What happens to a child who grows up with virtually no parenting, love, affection or human touch? “Nearly everything we learn about being human—how to speak, how to walk, everything—comes from the people who raise us,” Oprah says. “Today, we’re going to look at what happens when nobody does.”
This was my son.
Dr. Bruce Perry, a Child psychiatrist featured on the Oprah show states that neglect is the absence of necessary stimulation in order to build a certain part of the brain. In order for children to learn, to stimulate areas of their brain they NEED stimulation. Without stimulation they will …read more

I’ve been on a whirlwind this past month: Christmas, family visits, an international adoption, and emotional stress with our oldest child, AJ. Our new son, Gus, is thankfully very healthy despite an ear infection and two new molars that have been keeping him up at night.
I have been exhausted from travel and interrupted sleep, suffering from headaches and my own ear infection, and have done, in my opinion, nothing but laundry, change diapers, and feed Gus since returning home. Not that I’m complaining or anything…
But Friday morning I hit a wall. After two school snow days AJ had another day …read more

“I’m not judging people, I’m judging their actions. It’s the same type of distinction that I try to apply to myself, to judge, but not be judgmental.”
In the last few weeks the news has been inundated with information and opinions about Miles Harrison, 49, from Virginia. His adopted son, Chase, died after Harrison left him in the car for an undisclosed amount of time. Harrison had driven to work that morning and presumably forgotten Chase in the car.
Harrison has been charged with manslaughter and is currently still under medical care.
Now, for those of you who have never been in the …read more

This news report details the Harrison case.

The two agencies suspended last week, The Cradle of Hope and Family and Children’s Agency were banned because of numerous violations during routine checks.
A third agency,  European Adoption Consultants, EAC, is now undergoing a thorough investigation because they did not report the incident in a timely manner.
Alexei Golovan, the Moscow ombudsman, said that Agencies must be held accountable for their work. “If they fail to meet their responsibilities, they should be barred from operating in Russia,” he said, adding that he would like to see more Russian parents adopt children.
Apparently, 14 children have been killed by their adoptive families as …read more

Read all about how I feel about this Non-Mom issue over at Chicago Moms Blog!

This feature length film shot by Director Joy Dietrich earned Best Director Award at the CineVegas Film Festival in June 2007 and certainly deserves mention among the adoption community for its realistic portrayal of Asian adoption.
Click here to play the trailer to Tie a Yellow Ribbon.
Dietrich, also a Korean adoptee, addresses the high rates of depression and suicide among Asian American girls within the movie and according to Harlow’s Monkey, creates a work of “great compassion and poetic beauty”.

Celebrities like Madonna and Angelina and Brad have apparently caused a rise in the number of children in international orphanages. Psychologists at the University of Liverpool have found the highest rates of children living in institutions are in Eastern European Countries.