What I'm reading today -

China is tightening their requirements of prospective parents looking to adopt babies from their country. It looks like the changes will go into effect May 1, 2007, but is good to know about now. China is a very popular country among those who adopt internationally, and has historically been popular among Jewish couples as well. An article appeared in today's New York Times and can be found here.

Also in today's New York Times, a great article on life books for children in foster care or adopted from foster care. The idea of a life book is similar to that of a scrapbook, detailing one's childhood in words, pictures or other mementos. This is extremely important to these children who are often moved from one foster home to another, lose touch with biological siblings, and may have few photos or memories of their biological family. This is something that adoptive families may want to consider putting together for thier child if they have a collection of photos or letters from the biological family - it's a great way to show your child that you care and honor their heritage. The article can be found here.

From the Journal Sentinel out of Milwaukee, a story about a family adopting a child out of foster care after the parental rights are terminated. Other people try to comiserate with me - thinking that I'm upset about how long our childrens' adoptions take. Selfishly, of course, I wish that the kids would be ours the minute they are brought to our front door. But realistically, and humanistically speaking, I want it to be hard. I want it to be a hard process. Especially adopting through the foster care system, where most of the time the biological parent does not willingly give up legal rights to the child. As much as it can be an emotional strain on our family, and confusing for us at times on what exactly we should tell our community, it should be hard for the state to terminate a parent's right to their child. Anyway, that article can be found here.