The West African country of Ghana is in many ways a success story. It's neither war-torn nor dictator-ruled, businesses do well there and investment is heavy, and one of their citizens just finished a stint ... a very long stint ... as Secretary General of the United Nations, one of the biggies in prestige jobs in the global village.

The country gets no pass on other problems rife in Africa, however, as allegations of corruption and a huge HIV/AIDS population both come with the territory. Of course, the UN... more

I need to take a minute before jumping into this post to scratch my head in wonder at some of the thinking that takes place in peoples' heads, then gets written about in the news.

I don't know about everyone else, but some things that come through to me as crystal clear and with no ambiguity seem so astonishingly simple to grasp, and I'm absolutely confounded when confronted with black and white proof that others so often miss the point completely.

Here's my example of this for the day, a report which features the District Officer of a Social Welfare Department in Ghana... more

One of the world's biggest charities, CARE has taken a bold and huge step in a positive direction by announcing that they're walking away from $45 million a year in US food aid money.

Since much of the federal funding for Africa comes from selling tons of American farm products in African countries, the thinking is that the system actually hurts many of the people it is supposed to help, and that it's plagued with inefficiencies.

Here's how it works in a process called "monetization":

Under the system, the U.S. government... more

Well, here's a story on child trafficking in Africa you don't hear every day ...

It is being reported that sixty-two children rescued from suspected traffickers have gone on a hunger strike to protest what they're saying is inhuman treatment by the Nigerian state police command who have been caring for them ... that, and "poverty in the land that forced their parents to engage them for sundry jobs", which is apparently the preferred term for slavery.

The... more

I've learned a lot recently about keeping yourself safe while you blog. As a – ahem – mature mother, I was not worried about my blogging attracting an Internet predator, or becoming a target for someone's personal fantasies. There are a multitude of websites on how to stay safe while blogging as a teenager. However, I also was not worried about protecting my “real” identity and that of my kids. Shame on me.

I'd like to think that the world is a safe, caring place, where “everyone” has others' best interests at heart, but alas, 'tis not so. Blogging can get you fired. Numerous employees across the... more

There's an article today in our local paper about a child soldier who is now an author of what sounds like an amazing story. I can't wait to read the book, even though I already know that much of the story is sad. (But what a triumph in the end!) It's called A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier.

Here's a snippet of the newspaper article:

He used to be a boy soldier, a 13-year-old who learned to slit a man's throat... more

(Continued from here)

There are a hundred - a thousand - or many times that - more examples of anti-adoption bias. Let's address it!! Maybe Brad and Angelina will read Sandra's blog and decide that SPAN is a great idea – I know I think it is.

If all members of the adoption community banded together and "took on" "adoptism", this bias against adoption (check out some of the media reports Sandra has quoted... more

(Continued from here)

As I mentioned in the first blog on adoptism, there was an example of an adoptive mother who parented her son from birth to four months, at which time the baby was returned to his birth mother. There was no place for her grief. No where for her to turn for support in her loss.

As someone who has worked in the field of perinatal loss for over 18 years, I maintain that the last bastion of unacknowledged grief is adoption loss – from the adoptive parents point of view, AS WELL AS the... more

Thanks for your responses on my blog on adoptism They are great!

As people involved in adoption, I think many of us know immediately what is meant by “adoptism” and discrimination based on adoption. We feel it everywhere – from newspaper articles that MUST point out that such-and-such a person in adopted and WHY is that relevant to the story?!), to those that still profess that adoption is less than. That's what makes "adoptism" such a hot topic - I believe it DOES touch everyone, but not all do.

And as an aside, don't we have room to include all members of the triad, or circle, or star or whichever... more

Is there such a thing as too many children? Mother Teresa said "How can there be too many children? That would be like saying there are too many flowers." One cute children's book is called “Always Room for One More”. Some families feel that way about children – there's always room at the table, in the home and in the heart for “just one more”. Several of our bloggers are moms to large families – Cindy... more