Save Orphaned Siblings

S.O.S. is a non-profit organization committed to maintaining relationships between our internationally adopted children and their siblings that were left behind. We encourage adoption when appropriate, but also work to raise awareness about the plight of orphaned siblings and how to create alternatives to adoption in order to foster sibling relationships, when adoption is not feasible.



Save Orphaned Siblings

Two Letters, Two Countries, One Family

Its an adventure opening my mailbox these days. Scattered among the bills and sale ads are postcards from Postcrossing, movies borrowed from Netflix and just yesterday two letters from our ever growing family.

Ian's sister Natasha sent us a letter enclosed with two Russian stamps and a picture. I am happy to post that her "new" mother, who is also named Natasha, and her new Babushka are pleased as punch to have her with them. I am grateful to know Natasha is happy, healthy and in a loving home.

Ian's other three sisters also wrote a letter filled with drawings and accompanied a box full of cookies made by their own hands. I am so thankful that their mother and father are willing to put up with me in their lives.

It is a bit harder to contact Ian's birthmother but we do get a letter here and there sent to her. We hear more from his Grandmother in Russia. In fact she sent a message through Yulia, the oldest sister who lives in Delaware, for Ian to send pictures to her.

I feel a little lost regarding Ian's younger brother that is still with his birthmother. Ian asks after him quite a lot and has one of his pictures next to his bed, along with a picture of his three sisters in the USA and a pic of his sister still in Russia. He has told me that soon, there will be a picture of all of them together. He even has a specified space on the wall for this picture.

Its hard to explain to Ian why his brother is still with his birthmother while the rest of the children are scattered across the globe. Here is one article I have found regarding one sibling is placed for adoption while another is not.

Innocence on SALE,Poor Indian children are being freely traded across the globe. A merciless adoption mafia's overdrive leaves authorities back home clueless even as Dutch Parliament initiates probe after a child from Tamil Nadu reaches Holland.

Innocence on SALE-Poor Indian children are being freely traded across the globe.
A merciless adoption mafia's overdrive leaves authorities back home clueless even as Dutch Parliament initiates probe after a child from Tamil Nadu reaches Holland.

Geetha Devarajan


The recent judgment of the Madras High Court directing the CBI to investigate into the kidnapping of three children for inter- country adoptions (ICA) once again brings to light the breakdown of legal mechanism. This coupled with virtually no supervision of ICA by the government and its agencies leading to trafficking of children in the name of ICA.In May 2005, the Tamil Nadu police discovered a trafficking racket involving individuals and agencies at various levels. These traffickers target street children, or kids from poor families and those in maternity wards of government hospitals, kidnap them and sell them to so-called adoption agencies for amount ranging from Rs 5,000 to Rs 25,000 per child. According to the newspaper reports, these trafficking mafia have allegedly sold 350 children to the Malaysian Social Service Society, an agency involved in adoption, for over seven years.Salya lost his four-year-old daughter — kidnapped by a gang that came by autorickshaw — while she was playing on the street. Kathirvelu lost his one-year-old son, who was kidnapped while they were sleeping on the pavement. Both the families registered complaints with the local police. An FIR........





Innocence on SALE,Poor Indian children are being freely traded across the globe. A merciless adoption mafia's overdrive leaves authorities back home clueless even as Dutch Parliament initiates probe after a child from Tamil Nadu reaches Holland.

The St. Petersburg Times - Giving Magazine 2007

True Story

Families Reunited

A website set up to help Russian children adopted by American parents find their original families has yielded emotional stories of families reunited. Here are some of them.

BY IRINA TITOVAStaff Writer



The St. Petersburg Times - Giving Magazine 2007

Russian School

The State News: Multimedia

Eight-year-old Zoya Shevchenko is one of about 15 students of Russian immigrant Natalie Smith who came to the U.S. in 2005 from Khabarovsk, Russia. Smith spends her time teaching Russian to adopted Russian children in Michigan. Apart from the challenges of learning the language, the transition into American culture also poses difficulty for the children.

delawareonline ¦ The News Journal, Wilmington, Del. ¦ Russian siblings reunited at last

delawareonline ¦ The News Journal, Wilmington, Del. ¦ Russian siblings reunited at last

Book Re: Psychology of Russian Orphans

Editorial Reviews

Book DescriptionPsychology of Orphans is written by Dr. Lyudmila Shipitsyna Rector of the Institute of Special Education and Psychology Saint-Petersburg, Russia. She has a Doctorate in Science and Biology and works
as an honored professor in this specialty in the Russian Federation.

Considered
an expert and pioneer in this field in Russia, she has authored over 400
publications. Today these books have formed the foundation in teaching on
special education within Russia and beyond. Psychology of Orphans is the
combination of written theory with the clinical practice and experience of
dealing with orphans, adoptions and families.

Psychology of Orphans was
written as a resource book for students, researchers, academics and
professionals. Those who work with orphans and families with special needs
children affected by social and psychological problems will find Psychology of
Orphans invaluable.

Any potential adoptive parent needs to know the research
and conclusions that Psychology of Orphans reveals. Question on children's
behaviors and actions are answered presenting a better understanding of those
from state institutions.
The exciting fact that sets Psychology of Orphans
apart from other books is that the research obtained is for the first time based
from within Russia.

Amazon Listing For This Book

EB Spontaneous?

This August our youngest will be with us for 3 whole years. Today I received my first spontaneous ENTHUSIASTIC hug. I am so moved by this. EB still disassociates when strangers talk to him and sometimes when extended family try to guide him. There is still work to be done.

But....... he has always been so compliant and kind of... just there when I hug him. He's obviously enjoyed it most of the time but this is the first time there was a smile, a jump jump and run into my arms, a tight, tight hug with a growl. He is free to love. He is free to love me.

Today I went to the conference I posted about earlier. What an amazing woman and program. I highly recommend the book Debbie Riley wrote and will also try and post what I came out of this class with. This is truly changing my life and setting me in a direction to grow and MAYBE specialize in.

Good day to you all and I want you commenters to know I appreciate every word you post. I know I've been a bit of a flake on the blog but it has been a time of great growth and soulful awakening for me. I hope your journey's are smooth and I also hope to catch up with you soon.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2007/06/08/003.html

Friday, June 8, 2007.

Thousands of Babies Left in Hospital Limbo

By Svetlana Osadchuk Staff Writer

photoOne of the rejected babies looking out the window at the Pskov hospital.

Seven hours after Kristina Smirnova, 17, gave birth to her son, the doctor came into her room and said she should hand the baby over to the state. "The baby is ill. He will not live more than a week. I think signing rejection papers is the only wise thing for a girl like you to do," the doctor said, Smirnova recalled.

Smirnova had the baby at the Motorshchiki maternity ward in the east Siberian city of Barnaul on the morning of Oct. 31, 2005. She had no identification papers, no relatives, no place to live and no money. She had spent the last year living with her boyfriend, the baby's father, but he broke up with her when he learned that his son was ill.But Smirnova refused to sign the rejection papers, sparking a 2 1/2-month struggle to prevent the boy from joining thousands of babies caught in a hospital limbo.

The babies, usually referred to as otkazniki, live in almost every children's hospital in the country. No accurate figures are kept because the babies themselves do not officially exist. The babies are only counted once they are moved to orphanages -- a process that by law should take no more than four months but in practice can take several years. While they wait, they are often neglected and sometimes abused. Hospital staff commonly advise mothers who are single, very young or struggling financially to give up their babies, even those who are healthy

photoSmirnova holding her son, Vladimir, whom doctors advised her to give up.

"If Beethoven's mother had been in one of our hospitals, they would have told her to give him up because she was from a poor family and ill with tuberculosis," said Igor Beloborodov, head of Maternity and Childhood Protection, a nongovernmental organization.

Mothers of sickly babies often heed the hospital staff's advice, including about 85 percent of those whose children are diagnosed with Down Syndrome, said Sergei Koloskov, head of the Down Syndrome Association. His wife was told to leave their daughter, Vera, at the hospital when she was diagnosed with the genetic disorder. She refused.

Ten years ago, Moscow health officials advised city maternity wards not to discourage new mothers by telling them that they would be unable to care for their babies. But that has not changed what people say privately.Smirnova was released from the Barnaul hospital after a week, but the baby was kept in intensive care. Each time she returned to check up on him, she was urged to sign the rejection papers."Doctors, nurses and even cleaning ladies told me that I was stupid to ask for my baby back," Smirnova said during a recent visit to Moscow to get medical treatment for her 19-month-old son.

Even though she had never seen the baby, she gave him a name -- Vladimir. The boy was the only relative she had in the world, she said. Her mother and grandmother died in her home village of Gordeyevo when she was 14. She tried for a few months to live with her father, who had divorced her mother and lived in another town with a new wife and their children. "I was a burden for them. I came back to my village and stayed with friends," she said. She met Vladimir's father in the neighboring village of Belmesevo, and they fell in love. Smirnova said she thought he was a reward from heaven for the loneliness she had felt after her mother's death. Many young women who give up their babies share similar stories, Beloborodov said. They are from poor families and are in relationships where they sought a substitute for parental love. They often live with landlords who would evict them if they had a baby. In Moscow, many babies are given up by mothers who came to the city from the regions seeking a better life, Beloborodov said.

The procedure to give up a baby is simple, said a spokeswoman for the family, maternity and childhood department of the Health and Social Development Ministry. A married or single mother just needs to write a statement on a blank sheet of paper that she wants to put her child up for adoption for financial reasons or "difficult family circumstances," the spokeswoman said. After the statement is signed, the child usually is placed in the nearest children's hospital until all bureaucratic procedures are completed.

About 460 rejected babies live in hospitals in the Moscow region and 250 live in hospitals in the Sverdlovsk region, according to a presidential administration report on child welfare issues. The internal report dated April 2007, a copy of which was obtained by The Moscow Times, gave no figures for other regions."The development of orphanages is neglected in many regions, so rejected babies are kept in hospitals too long," the report said. "As a result, they are deprived of walks outside and lie in bed for months. They are delayed in their mental and physical growth."In Yekaterinburg, the capital of the Sverdlovsk region, only about 20 of the 90 children living in hospitals are sick, said the city's health department.

Two cases of abuse have made national headlines this year. Yekaterinburg prosecutors opened a criminal investigation in January into a nurse suspected of taping babies' mouths shut to stop them for crying at the city's Infectious Diseases Hospital No. 15. In March, prosecutors in Orekhovo-Zuyevo, a town 85 kilometers east of Moscow, began investigating a hospital where children were tied to their beds with sheets. In both cases, hospital patients photographed the abuse with their cell phones and the pictures were shown on state television.The rejected babies are a burden to the children's hospitals, said Boris Altshuler, who advises ombudsmen Vladimir Lukin on the problem. Most hospitals do not allocate money to feed them or hire nurses to care for them. That means nurses typically visit their rooms three times a day -- to feed them and change their diapers. Some hospitals don't even have diapers, so the babies lie in wet sheets for hours, Altshuler said. Feeding is also a problem. Nurses rarely have time to hold a bottle of milk for each baby, so they put bottles into the babies' mouths and leave them; if a bottle falls out, the baby goes hungry. When mothers visiting their own children in the hospitals try to pick up the babies, they are often told, "Don't touch them. They will then get used to being touched and will cry after you leave," Altshuler said.Since hospitals are closed institutions in Russia, volunteers are not welcome as they are in the West, said Nadezhda Davydova, who volunteers at several Moscow hospitals under a special agreement with administrators. "The administration has no right to let in sympathetic people," she said. Davydova said she, other volunteers and children's rights activists were lobbying the government to place the babies in foster families and get them adopted.

"It is naive to think that the problem is bad nurses all around the country," Davydova said. In a rare exception, a Christian charity is paying for a new hospital ward for 40 rejected babies in the city of Pskov, about 20 kilometers east of the Estonian border. Initiative Pskov, a Protestant-sponsored group, is also covering the salaries of a team of specialists to care for the babies and help place them in families.By law, the babies can be adopted while still in the hospital. But information about them is entered into a national adoption database very slowly and is often incomplete.

Two years ago, prosecutors in the Altai republic fined a social services official for failing file information about a baby who had lived at a hospital for 18 months. Some children never recover from their months in the hospital without someone to walk them, talk with them and hug them, Altshuler said."When the time comes to decide whether to place them in a regular orphanage or one for the mentally disabled, they are at risk of being placed in the second. This means they will never go to a regular school," Altshuler said. Smirnova only got her son, Vladimir, out of the hospital when a friend helped her obtain a passport and rent an apartment. She receives 3,000 rubles per month from the state to care for the boy, who has neurological and heart problems. Doctors still advise her to give him up.Smirnova recently invited another young woman, Nastya, to move into the rented apartment with her. Nastya's sad story mirrors her own. She is expecting her child in August.

Hope Fades for Reuniting Siblings

By Wendy Koch, USA TODAY

Time has run out for a family who sought special permission to adopt the older sister of their Russian son.

"Everything was denied," says Joan Knipe, the Scottsdale, Ariz., mother who asked the Department of Homeland Security for what is called "humanitarian parole" so Olga, the sister, could enter the USA.

The government grants that special kind of visa in rare cases for what it calls a "very compelling emergency."
Olga needed to be in the country by Friday, her 22nd birthday, to be eligible for adoption in Arizona.

FIND MORE STORIES IN: Hope Department of Homeland Security Joan Knipe Olga

"It's over. She's completely aged out," says Knipe, whose adoptive son Ruslan, 13, yearns for his big sister. "It's tough for the family."

In a story last month, USA TODAY reported the efforts of Knipe and other parents to reunite biological siblings torn apart by international adoption.

Dozens of families have joined a non-profit group, Save Orphaned Siblings, to press for a change in immigration law, such as a visitor program, that would allow brothers and sisters to see each other for a few months each year.

"There may be a pathway in the immigration bill" now pending in the Senate, says Maureen Flatley, a Boston-based adoption policy consultant who is advising the families. She plans to discuss such a program, aimed at children under 18, with members of Congress.

"The kids are in limbo," Flatley says. She says U.S. adoption agencies have not done enough to keep siblings together, and now families are facing more obstacles in trying to adopt the siblings.
Russia is putting a hold on most adoptions by not renewing the licenses of American adoption agencies since issuing new, more demanding rules last year. China tightened eligibility, beginning this month, of Americans who can adopt. Guatemala received a U.S. government warning in March for suspected fraud and child smuggling. Those countries account for 70% of orphans who have come to the USA for adoption in the past five years.

Knipe and her husband, Steve Pettyjohn, say they would have adopted Olga Lukinova at the same time they adopted Ruslan four years ago, but they didn't know about her until too late in the process. They have since tried but failed to get tourist or student visas for her.
Olga looked after her brother for years in the orphanage after their birth mother died. To give him a better life, she signed off on his adoption.

Knipe says Olga is sickly and lives in a rural village in a condemned building without running water. She says she hasn't been able to reach Olga yet to tell her the final application was denied because phone lines are often faulty in the area.

Knipe says she will try to call again Friday, Olga's birthday.

Searching Again for Lost Sibling

The amazing events of the last few weeks have pushed me even harder to find the one sister unaccounted for. The searcher is leaving in the morning to research the two children's home's we have heard where she may be at. Keep your fingers crossed people.

Together Again

Not quite all the kids together. I'm still looking for one sister. The little brother is still with the Birthmother as far as I know. I'm sending this pic to Russia ASAP.

Will write more later.

Isn't this picture just beautiful? What happiness on those girls' faces.

Fluish

Well, it has been making the rounds at my house. I thought that it would pass us by this year. Nope. My active children were down for the count the first hour of their spring break. They are slowly getting out of it. It seems they have no recollection of when they were sick. They have just "lost" that day. I think that is good.

The few times my daughter has been sick, she wants to see the video of her birth. I sat and watched it with her. I haven't watched it in a REALLY long time. She burst into tears when the nurse played the lullaby song after they asked me her name. Every time she hears that song she bursts into tears. She tells me she remembers when they played the song when she was born and that she remembers being really cold and she had a hard time breathing.

When I watched the tape I remember the absolute PAIN I was in and the problems afterward. My daughter did have a hard time breathing, it was a hard labor, I did it all naturally, she was 9 pounds and it HURT!! I had a hard time getting her out. I didn't get to hold her right away as I did with my son as she needed oxygen and "massage".

They say that you forget the pain. I have totally forgotten the pain of my first birth. It was "easy". My oldest son was "only" 8 pounds 3.5 ounces. I had him 15 minutes after I arrived at the hospital. I wish I would have had him at home.

I cannot forget the second birth, the pain, the scare, the severe bleeding after..... my beautiful daughter was totally worth it... but I just can't forget it. Maybe it's because I have a very tasteful but very clear video of it.

Please forgive me on the last post. I didn't realize the video could not be embedded. Here is the URL: International Adoption Workshop . It is only an intro of a seminar by the Infertility and Adoption Counseling Center. It just happens to have Dr. Jane Aronson in it. I think it is a GREAT video and pre adoptive parents would be better educated by watching it. Tapestry Books, the people who posted the video, have the whole DVD available on their web store. I have just found them, so I do not have a comment on their service or selection.

In other news:

I have been working a lot with the local Post Adoption Services agency in our area and I am LOVING it!

My SW is on vacation but says my homestudy update is in the works, that means she'll do it when she gets back. Yep, lets hope that letter from Stanford did the trick.

I found out that the two girls I spoke of before will be going to another home next month in the stinky, crime ridden, smog filled valley (I know, it's not ALL bad).

I also leave next month with my youngest to go meet three of his birthsiblings. He is looking forward to riding an airplane again. Last night he told me he also wanted to go to Russia to go see his room there. I told him that he would probably have shared a room with his birthparents and little brother (that was born about a year and a half ago). They have a two room flat.

ALSO next month is my 10 year anniversary!!! Can you believe it? That is two of DH's Dad's marriages (he's never been married over 5 years in his 6 marriages) and longer than almost ANY of MY siblings. And NOBODY thought it would last. DH has stamina and patience he does.

My right arm is killing me as I've gotten a wild hair and completely mopped and polished our wood floor in the great room. I did it by hand and on my knees. I don't know why 'cause I have a stinkin' mop in the closet I found afterward. I guess I AM turning into my mother. I also weeded our entire yard and cut back the damn ivy and the ground cover with the purple flowers the renters planted that I can't get rid of. BRING ON THE SPRING WEATHER!! Yeah!

The School Auction went off very well and we actually MADE some money this year. I found that we have some very talented artists in our community. Sometime I'll tell you about my beloved Paul Newman and how my oldest told me to write him about the auction. (he sent something).

My family is going to be spotlighted in the newsletter of the Post Adoption Services agency (I'm nervous, I don't like it in the spotlight, you should have seen me hiding on my wedding day).

I'm starting to freak as summer is fast approaching and we need to get some money for the trip I booked a year ago. My cousin from Germany will be out as soon as I get back and she wants to go to Vegas and San Fran and... and.... and....

I am having no luck on the weight loss!! I'm bigger than I have EVER been my entire life!!! EVER!!!!!!! I HATE it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You feel me?

My youngest turned 5 on the 15th and I am having severe baby panic issues. It would be a total miracle but what if a baby was placed with us? Where did I pack away that crib and changing table? (not that I ever used it, a blanket on the floor is easier).

Anyway- we are off to the kid gym here in town. They've been sleeping for days. There is PLENTY of energy to burn off.

Ta-

Re: Russian Adoption, Agencies Working In Specific Oblasts

If you are trying to find a sibling or would like to adopt from the same Region of Russia as your child, here is an updated list (as of 3/23/07) of agencies that are working in specific Areas.

Region/Agency List

Long Distance Relationships

I have spent the entire day on finding a way to communicate with my son's sister that is still in Russia. She doesn't live with her mother. She doesn't live with her father or grandmother. She lives in a children's home SOMEWHERE in the Vladimir Region.

I had to take a break after looking at more than 69 pages of children in the Russian Databank from the Region. That does NOT mean 69 kids. I think there were about 10 children on each page. The online translator did not work on the picture page. I had to cut and paste when I found a girl that was born the same year as "NC" was.

I have contacted Mary from Russian Family Search to help us. I say US because like some of you know, I finally found my son's other siblings in the US after a two year search. They want to contact NC as much as I do. Mary has said she will help us find her.

I have been in contact with my son's birthmother and grandmother in Russia. For some reason I haven't been able to find out which children's home she is in. Maybe they are afraid I will take her home to the US like the rest of the children. NC still goes home for visits.

I would have asked the original searcher that I used before, but with me starting the new BIZ I'm a little short o' cash at the moment. They are awesome but NOT CHEAP. I also don't know WHEN they would go, they have a waiting list. Mary's searcher just happens to be going soon.

So... trying to get this organized over the Internet hasn't been easy. The girls are on the East Coast. I am on the West. Mary is in the middle and none of us really have computers that work well with each other.

I have an idea that I know the home where she is... the earlier searcher has it in his report. The oldest sibling doesn't think NC could be there because her Mom told me she said it was a "bad" place. I am not sure which "bad" she is talking about.

Scanning, e-mailing, cut and paste, trying to read Cyrillic (that I'm starting to understand!), etc etc is time consuming and frustrating but OH SO WORTH IT. Much like the adoption process.

I am also trying to plan a trip out to the East to visit the girls' family. Never been there. Certainly can't go now where I'd probably freeze solid when we stepped off the airplane.

And so, I sign off for now friends, cross eyed with exhaustion.

Birthparent Connection?

I rec’d an e-mail today. “T”, my intermediary in Russia sent me a scan of a two page letter from my youngest’s (EB) biological grandmother. At least I think it is from her. The letter is signed kisses-Baba (Grandma).

I sit at the computer with all my concentration centered on those lines of ink on paper. I can‘t read Cyrillic. I stare hard at the monitor, as if I‘m trying to inhale, digest or melt into the words. I know the translation will come in a matter of days yet I’m impatient. I crave some sort of connection, I can only imagine what Baba feels, what “V” (EB’s birthmother) feels. What would it feel like to have your child on the other side of the world, another family calling him son?

EB doesn’t seem to crave the connection as I do. He does smile, snuggle into my chest as I tell him that Baba “N” has written him a letter and show him the screen. He then slides off my lap and goes on playing dinosaurs.

I know what yearning feels like. I know what it felt to have him on the other side of the world, unable to fulfill his needs the way I knew only I could do to satisfaction. How does it feel to have a child you held in your arms for a year, a child you fed at your breast, just disappear from your life?

Are my letters an offering of some sort? Am I trying to stick a band aid on a broken heart? There are times I dream of going back to Vladimir to meet EB’s biological family. Isn’t it presumptuous of me to think that my physical presence could be a balm of some sort? That the “laying on” of my hands could heal them? Am I trying to “fix” these people?

Sometimes I want to take EB with me to Russia. I certainly won’t be able to take him back when he is of an age to be drafted into the Russian Army. That was the very first admonition of the officer at the Embassy. “Do not bring him back here after he is 16 years old. Do not let him come back until he is an older man.” How can you keep a grown man, a man in his late teens, early twenties from traveling to his birthplace, to his roots? I feel, that if I take him too soon it could be damaging. I mean, I talk to these people in letters translated by a third party. How can I discern their personalities, intentions and reactions by these disjointed interactions? But how can I force him into waiting until he is a man my own age, possibly with a young family of his own, to see his birthmother and birthfather again. What of his biological Grandmother? She will not be living by then, I know it. When we first gained contact with them, EB carried a picture of his “Baba” in his pocket until it fell apart.

Am I projecting MY feelings onto these people (including my son)? Am I?

Just In

Hear Ye, Hear Ye

Foreign Adoptions in U.S. Drop in 2006 - AP News Story - David Crary

NEW YORK -- After tripling over the past 15 years, the number of foreign children adopted by Americans dropped sharply in 2006, the result of multiple factors which have jolted adoption advocates and prompted many would-be adoptive parents to reconsider their options.
The consequences could be profound for the ever-growing numbers of Americans interested in adopting abroad. Already, some have had their hopes quashed by tightened eligibility rules in China; adoptions from Africa, where millions of children have been orphaned by AIDS and wars, could increase if those from China and Eastern Europe continue to decrease.

Click on link for more....

*******************************

Parents worry about 'nature-deficit disorder' in kids

By LISA STIFFLER

P-I REPORTER
After squishing through mud, crawling under tree boughs and skirting a glassy pond, the small troop of kids and teachers stopped at a clearing in the woods.
Squatting in the wet leaves, instructor Sol Doran placed a sprig of fir on the ground in front of her and another a foot away.

Click on link for more...........

****************************

Cookie's roundup of the best DVDs and TV shows for kids

This list includes Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel

My little brother's absolute favorite book and record (ahem, yes we're old) .

"Big trucks and construction rigs are almost always a hit with young children. Here, along with Virginia Lee Burton's classic 1939 title story, kids also get animated renditions of three others centering around loud engines and oversize tires. The touching underdog tale of Mike Mulligan and his outdated rig, Mary Anne, is done justice here."

******************************

Cookie Magazine is a new magazine for Moms and kids.

It is billed as Mom Style, Kid Culture

Remembering a Foster Mother of 59 Babies

The Denver Post published a very special story about Lenore Schlenz, who was a foster mother for 59 babies during her time here. After answering an ad in a church bulletin asking for foster assistance Schlenz never stopped accepting newborns into her home for care. Many were there briefly as their adoption paperwork was completed, but a few little ones had a longer stay. Leaving notes with each child she cared for Schlenz was said to have a special bond with each little one she brought into her care. There is no doubt in mind that she will be remembered with great love by her daughters, sons, grandchildren, and great grandchildren.

Post Adoption Birthparent /Family Help

My guy in Russia sent me scans of the letter and envelope.

I tried to make out the words in the letter but there is no way I can read handwriting in Russian. I can barely make out some words in printing.

I am waiting for the translations. My son's birthmother wrote the letter before she got the package for my son's sibling's birthday on the 23rd.

It seems as if she wrote immediately after receiving my letter telling her we were sending a package. I am hopeful it is all good news in the letter.

I am waiting for the translations before I talk to my son about it.

I spoke to my SW when we rec'd the video. As you can imagine there was some pretty big emotions going on in the tape. She said to wait to show it to him until he is older. Just show him pictures for now and talk to him about his birthfamily.

In the title above is the link for the searcher who found my son's birthfamily even when it seemed impossible. He got medical information, pictures of many family members and family history. I know for instance my son's grandfather was left handed. The search is not cheap. It is not outrageously expensive either. We are talking about our child's history here- it is worth it.

We are still searching for my son's birth sisters. There are 4 of them. They may have been adopted to the United States. Their last name was Churbanova- his was different.

Still Waiting is waiting no more

This is a link to a blog of a family waiting for their "10 day waiting period" to be over in Russia. She calls her kids Bonnie and Clyde- love that. This specific post caught my attention because it reminded me so much of my youngest. He had no idea that he could come to my husband and I for comfort. It took him a long time and a lot of work on our part to get him to realize that we are here for him.
This is the first time I met my son. Just looking at this picture makes my heart swell. It helps me know that there is hope- there actually may be a light at the end of this tunnel.


"Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all."
~ Dale Carnegie

How China Feels re: Madonna's attempt to adopt

They say that the 48-year-old star already has two children. Otherwise the article isn't much different than our newspapers.