These are awesome suggestions. In my life, I've had to look at adoption inside and out. I was adopted (and now have a fantastic relationship with both of my birth parents), and I adopted a son (who sadly passed away two years ago). Plus, I run an agency, Orphan World Relief, that helps Churches develop orphan-care/adoption programs as well as help orphans around the globe. Anything to promote the real issues involved with orphans and adoption is fantastic! Grace to all who read them and make a difference!

Girl Gone... The Mother-Child Dyad? I was under the impression that children were conceived from TWO parents? I see a tremendous amount of irony in being frustrated with people dismissing Mom while you totally dismiss Dad. Dad may not always be around. (Neither may Mom.) But he had a role in bringing the child into the world, and should be held to equal parental responsibilities, while bring granted equal parental rights. If you're going to claim that the only people who matter in a situation are the ones you happen to care about... anyone else can make the same claim, but may not care about the same people. Children don't spring full-blown from their mothers' foreheads. 50 percent of the child's very DNA is from Dad. Fathers need to be recognized as part of this equation too, in both their responsibilities for their child and in their right to be active and involved parents.

Gaye, Your angry personal attack against me just proves my point. Abortion figures in because those with a pro abortion agenda want to demoralize adoption. It used to be that adoption was a very positive viable solution for a woman who could not keep her child. But thanks to efforts like yours, women wonder if it just wouldn't be better to have the life of their child taken. Adopting a child from overseas can be life saving for that child and I think your label "child procurement for export" is demeaning to those who have given wonderful homes to some of these children. The very reason that some of these children end up in abusive situations is all the more reason for good loving parents to enter into adoption. If we stop doing this, we only enable the bad guys to win. Again, being with your birth family is not always in the best interest of a child. A happy loving home and a chance at life is...

Mara, Thank you for responding to me. I have an adopted brother who was at age 5 initially a foster child with my parents. His father was ill and soon thereafter died. His mother was an alcoholic abusive mother who lived with a convicted rapist. The social services system tried to put him back with his birth mother which caused my little brother incredible stress and worry to the point of being physically ill. They forced "visitation rights" upon him with his birth mother which caused untold psychological damage that still affects him today in his 30's. Eventually, after multiple social workers my parents were allowed to become his legal guardian. By age 15, he was legally adopted. Sometimes, Mara, being with your birth parent is not in your best interest. I thank God that my little brother was rescued and legally became my brother. My only regret is that it took the system so long to rescue him, that he had to endure moments with an abusive woman that scarred him.

Dear JB - In an article that promotes adoption for children living in orphanages, where do you see abortion? Especially if you believe these kids are TRUE orphans (not just "deemed" orphans) - where does abortion figure in? Nowhere. Everything that has been said against adoption here has been PRO-Family Preservation, not "pro-abortion", as you like to phrase it. Sometimes when people have that Pro-Life hammer in their hands - everything looks like it's "promoting abortion". Complaining about the "billion dollar abortion industry" while ignoring the agenda of the MULTI-billion dollar ADOPTION industry (child procurement for export) shows just how out of touch with reality you are.