Adoption

The Oldies But Goodies Cocker Spaniel Rescue will host an adoption show from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Dec. 5 at PetSmart, 9041 Snowden River Parkway. All dogs have been vaccinated and spayed or neutered. Call 703-533-2373 or go to cockerspanielrescue.com for more information.

Baltimore County Council members are poised to adopt a lean spending plan that would achieve savings largely through early retirements and reorganizations in a number of government departments. The council made only one cut Thursday to the $1.65 billion operating budget County Executive Kevin Kamenetz recommended in April. Members trimmed the Department of Public Works' fuel budget for dump trucks and other equipment by about $208,000 because the county auditor found that the administration had overestimated the cost of fuel.

The mother and daughter relax on a cushy sofa, laughing quietly as they speak of their unusual yet utterly normal life together. "Sometimes I get a little frustrated [with you], don't I, Talynn?" the mom asks. "Yes, but we always work it out," the 9-year-old replies, leaping onto Traci Lucien and applying a huge hug. "Nobody's taking my Mommy. She's tooken. We're together forever!" Talynn exclaims. It's an especially tender moment, considering the two met just two years ago. That was when Lucien, a single professional who was then 49, adopted Talynn (pronounced Tay-LINN )

In his column, "Pit bulls: Own them at your own risk," Dan Rodricks quotes a recent Maryland Court of Appeals decision that says the Albuquerque Humane Society has stopped accepting and adopting out pit bulls "because of their potential for attacks on other animals and people. " That is doubly incorrect. First, the "Albuquerque Humane Society" does not exist. Second, Animal Humane - New Mexico, a 47-year old private animal shelter based in Albuquerque, N.M. (often mistkenly called the Albuquerque Humane Society)

With Harford County Council Bill 11-51 having been enacted into law, Harford County has completed the legislative process of updating its building and mechanical codes to the applicable 2012 International Codes, commonly called I-Codes, prior to the state-mandated enforcement date of July 1. The 2009 I-Codes will remain in effect until the July 1, 2012 with one exception. The requirement for installation of an automatic residential fire sprinkler system in new one and two family dwellings has been delayed until the July 1, 2012 date.

A Timonium man has asked the New Jersey attorney general's office to investigate the 1976 adoption in which his infant son was switched with another child. The infant's whereabouts are still unknown, as are the substituted baby's origins. In a 14-page letter, Ron Ryba asked Attorney General Paula T. Dow to seek the facts surrounding the adoption and to order the adoption agency, Catholic Charities of Trenton, to turn over all records relating to the case. Ryba, 51, has been trying since 2008 to learn the whereabouts of the boy he and Kathy Butler, of Medford Lakes, N.J., turned over to Catholic Charities for adoption.

To save one life is to save the whole world. -- TalmudLike most people, I'm usually happy to encounter a pregnant woman, to be reminded of an expectant mother's luminous beauty and the miraculous way human life begins. But during the past year, whenever I've seen a woman who I know is expecting her second, third or fourth child, I wonder if she and her partner have asked themselves this question:''What if we added to our family by adopting a child?''I admit that after our first child was born, and while my wife and I were debating whether to have a second, we never considered adopting any of the countless love-starved kids here and abroad in foster homes and orphanages.

AMERICANS USUALLY look to adoption to solve issues of childlessness. Historically, adoption was accomplished by "matching" parentless children with childless families. The hypothesis of matching was not only an act of racial equalization (a given until the late 1960s, early 1970s) but a process so copious that hair and eye color, skin tone, body type and, where possible, personality were matched, child to adoptive couple. Similarity of physical, emotional and cultural characteristics was naively seen as insurance against adoption failure.

The Supreme Court's ruling supporting Oregon's law allowing adult adoptees access to their birth records may have serious consequences for the future of adoption of American-born children. For decades, the prevailing practice in adoption has been to assure women who wanted to relinquish their newborn infants that, if they did so, their anonymity would be preserved. This promise of anonymity was also given to pregnant women contemplating adoption of their as-yet unborn. Their records would be sealed.

WASHINGTON -- Federal workers who have fertility problem or who wish to adopt children would get financial help under bills introduced by Rep. Patricia Schroeder, D-Colo.Ms. Schroeder sees the measures as a way of evening the score between federal workers who are able to bear children -- their obstetric care is covered by the Federal Employees' Health Benefits Plan -- and those who must seek other means to have a family."The average cost of adoption can quickly surpass $9,000," Ms. Schroeder said when she introduced the bills recently.

We bet you won't be able to tear your eyes away from this live camera feed. The Baltimore Humane Society's Phat Cat Fitness Camp provides constant entertainment of fat cats attempting to exercise (or mostly sleeping). Keep in mind, all of these adorable fat cats are available for adoption from the Baltimore Humane Society. Get more information on the Humane Society's website.  

The mother and daughter relax on a cushy sofa, laughing quietly as they speak of their unusual yet utterly normal life together. "Sometimes I get a little frustrated [with you], don't I, Talynn?" the mom asks. "Yes, but we always work it out," the 9-year-old replies, leaping onto Traci Lucien and applying a huge hug. "Nobody's taking my Mommy. She's tooken. We're together forever!" Talynn exclaims. It's an especially tender moment, considering the two met just two years ago. That was when Lucien, a single professional who was then 49, adopted Talynn (pronounced Tay-LINN )

The Maryland General Assembly's regular 90-day session ended in disarray Monday at midnight as legislators failed to approve an income tax measure to which their leaders had agreed. The lack of action meant that a so-called "doomsday" budget — balanced entirely through hundreds of millions of dollars of cuts — is in place for the fiscal year that begins July 1. House and Senate leaders said they would ask the governor to call a special session this week to allow them to take up a plan to increase income taxes to avoid the most severe cuts.

The General Assembly gave final approval today to Gov.Martin O'Malley's two Chesapeake Bay priority bills - one doubling the so-called "flush fee" to help pay for bay restoration efforts, and the other limiting development using septic systems. By a vote of 89-48, the Senate concurred this morning on relatively minor House amendments to the Bay Restoration Fund bill, HB446 , which would increase from $2.50 to $5 monthly the charge levied on most Maryland households and businesses to pay for upgrading the state's largest wastewater treatement plants.

A proposed state ban on arsenic in chicken feed won final Senate approval today, with supporters saying the amended measure protects both farmers and consumers while Eastern Shore lawmakers warn it could drive off the state's poultry industry. The Senate voted 32 to 14 in favor of banning the sale or use of the poultry-feed additive roxarsone or any other drug containing arsenic, but only after carving out an exemption for another arsenic-laced medicine used to treat sick turkeys.

New rules on school gifted and talented programs approved today by the state board of education have drawn fire from a coalition of groups that say such programs harm poor and minority students. The critics, which include Casa de Maryland and the Montgomery County NAACP, argue that the very act of labeling some students and not others as gifted creates winners and losers, and that the principal victims of such inequality are African-Americans, Hispanics and students from low-income families.

The push for adding elected members to Baltimore County's school board gained steam in the last few years for a good reason. Parents complained, with some justification, that Superintendent Joe A. Hairston was insufficiently responsive to their concerns. And when they sought redress for their grievances - whether it was over the issue of air conditioning at Ridgely Middle School, the canceling of PTA craft fairs or his order that the district use a time-consuming, proprietary grading system developed by his top deputy - they got little support from the all-appointed school board.

The Frederick County Board of Commissioners voted Tuesday night to adopt an ordinance making English the county's official language, the Frederick News-Post has reported. According to the newspaper, the board voted 4-1 to approve the law, which replaces a previous nonbinding resolution. The measure appears more symbolic than substantive, and does not override federal or state laws requiring the use of other languages in certain circumstances. Nor does it prevent county officials from using other languages in emergencies or to communicate with criminal suspects.