extremely disappointed with that government's failure to approve pending international adoptions. He added, however, that he had not received official confirmation of the denial. Several of the adoptions have involved New Hampshire families including Allyson Schaaf of Stratham, who in 2002 began the process to adopt Natasha, a Romanian orphan. [More...]

Teenagers go casual to help out orphans December 8, 2005
News@www.adoption-net.co.uk
Students are helping disabled children and orphans celebrate Christmas in Romania. Teenagers at Gainsborough’s Castle Hills Community Arts College held a non-uniform day with a difference for the Light Across Europe charity. Instead of paying to wear casual clothes to lessons, all 600 young people at the secondary school were encouraged to bring in practical gifts for their counterparts in the Eastern European country. [More...]

Agency of Change: Couple started nonprofit to help with adoptions Thursday, December 8, 2005
By Tom Gillispie
SPECIAL TO THE KERNERSVILLE JOURNAL
KERNERSVILLE - Caroline Ana Holbrook, a 2-year-old from Guatemala, does not know she has had an effect on the world. David and Lisa Holbrook already had two children, Kendall, 7, and Cameron, 5, when they decided nearly three years ago to adopt a child from Guatemala. They had done mission work in that country, and they had Hispanic friends. [More...]

Russian orphan adopted by West Salem family finds new kind of hope Wednesday, December 07, 2005
By EMILY WILSON Staff writer
Samuel Wolden had never ridden in a car until July. He also didn’t know what ice cream or Christmas was. But now that he’s in the United States, he’s getting a taste of all three. Advertisement Wolden, 4, was recently adopted by Mike and Michelle Wolden of West Salem. The couple made two trips to Samuel’s orphanage in Novosibirsk, Russia, between June and July and brought him home at the end of their second trip. Their son, Tyler, 7, and Michelle’s mother, Roni Westbrook, a daycare provider at Christian Chapel Daycare in Onalaska, also went on both trips. [More...]

Government rejected all international adoption requests Thursday, December 8, 2005
Denisa Maruntoiu
Children adopted by American families are seen in this May 2004 file photo at the U.S. Embassy in Bucharest.
The authorities decided not to approve the 1,100 international adoption requests Romania has received in the past four years, State Secretary Theodora Bertzi announced yesterday. "Our decision is final and clear: none of the 1,100 children will be adopted by foreign families, as we will find the proper solutions to protect them, in accordance with the Romanian legislation," said Bertzi. According to Bertzi, the authorities' decision not to allow the adoptions was made at the end of November, when the Office for Adoptions (ORA) completed the evaluation of all the requests, which had came from 24 different countries including U.S., Spain, Germany, and Greece, during October 2001 and December 2003. [More...]

Orphans of the System 7 December 2005
by Rupert Wolfe Murray
Romania has stopped the abuse of international adoptions by banning them. Have the children benefitted? BUCHAREST, Romania | In the decade after 1990, couples from all over the world came to Romania to adopt children – an estimated 30,000 of them. A corrupt and chaotic system of child care turned international adoptions into a free-for-all until, in 1997, bold new legislation was introduced to reform it: The considerable sums of money adoptive couples were willing to pay was to be made available to local authorities for new social services. But it didn’t work as planned. [More...]

Orphans experience a glimpse of American life Tuesday, December 6, 2005
By Jason Norman
For about a month a group of youngsters from the Ukraine will get to experience what it’s like to be part of a family. For a short period of time they’ll get to know, or perhaps remember, what it’s like to be part of a family. Because that’s something that most of them haven’t experienced for a long time n and it’s not certain they ever will again. [More...]

Adopted kids make couple's house a home Wed, Dec. 07, 2005
By Toya Graham
The Associated Press
ROCK HILL - This holiday season will be extra special for Gina and Donnie Chapman. The Rock Hill couple recently returned from Ukraine with two new family members, Yuri, 12, and Tolli, 6. "We didn't realize how great having children would be," Gina Chapman, 33, said as she looked across the room at her new sons, who are brothers. "We didn't have a clue. We knew something was missing, and it was them." [More...]

Adoption plan sours Wednesday, December 7, 2005
Rules mix-ups dim local family's hopes
By Larry Fisher-Hertz
Poughkeepsie Journal
Bruce and Charlene Ferguson fell in love with Lyubov Mikhaylovna Kobylkova the first time they saw her. The 10-month-old baby, nicknamed "Luba," was living in an orphanage in Yaroslavl, a Russian town about 100 miles northeast of Moscow, when the Fergusons met her in May 2004. "She was beautiful," Charlene Ferguson said in a recent interview. "As soon as we saw her, we wanted to take her home." Unable to have children of their own, they had adopted a Russian baby — a boy named Abramov Oleg whom they renamed Jonathan — four years earlier. And with a little prodding from their son, they decided they were ready for another child. [More...]

Prime minister discusses adoption laws Wednesday, December 7, 2005
Denisa Maruntoiu
Prime Minister Calin Popescu discusses EU accession with European officials and tackled the adoptions and minorities law issues with the Romanian EP observers. Tariceanu asked the parliamentarians to explain to the European officials that the government will respect the recommendations of the European Commission as far as the international adoptions are concerned. They also discussed the minorities' status legislation, highly debated in Romania. Tariceanu said the legislation is not a condition for joining the EU, but a promise the government has made. [More...]

Increasing number of orphans affects economy 06 December, 2005
MASUNGA - The increasing number of orphans put a finacial strain on national resources, says Itumeleng Galani, a former nominated councillor. Galani was officiating at an orphan care workshop at Gulubane in the North East District last week. Galani said orphans have become a major problem facing Botswana as result of deaths of caregivers. Galani stated that the deaths of caregivers were a result of HIV/AIDS, road traffic accidents and passion killings. She added that mostly unemployed relatives were burdened with the responsibility to care for the orphans. [More]

Orphans take story to the stage in Suffolk December 6, 2005
By STEPHANIE HEINATZ, The Virginian-Pilot
SUFFOLK –– With a crown of flowers on her head and a pair of white pointy shoes on her feet, Sveta Gribachova climbed atop the Wilroy Baptist Church stage and sung her heart out. In those precious moments Monday night, when her focus was on the Russian lyrics she’d worked so hard to perfect, the 16-year-old could forget the stresses of her own life. She was in America. She was tasting the food, attempting to improve her English and raising awareness about the lives of the more than 100,000 children orphaned in Ukraine. “I’ve been in the orphanage since I was 5,” she said through a translator. “Before that, I lived in a small village. My father murdered my mother.” [More...]

Established, older women tackling parenthood solo December 6, 2005
BY LESLIE BALDACCI Staff Reporter Advertisement
Single women call it Plan B -- as in "baby," with the emphasis on a plan.
"I spent three solid years planning for this. I completely changed my lifestyle. I socked away every bonus I got. I stopped taking vacations. I knew I would need the resources to take care of this child by myself," said Lisa Morrell, 41, mother of 2-year-old Krista. [More...]

A Moscow Orphanage Hopes To Foster Change Tuesday, December 6, 2005
By Kevin O’Flynn
Staff Writer
MOSCOW — Moscow’s Orphanage No. 19 is atypical in that it houses very few children. A total of 130 children are under its care, but fewer than 20 live in the smart, welcoming building not far from the Baumanskaya metro station. The rest live with foster parents. The arrangement is unusual in a country that has more than 700,000 children living permanently in orphanages, more than any other country in the world. Orphanage No. 19’s foster family program is the model that adoption officials hope will change thousands of lives. [More...]

US pressure increases to resume international adoptions Tuesday, December 6, 2005
Rupert Wolfe Murray
This week is a critical one in the lobby to get international adoptions started again in Romania. Today's visit of Condoleezza Rice to Romania is ostensibly about the opening of US Military bases but the international adoptions issue is also on the agenda. Nicholas Taubman, the incoming US Ambassador, has said he will prioritise the resumption of international adoptions. The two are said to be close and Ms Rice attended the investure of Mr Taubman when he was made Ambassador, a rare event in American politics. [More...]

Catholic Charities gets them together to party Monday, December 5, 2005
BY GENNADY SHEYNER
Copyright © 2005 Republican-American
WATERBURY -- Janet Martin wanted to be a mother for a long time, but could not find the right person to start a family with. In January 2002, Martin, 41, stumbled upon a perfect solution at a seminar sponsored by Catholic Charities Inc., a company that provides counseling and social services to children and parents. At the seminar, Martin learned about the process of adopting a child from a foreign nation. About a year later, she traveled to Russia to pick up Riley, her first daughter. [More...]

Book gives insight into Russia's young orphans
By EARL KELLY, Staff Writer
Naval Academy professor Clementine K. Fujimura teaches Russian language and culture, but her feelings for the orphans and abandoned children she studied in Russia go far beyond scholarship. In her new book about these forsaken children, she describes scenes from the orphanages, or "baby houses" as they are called in Russia, that could come from a Charles Dickens novel. [More...]

Romania hails orphanage success story December 3, 2005
Controversial adoption ban ends baby-trafficking but angers US lobbyists
Ian Traynor in Bucharest
The Guardian
There are toys and teddy bears, colour televisions and good hot food, and a staff of 47 professionals looking after a noisy, happy brood of 49 toddlers and under-fives. For those who remember the squalor of Romania's orphanages a decade ago that came to define the cruelty of the Ceausescu dictatorship, the scene at the Sfintul Andrei day-care centre in northern Bucharest yesterday seems miraculous. [More...]

Local couple to adopt two Ukrainian children Friday, December 02, 2005
By April Barbe - news@jacksonvilleprogress.com
A Jacksonville couple will leave Monday for the Ukraine, where they will adopt two children between the ages of 3 and 7. Shawn and Rachelle Coughlin tried for more than a year to adopt, and they finally received a call this week notifying them to come to pick up the new additions to their family. “We have not seen our kids yet,” Shawn said. “We don't even know which Ukrainian orphanage they're coming from. They just told us to come to the National Adoption Center.” [More...]

Russia trip marks 10 years of Buckner's international ministry 12/02/05
By Felicia Fuller
Buckner Benevolences
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia--As the noonday sun beamed across the music room at a Russian orphanage, a silver-haired woman took her seat before an arc of chattering children. Unmoved by the commotion, she smiled knowingly, folded her hands in her lap and waited. At her side, translator Vladimir hushed the youngsters with a wave of his finger. [More...]

Number Of HIV PatientsRockets Friday, December 2, 2005
By Galina Stolyarova
Staff Writer
As the city marked World AIDS Day with a large public awareness meeting on Thursday, health authorities said that the number of HIV cases in the country has rocketed over the last five years, with 100 Russians contracting the virus every day. At the meeting at the Moskovsky Cultural Center close to the Elektrosila metro station on Moskovsky Prospekt, demonstrators handed out leaflets in an attempt to raise awareness. [More...]

Heroic Young Girl Tells of Her Child Porn Ordeal Dec. 1, 2005
Dec. 1, 2005 -- Earlier this year, Toronto police took an extraordinary step in their search for a little girl who was being subjected to the worst kind of abuse imaginable. She was the subject of pictures that had been showing up in the hands of pedophiles. They showed her tied up and raped repeatedly, and police could see her growing older in the photos. They feared the abuse was still going on. [More...]

“Home For The Holidays”
International adoptee reunion
ST. PAUL – Senator Norm Coleman announced today that he will hold his third annual holiday reunion, “Home for the Holidays,” for Minnesota families he has helped to successfully adopt an international child, on Saturday, December 3, 2005. The event will take place at the Park View Ballroom on 317 Washington Street in St. Paul at 10:30 a.m [More...]

Cotidianul - Our orphans star in the U.S. vs. EU war Friday, December 2, 2005
An influential American congressman is reopening the adoptions war. Chris Smith has proposed a resolution calling on Romania to resume international adoptions and the EU to stop pressuring Bucharest not to, Cotidianul writes. [More...]

Finding a family in Ukraine Thursday, December 1, 2005
By Chris Helms/ Chronicle Staff
Karina Libertine is, emphatically, an American teenager.
It’s been nearly two years since Olga and John Libertine adopted Karina and her younger brother, William, from an orphanage in Ukraine. These days, Karina is enraptured with the idea of being a teenager. It’s a milestone the 13-year-old crossed Oct. 12. [More...]

State officials meet with Sacred Portion to discuss new rules Thursday, December 01, 2005
By BETH SLOVIC, Chronicle Staff Writer
The Summer Miracles program of the Bozeman-based Sacred Portion Children's Outreach may soon begin recruiting participants again, following a meeting Wednesday with representatives of the state health department. This past summer, the nonprofit Sacred Portion planned to bring orphans from the Philippines and Russia for its fourth annual summer camp. The idea is to introduce children to families who might later adopt them. [More...]