Adoption

ABOUT one in 50 Americans is adopted, between 6 and 7 million people. We constitute a significant, if largely invisible, minority, and a lot of us are angry at what we see as a deprivation of a fundamental civil liberty: the right to see our original birth certificates.A little background:Adoption is a contract between a birth parent relinquishing her child, a set of prospective parent, and some intermediary, generally an adoption agency. While "the best interests of the child" are supposed to govern the transaction, the child, (or, more precisely, the adult the child will become)

It's a familiar story: Jesse Green was in his late 30s, single, independent and career-oriented, when he met someone who changed all that. His new love had a child, and his life was forever transformed.This Cinderella story had just one twist: Green is gay.He also happens to be a skilled writer whose articles have appeared in the New York Times Magazine, the New Yorker, GQ and others. "The Velveteen Father: An Unexpected Journey to Parenthood" [$23.95, Villard] is Green's intimate and often witty account of his transformation from Greenwich Village single to Brooklyn family man.The experience turned out to be more universal than unique: From diapers to sleepless nights, dealing with family and self-doubt, Green's family life reads closer to Ozzie and Harriet than naysayers (both straight and gay)

As the sounds of popular gospel singer Kirk Franklin waft down from an upstairs dance floor, 9-year-old Donnell takes a break from a game of pool to talk about his dreams for an uncertain future."

As the sounds of popular gospel singer Kirk Franklin waft down from an upstairs dance floor, 9-year-old Donnell takes a break from a game of pool to talk about his dreams for an uncertain future."

Nineteen surviving greyhounds from a Florida racetrack and two men who said they tried to save them parted ways from Howard County late Tuesday.An attorney posted bail for Robert C. Reeves, 30, and Franz J. Scheider, 45 -- both of Bonita Springs, Fla., and charged with animal cruelty -- who then headed home. The director of the National Greyhound Adoption Program, David G. Wolf, took the dogs to Philadelphia, where they arrived safely and will be adopted.Reeves and Scheider left the Howard County Detention Center a day after they stopped at a Laurel-area rest stop with 21 greyhounds in an aluminum trailer.

The Court of Special Appeals upheld yesterday a Montgomery County judge's decision to return a toddler to his mother, even though she killed her baby daughter in 1992. The court also denied the adoption request of the woman who is still taking care of the boy.The ruling in the emotionally charged case -- if not appealed to the state's highest court -- clears the way for Latrena Pixley to have her 2-year-old son, Cornilous, returned to her at the end of summer.The case has created a storm of controversy over when -- and if -- a parent who is convicted of killing an infant can be considered rehabilitated and trustworthy with another child, and whether state laws favor biological parents too heavily.

GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala -- When she was six months pregnant, Gabriela de Leon's husband told her he couldn't afford -- and didn't want -- another child.After he beat her and threatened to kill her and her other two children, de Leon agreed to give the newborn to a lawyer specializing in international adoptions.Her husband received the equivalent of $650 for what was considered by the Guatemalan government a private, legal transaction. Within weeks, de Leon, a 23-year-old school teacher, had left her husband.

WASHINGTON -- Devastated by the death of her infant, Julie Hiatt Steele journeyed to Romania in the waning days of the Soviet empire to take solace in a baby boy she would adopt and name Adam.Eight years later, the Richmond, Va., woman's journey of grief and hope has become the subject of swirling capital intrigue, Exhibit A in the Democrats' case against independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr and a prime example of what Starr's supporters see as a concerted effort by President Clinton's backers to twist the facts in their favor.

Changes in policies have resulted in more adoptionsAs chairman of the Governor's Commission on Adoption, I thank Sara Engram for shining the spotlight on Maryland's adoption success story ("Fostering efficient adoption policies," March 29). Gov. Parris N. Glendening appointed the commission to review adoptions in Maryland and make recommendations for improvements.The governor's focus on adoption helped the Department of Human Resources (DHR) to get an additional 35 adoption workers to help prepare children for adoption, approve families and offer post-adoption support.

NEW YORK -- An Arizona couple found guilty of slapping and verbally abusing their newly adopted Russian children on a plane trip home from Moscow last May were granted full custody of the children yesterday.The two girls, now 5 years old, have bounced around for the past nine months in five different foster homes in the United States while charges were pending against the parents, Richard and Karen Thorne.Yesterday's ruling means that the girls will have the permanent home they were promised when the Thornes removed them from their orphanage in the rural village of Voronezh, about 290 miles southeast of Moscow.

For Cockeysville businessman Ron Ryba, the long walk from the parking lot to the stadium in Philadelphia was a 29-year trail of memories. He had come to meet the son he and his high school sweetheart had never dared to look at when they gave him up for adoption nearly three decades earlier. Now the baby was a grown man. What would he say to him? What would he look like? For Phil Bloete, too, the 2004 meeting at a Phillies game was the culmination of a lifelong dream. He was 28, a high school English teacher in New Jersey.

Hard on the heels of the sensational story of Nadya Suleman - the California woman who has added octuplets to her family of six children - comes the news that a 60-year-old woman recently gave birth to twins in Canada. So we are reminded yet again that doctors are getting better and better at delivering what, in years past, would have been reasonably described as miracles. And important questions are being asked as a result, such as: Is it responsible for a woman to bear children regardless of her age or the number of babies involved?

Many feel left out by holiday feasting I was saddened to read Kevin Cowherd's column "This Christmas, don't give us food issues" (Dec. 21). Judging by the ever-increasing epidemic of obesity in our society, it appears that many people still celebrate the holidays, and every other day, "with full-throttle eating and drinking." But holiday dinners and parties can leave the unfortunate few who suffer from chronic illnesses that prevent them from enjoying the season's gastronomic bounty feeling deprived, embarrassed and depressed.

Loretta and Tom Faulkner had been trying to have a child for seven years when the Department of Social Services called in 2006 and said they had a foster child to place with them. Her name was Hope, which Loretta took as a sign. "I was always hoping she would be mine," she said. It has been a long journey: Hope, who weighed less than 5 pounds when the Faulkners took her in as a 4-day-old, was returned to her birth mother after two months. But in the beginning of the year, when the biological mother went through a rough patch, she asked the Faulkners if they could take the toddler back.

COLLEGE PARK - For the fifth time in six seasons, Maryland's field hockey team has reached the final four. There are many reasons for the Terps' consistency, but none as steady and laudable as coach Missy Meharg. And now, Meharg is ready to share a bit of the secret to her success. "I wanted to keep the boys and our family out of what it is I do for a living," Meharg says. "The reality is, they've been such a huge part of it that I think it's a good time. They've had such a huge role on our successes."

Maritime museum celebrates renovation The Annapolis Maritime Museum will celebrate the renovation of the historic McNasby Oyster Co. building with a grand reopening ceremony from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Dec. 1 at 723 Second St., Annapolis. The $1.2 million project was funded by the state, the Maryland Heritage Areas Authority and the City of Annapolis, along with corporate and private donations, plus fundraisers. The 7,000-square-foot building features an assembly hall, caterer's kitchen and a large exhibition gallery.

The Howard County Cat Club will hold a cat adoption show from noon to 3 p.m. today at Historic Savage Mill. Adult cats will be available for adoption inside the mill's main entrance. The club is a nonprofit no-kill, cat-rescue organization. Kittens are not available for adoption. Prospective adopters must complete an application, sign an adoption contract and pay an adoption fee of $100 for one cat and $150 for two. All of the cats are neutered or spayed and have current vaccinations.

Cory L. Richards' excellent column "Abortion vs. adoption: deflating mythical link" (Opinion * Commentary, Nov. 4) rightly points out the hypocrisy of politicians such as Rudolph W. Giuliani on the abortion vs. adoption issue. However, in reality, the hypocrisy of the pro-life movement on adoption is even worse than Mr. Giuliani's self-serving platitudes. While the pro-life movement has demanded strict regulation of abortion for many years, many of its organizations have not only failed to support but have often actively obstructed meaningful regulation of adoption in recent decades.

Striving to find the "middle ground" on abortion - that is, coming up with ways acceptable to pro-choice and pro-life Americans alike to reduce the number of abortions in the United States - is a worthwhile undertaking. But it also has given rise to some fairly resilient myths about the best way to achieve this goal. Republican presidential candidate Rudolph W. Giuliani prominently featured one such myth in a recent speech to a group of social conservatives. The former New York City mayor stated that "we (the city)

About two decades ago, Kathleen Schwartz says, she felt sorry for a 20-year-old horse named Toby who was so weak and sick from years of neglect that he was not expected to survive much longer. At a time when Howard County animal control was not equipped to handle abused or neglected horses, Schwartz nursed Toby back to health and cared for him for about eight years until he died. Soon after encountering Toby, she began caring for other ill horses as a family project. Kathleen and her then-husband Allan Schwartz established Days End Farm Horse Rescue in 1989, and the nonprofit animal welfare organization has rapidly expanded to become one of the primary horse rescue facilities in the state.