Over at the Adoption Guide's Advice page, I came across a document labeled "Accurate Adoption Language," which links to a PDF entitled "Positive Adoption Language." The fact sheet (reprinted from OURS Magazine, May/June 1992), has a fairly complete listing of preferred language (which it calls "positive") and dispreferred language (called "negative") for talking about adoption. […]

One of the ways our family seeks to serve orphans is by praying for them at supper time. I've had the opportunity to travel to orphanages in China and Ethiopia. So I printed out pictures of orphans I've had the privilege of meeting on those trips and put them on our refrigerator. Each time we […]

Our homestudy is done, we have a referral with photos and medicals safe in our file and we are simply waiting for the God-ordained time between today and the moment we either hold baby J as our own precious child or release him into a destiny outside of us. He is currently in a legal […]

The following story came to me as a forwarded email, and it sounded just a little too perfect to be true -- except that it IS true: it's an account written by one of my dad's cousins who volunteers for StandUpGirl, a pro-life organization. Her specific job is to correspond with women who need counsel about […]

Joint Council and others in our field have great concern regarding the one-time renewal of I-600A approvals and the impact on Potential Adoptive Parents (PAPs). It is very clear that the authors of the Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000 intended to ‘grandfather’ all I-600A petitions filed prior to the date on which the Hague Convention went into force in the United States (April 1, 2007). At the time the legislation was drafted, the authors did not foresee the lengthy processing time now associated with adoptions from countries such as China and Haiti.

From JCICS: The Government of Vietnam has issued a formal diplomatic note to the United States Government naming a high ranking Vietnamese official as Vietnam’s lead negotiator and also requesting that both governments begin negotiations towards a new Memorandum of Agreement regarding intercountry adoption.

After six adoptions, I have a stronger empathy with the pain that birth families experience than I have ever had before. With the pleasure of a new child I now have a larger reserve to experience the suffering their placement brings. I pray for the families more and I cry over their realities. I see that but for grace, it could be me releasing a child into a future without me -- and my heart crumbles.

When we started our adoption, I found myself answering questions that really irritated me deeply. And what I recognized were my own prior assumptions about adoptions.

Russell Moore: When did you first begin thinking theologically about adoption? Russell Moore is the Dean of the School of Theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and one of the speakers at Together for Adoption Conference 2008. Carolina Hope is one of the conference exhibitors.

Today, September 1, 2008, the current Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the United States and Vietnam expires.