A young mother has given her second daughter up for adoption after her first daughter was placed into care. This mother wanted to a better life for her daughters. She did not want her daughters ending up living a life as she had to.

The young mother began her life in foster care at the young age of five years old. Her life was... more

We must realize that adoption is not a clearly painted picture. The reality is that there are several different pictures of adoption and the issues or reasons are not always cut and dry. One major thing is that some people do not stop and realize what kind of lives some adoptees would have faced without being adopted.

Yes, I do understand the some birth mothers have given up a child and then get to a point that they could have parented the child. There are also birth mothers that do not fit into that category. It could be because of their choices in life or things that are beyond their control.

There are older children, sibling groups and children... more

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Birthing children is clearly no problem in Rwanda: staying alive long enough to actually raise, protect and support them IS a problem. Forget about malaria and the perpetual threat of re-emerging violence, perhaps even war. Forget about poor safe water sources and basic hygiene facilities/infrastructure. Let’s talk about HIV/AIDS, the leading cause of death in Rwanda. According to the most... more

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The fact is any discussion concerning population issues in Rwanda can not be had without a discussion of land (not the case with China.)

Despite the genocide just over a dozen years ago, Rwanda is so small, so crowded, that there is a dire shortage of land upon which each family can raise their children. Back in the day, after independence, family plots were given of... more

Word out of Rwanda about the introduction of family planning measures that will, ideally, decrease population growth has been met with quite a mixed response from the general public and media outlets alike. It seems as though people have a need to over-compartmentalize, comparing situations that don’t have much in common simply because they address the same topic, in this case efforts by China to curb its population and those being considered by Rwanda.

Irony, folks…... more

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There are a few more ideas that I believe could go a long way to addressing some of the issues raised by the M Fray. The concern that children lose their heritage by being taken to other countries because of adoption can be true. I have seen children still living in their original country with their adoptive American parents have no connection to their culture,... more

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Back to analysis and next steps...

Grains of learning and improvement from the M Fray can be harvested not just by Malawian law and adoption officials, but also by the international adoption community. Malawi is not the only place where “legal-style adoption is a foreign concept,” with systems flush with a different set of dynamics than the Amero-European norm.... more

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If the M Fray is the harbinger of important laws and issues not only being discussed, but positive changes made in the mass of ambiguity and lack of attention to real-life, post-AIDS orphan issues in Malawi, then to me, the M Fray has been worth the drama. As a Malawian professor... more

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I have this thing… no, it’s not a disease (well, at least I think it’s not.) My thing is that I believe that anyone, EVERYONE, should be allowed to complain and rant and get up on soap boxes and poke holes in everything around them … BUT … I believe that somewhere in there, the privilege of the rant requires that some conclusions are drawn and what remains in the transitional ether is the... more

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I believe that many of the other contradictions come from the very genteel nature of most Malawians, a nature that can be summed up in two words: "no problem."

Even if there is a huge problem, most Malawians will say "there is no problem, but…" They will then proceed to tell about the problem that isn’t supposed to be a problem, periodically insisting, "but there is no problem" throughout the... more