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Over the course of the last few weeks, I have received several requests for an update on the Frank Lombard case. Lombard is the (now former) Duke administrator who was accused last summer of attempting to allow, and even arrange for, strangers he met on the internet to rape his adopted child. A few days ago, WRAL, a Raleigh-based news station, released an update on the case. That update is worth re-printing here, along with my commentary, both for what the update says and what it does not say: “A former Duke University employee has agreed to plead guilty to...

Since Angelina Jolie adopted her daughter Zahara in 2005, the number of Americans adopting Ethiopian children has quadrupled. A pop-media obsession with celebrities adopting children in Africa has resulted in a queue of adopting foreigners dealing with opportunistic adoption agents in operating in a regulatory vaccuum. In Ethiopia - and beyond - its creating a heartbreaking mess.

A Gandhi-following, peace-loving, free-spirited vegetarian who was adopted at birth has discovered the worst possible thing a son could find out about his father – his dad is Charles Manson. "It’s like finding out that Adolf Hitler is your father," said Matthew Roberts, a Los Angeles disc jockey. A curious Roberts, 41, began investigating his poisoned family tree about 12 years ago, when he contacted a social services agency, which located his mother, Terry, in Wisconsin, according to the London Sun. His reluctant natural mom fed him bits and pieces, like his first and middle name — Lawrence Alexander —...

SALT LAKE CITY -- A gay rights group says it is securing Republican support in the Utah state Legislature for anti-discrimination laws. The Deseret News reports members of the Utah Log Cabin Republicans, a gay and lesbian political group, say two bills granting gays extra rights in Utah will have GOP sponsors when they go before the Legislature in the 2010 session. The group is not saying who those sponsors are. One of the measures is similar to an ordinance approved in Salt Lake City that states gay workers can't be fired because of their sexuality. The Deseret News reports...

All-American Michael Oher went from the streets as a 15-year-old son of a crack addict to potential NFL Rookie of the Year on the love and dedication of an adoptive family that wouldn’t let him fail. The movie that tells their story hits theaters in time for National Adoption Day—and recognition that about 130,000 Michael Ohers are waiting for a family to adopt them Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy adopted as a family motto, "To whom much is given, much is required," they had no idea just how much would be required, nor that they were adopting far more than...

Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau The NRA wants to stop adoption agencies from asking prospective parents about whether they own guns, saying the question is a violation of gun-owners' rights. The National Rifle Association is pushing legislation to ban adoption agencies from asking potential parents if they have guns and ammunition in the home. NRA lobbyist Marion Hammer said adoption agencies are violating gun-owners' rights by asking about firearms in an adoption form. She said any request about gun ownership from an agency connected with government was tantamount to establishing a gun registry. ``Gun registration is illegal in Florida,'' Hammer said. ``An...

While organizing our filing system, I ran across my adoption papers. My mother gave them to me a couple of years ago for my own records. The cost of my adoption was a 300.00 donation to Catholic Charities in Chicago, I was six days old. I am blessed to be in the family, in which I was placed. My mother tells me there were lots of rules to comply with. The agency wanted to make sure I had a stable and secure home. In reality, no one can predict how a family will one day turn out. Ours certainly had...

Vicky* remembers the moment she first held her adopted baby in her arms. "He was destined for us. There was never a doubt in my mind that he wasn't mine," says Vicky, who, along with her partner, Beth*, is raising a 6-year-old boy they adopted from Guatemala. Parenthood didn't come easily for the couple. They struggled with infertility problems and then took a tremendous risk by adopting internationally, which is illegal for an openly gay couple. But once the tumultuous adoption process was finalized, this non-traditional family continued living a very ordinary, suburban life. "It's just like any other family...

KIEV, Ukraine – Elton John will not be able to adopt a 14-month-old Ukrainian child because the pop star is too old and isn't traditionally married, Ukraine's minister for family affairs said Monday. The pop signer toured a hospital for HIV-infected children in eastern Ukraine on Saturday as part of a charity project and said that he and his male partner David Furnish wanted to adopt an HIV-infected boy named Lev. But the country's Family, Youth and Sports Minister Yuriy Pavlenko told The Associated Press that adoptive parents must be married and Ukraine does not recognize homosexual unions as marriage.

During a visit to Ukraine, the singer said he and his partner David Furnish were keen to become parents to a 14-month-old they had met there. "David and I have always talked about adoption," he said. But as Mr Furnish held baby Lev on his knee, Sir Elton revealed he had changed his mind. "Having seen Lev today, I would love to adopt him. I don't know how we do that but he has stolen my heart. The singer said the death of his long-term keyboardist, Guy Babylon, had also helped change his mind about children. "It broke my heart...

It was one of those phone calls no parent wants to receive. In fact, it was the beginning of a nightmare for Jean Cohoon. Cohoon's daughter, MeLisa Cleary, 30, a mother of three, was missing. It's a story which, tragically, is repeated all too often in America today. A woman's car is found, her purse and cell phone are left behind, but she is nowhere to be found. During the first three days after MeLisa's disappearance, a frantic search for the young mother took place. Family, friends, neighbors, and good people who simply wanted to help began the search for...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 31, 2009 – Military working dogs have come a long way since the days of ancient Persia and Assyria, where they donned armor, spiked collars and warned of impending attack or charged on the enemy's cavalry. But they are as important as ever, and U.S. military leaders are making sure they are rewarded with a happy retirement. Air Force Staff Sgt. Christa Quam holds her puppy, which will enter the military working dog program in a year at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas. The dogs are enrolled in a 60- to 90-day training program, where they are trained...

Montevideo, Uruguay, Aug 17, 2009 / 04:44 pm (CNA).- Archbishop Nicolas Cotugno of Montevideo, the president of the Bishops’ Conference of Uruguay, issued a statement last week warning that a new law intended to allow homosexual couples to adopt children would have serious consequences for society, especially for the young. “The adoption of children by homosexual couples is not a question of religion, philosophy or sociology. It has to do with respect for human nature itself,” he said. “To accept the adoption of children by homosexual couples is to go against human nature itself, and consequently, it is to go...

SF City-Funded Adoption Agency Advertises with “Mister Marcus” AdoptionSF.org, a joint project of the City of San Francisco’s Human Services Agency and Family Builders by Adoption is advertising for adoptive parents on the “Mister Marcus” page of San Francisco’s Bay Area Reporter website. The Reporter’s front page motto is “Serving the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community since 1971.” “Mister Marcus” publishes a weekly column in the Reporter which covers and publicizes upcoming “leather” events. Examples include: “A weekend of bdsm activity and featuring NW Master and slave contest on Sat. night” (July 2, 2009) and “Hell Hole Fisting Party...

ABINGTON, Mass. - An Abington mother says she found a picture of her baby boy online in an advertisement saying the child was available for adoption. The ad was posted on Craigslist saying: “A CUTE BABY BOY FOR ADOPTION HE IS VERY HEALTHY AND READY FOR ADOPTION FOR MORE YOU COME BACK TO US.” ( SEE THE AD ) Jenni Brennan was told by a stranger that a picture of Brennan’s 7-month-old Jake was used as the “boy for adoption” in the online scam. So Brennan tried responding to the ad herself, and sure enough, an e-mail was sent to...

Consider this thought: If we can get the folks in Hawaii to say that they determine ‘a person’ is a Natural Born Citizen in part by looking at BOTH parents citizenship, we know Obama lied about who his real father is. Or was mistaken. Interesting and not impossible to have them answer that question as long as it is phrased like this: “How does the department determine a person is a Natural-Born American Citizen? What criteria does the Director use to determine that status?” You cannot refer to Obama, at all, when you ask the question. That would violate statute...

This is in follow-up to my post on Tuesday: "The Day I asked a question and got the MOTHER of all answers" The implications of the following account is that the President's REAL NAME did not appear on any ballot, in any state. That's just one of MANY implications. Let me preface by saying an AMENDED birth record could indicate that the President was adopted by either Lolo Soetoro and/or His grandparents, the Dunhams. My story: I have serious reasons to believe that Janice Okubo and/or Director Fukino, Department of Health in Hawaii are under duress. Something is preventing Director...

...Snip Meanwhile, according to Florida Capital News and the TallahasseeDemocrat, at least some civil rights activists believe the number of children adopted in Florida could reach even higher if Florida’s Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1977 is lifted. Homosexuals may currently serve as foster parents, but not adopt children. Last November, a Dade Circuit judge ruled in favor of a homosexual foster parent who petitioned to adopt two foster children he and his partner have cared for since 2004. The 3rd District Court of Appeal will hear the state’s challenge Aug. 25. The Tallahassee Democrat reported Crist “hinted today”...

A COMMUNITY paediatrician, with 18 years experience working with parents and children in Northamptonshire, is to be removed as a medical advisor to Northamptonshire County Council after asking to be able to abstain from voting on the 'rare' occasions when she would be asked to recommend children for adoption by same-sex couples. Dr Sheila Matthews, who has been a medical advisor to the Adoption Panel for five years, believes her work is appreciated by social workers and all those involved with adoption in the county. She says: "I try to make fair and unbiased assessments and recommendations about the...

Correction quickly came to an official with a British diocesan-funded marriage organization who claimed that married couples are no better than other family forms at raising children. His critics say the research is clear that a marriage of a man and a woman is the “gold standard” in childrearing. Terry Prendergast, chief executive of Marriage Care, recently told the homosexual Catholic group Quest that children do best “in a family where the adult relationship is steady, stable and loving.” “Note that I stress adult, not married, since there is no evidence that suggests that children do best with heterosexual couples,”...

The Roman Catholic Church has reacted angrily to comments endorsing gay parenthood from a charity with strong links to the Church. Terry Prendergast of Marriage Care, which is partly funded by the Church, said there was no evidence children were harmed by having same-sex parents.

Durham, N.C. — Duke University has fired an employee who faces federal child sex charges. Frank M. Lombard, 42, of 24 Indigo Creek Trail in Durham, was let go from his position as associate director of the Center for Health Policy at Duke, a spokesman said. Duke Vice President for Public Affairs Michael Schoenfeld said Lombard was placed on unpaid leave at the time of his arrest June 24 and was fired Monday. Schoenfeld added that the university was cooperating with the investigation. Lombard faces extradition to Washington, D.C., to face charges that he solicited an adult to have...

PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) - Byrd and Melanie Billings had a growing brood of adopted children with autism, Down syndrome and other disabilities, and took care to make their nine-bedroom house a safe place for them, wiring it with surveillance cameras in every room. It was those cameras that captured images of the masked men who shot the wealthy couple to death in a break-in executed with chilling precision.

London, England, Jun 11, 2009 / 06:40 am (CNA).- A Catholic mother in Britain who is unable to care for her son has objected to him being placed in the foster care of a homosexual couple. She has expressed concern the couple could encourage him into a way of life she does not agree with, amid reports the boy is already asking about homosexuality. The ten-year-old child was scheduled to arrive Monday at his permanent new foster home, a hotel in Brighton run by two homosexual men, the Daily Mail reports. Social workers at Brighton and Hove Council, who have...

<p>Where are the defenders of "the cause" when you need them? When an actual social tragedy occurs, where are the self-titled leaders of the black movement? I'll answer my own question: They're busy fighting for an interview or a microphone during all of the Michael Jackson festivities.</p>

PENSACOLA, Fla. – Investigators asked the public to be on the lookout Friday for a red van they believe carried three men involved in the deaths of a Florida Panhandle couple who were shot in their rural home while eight of their children slept. Surveillance cameras showed the van at the home of Byrd and Melanie Billings in Beulah, a rural area west of Pensacola near the Alabama border, Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan said. The children were unharmed. The sheriff's office released an enhanced but still grainy photograph of a red, 15-passenger van dating to the late 70s or...

Chinese baby girls sold for adoption Published: July 2, 2009 at 11:55 PM As many as 80 newborn baby girls from China's southwest Guizhou Province were sold for adoption by foreign parents since 2001, a newspaper probe found. China Daily, quoting the Southern Metropolis News, said the babies were removed from their families by local officials in the province's Zhenyuan county. Most of them were handed over to foreign adoptive parents as orphans at a price of $3,000 each. The report said one poor farming couple, who are among the affected 80 families, had to hand over their fifth baby,...

(CNN) -- Wendy Duren thought she did everything right. Wendy Duren says she doesn't get as much sleep but loves her adopted daughter, Madison. Wendy Duren says she doesn't get as much sleep but loves her adopted daughter, Madison. She broke off relationships with men who didn't want to settle down. She refused to get pregnant out of wedlock. She prayed for a child. Duren's yearning for motherhood was so palpable that her former fiancé once offered to father a child with her. But he warned her that he wasn't ready for marriage. "I get bored in relationships after a...

July ushers in new Ga. laws By GREG BLUESTEIN ATLANTA The beginning of July ushers in a slew of new laws in Georgia, including a measure that seeks to celebrate the Confederacy while also honoring a civil rights leader, new rules praised by abortion opponents and a pair of laws long sought by prosecutors. Those measures and dozens of others are set to take effect on Wednesday, the first day of July. And while some of the new laws aren't among the most high-profile legislation, many are the result of hard-fought legislative battles that could have profound impact. Prosecutors groups,...

LONDON, JUNE 26, 2009 (Zenit.org).- New gay rights legislation in Great Britain has forced one of the oldest adoption agencies in the nation to cease providing key services. The Catholic Children's Society of the Archdiocese of Westminster announced last week it will cease placing children with adoptive and foster parents due to the enactment of the Sexual Orientation Regulations -- part of the 2006 Equality Act -- that stipulates that same-sex couples should be given equal consideration as prospective parents. The agency, founded in 1859, said complying with the new regulations would go against Church teaching on marriage and the...

Associate director of Duke University's Center for Health Policy, Frank Lombard, was recently arrested by the FBI and charged with offering up his adopted 5-year-old African American son for sex to an undercover cop. Lombard admitted to molesting his own adopted son to the undercover officer in an online chat room under the user name "Perv Dad for Fun". He invited the under cover officer to travel to North Carolina to rape his already-molested adopted son. Lombard faces 20 years in prison if convicted but is not eligible for the death penalty.Lombard bragged to the detective that “the abuse of...

A Roman Catholic adoption agency says it can’t go on finding homes for children because of new ‘gay rights’ laws forcing it to act against its religious ethos. The London-based Catholic Children’s Society, which was founded in 1859, said the Sexual Orientation Regulations (SORs) were to blame for the move. “We do this with deep regret but have been forced into this position,” a spokesman said. “The trustees are convinced that what is best for children is that they be brought up by married couples. This is shown by research but it is also consonant with the teaching of the...

Reunions of adopted children and their birth parents are usually heartwarming moments in which tears flow and broken bonds are made whole in mere seconds. At least that's how it usually plays out on "Oprah." But that wasn't the case last Dec. 13, when an Atlantic City woman came face to face with the daughter she placed for adoption 30 years ago after being raped. This short reunion on the woman's doorstep left her feeling "violated, in shock, and short of breath," according to a lawsuit filed Thursday in U.S. District Court, in Camden, and she believes that a division...

Just want your thoughts on my prolife video... Pleae pass it around! If it can save ONE baby's life then it is worth it. Judi

Highest Court In Malawi Says She Can Adopt 2nd Child From The Southern African Nation; "Father" Says He's "Crying" (CBS/AP) Madonna can adopt a second child from Malawi, the southern African country's highest court ruled Friday, overturning a lower court decision it said was out of touch with the times. Chief Justice Lovemore Munlo, reading the three-judge panel's ruling, also said the singer's commitment to helping disadvantaged children should have been taken into account when deciding on Madonna's request to adopt 3-year-old Chifundo "Mercy" James. Madonna has founded a charity, Raising Malawi, which helps feed, educate and provide medical care...

BLANTYRE, Malawi (AP) — Madonna can get "Mercy," Malawi's highest court ruled Friday. The court overruled a lower court, saying the pop star can adopt 3-year-old Chifundo "Mercy" James. "I am ecstatic," Madonna said in a statement in which she also thanked the court. "My family and I look forward to sharing our lives with her." Madonna's lawyer Alan Chinula said he would now arrange a passport for Chifundo, which could take several days, and was awaiting word from Madonna on travel plans for the girl. James Kambewa, a man who claims to be the little girl's father, told CBS...

London, England, Jun 11, 2009 / 06:40 am (CNA).- A Catholic mother in Britain who is unable to care for her son has objected to him being placed in the foster care of a homosexual couple. She has expressed concern the couple could encourage him into a way of life she does not agree with, amid reports the boy is already asking about homosexuality. The ten-year-old child was scheduled to arrive Monday at his permanent new foster home, a hotel in Brighton run by two homosexual men, the Daily Mail reports. Social workers at Brighton and Hove Council, who...

Lawyers for a Catholic advocacy group that sued San Francisco for condemning the Vatican's policy on same-sex adoptions are comparing the city's supervisors to Nazis laying the groundwork for the slaughter of Jews. "It is not a stretch to compare the San Francisco board's actions to that of the Nazi Germany policy of Gleichschaltung, vilifying Jews as an auxiliary to and laying the groundwork for more repressive policies, including the final solution of extermination."

According to a story published Thursday on SF Gate (the San Francisco Chronicle’s online version) the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the decision by a federal judge to throw out a suit against the San Francisco county board of supervisors. The suit was brought by the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights after the board in 2006 condemned the Vatican's "hateful and discriminatory rhetoric" and urged local church officials to defy the order by Cardinal William Levada. The Catholic League sued, contending the city was expressing hostility toward Catholicism in violation of the Constitution. The Ninth Circuit...

Catholic charities who discriminate against homosexual couples who want to adopt children are breaking the law, the Charity Tribunal has ruled. The tribunal ruled that a "heterosexuals only" policy in the adoption field of the Catholic Church in England and Wales would fall foul of the ban on discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation brought in two years ago. The Tribunal's ruling leaves leading charity Catholic Care (Diocese of Leeds) facing a deep religious impasse and creates a fundamental conflict between the tenets of the Catholic Church and the law of the land. If the charity now sticks to Church...

Note: The following text is a quote: THE BRIEFING ROOM THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary ___________________________________________________________ For Immediate Release June 1, 2009 LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENDER PRIDE MONTH, 2009 - - - - - - - BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA A PROCLAMATION Forty years ago, patrons and supporters of the Stonewall Inn in New York City resisted police harassment that had become all too common for members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. Out of this resistance, the LGBT rights movement in America was born. During LGBT Pride...

This article will clarify a certain dimension of the debate over embryo adoption and lead to the conclusion that a woman who chooses to have an orphaned embryo implanted in her womb (heterologous embryo transfer, which we'll call HET), cannot be morally approved.I have been a leader in the pro-life movement for over 30 years, and no one would more like to see all of the abandoned frozen embryos rescued. The nature of their in vitro conception, subsequent freezing and reduction to so-called "leftovers" constitutes a grave injustice.Many people, motivated by real charity, look to embryo adoption as a way...

WINFIELD, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- There are thousands of children in foster care waiting, hoping for a loving, forever family. While many of those children are perfectly normal, there are quite a few with physical and mental handicaps that often fall at the bottom of the list. But one local family wants to adopt, and they only want a child with special needs. Their reasoning dates back nearly 20 years. “Kids like that are special," said Carie Jarvis, who wants to adopt. "They're not wanted. No one wants those kinds of kids. And that's just what I'm drawn to.” Carie wants...

CAIRO (AP) — An American woman who is being tried with her husband on charges of forgery and child trafficking after they adopted twin orphans said Saturday the trial was part of Egypt's "persecution" against Christians. Iris Botros, a dual Egyptian citizen, spoke from behind the bars of a metal cage in a Cairo courtroom that also held her American husband, Louis Andros, and another couple that is being tried for adopting a newborn in Egypt. The trial is the first of its kind in the Muslim country, where religious tradition and murky laws make adoption nearly impossible. In the...

Pro-Life Ad on Adoption, Abortion to Air on American Idol Finale Washington, DC -- The same pro-life organization that produced a well-received advertisement on President Barack Obama and abortion has another commercial it will air on the series finale of the popular television program American Idol. CatholicVote.org, sponsored by the pro-life Catholic group Fidelis, is behind the ad, which is part of its “Imagine the Potential” series of television commercials. The latest ad focuses on the lives of political and business leaders, sports figures, and others who all could have become victims of abortion, but, instead, were welcomed into loving...

37 years ago Wednesday was the date of my birth. But the best day of my life occurred 37 years ago today. That was the day that my parents adopted me. According to the Dave Thomas Foundation, 60% of Americans have been personally touched by adoption. There is a general understanding that adoption is a loving option because so many have had their intuition about adoption confirmed firsthand--and millions of children and families are the better for it. There are, however, a few places that have remained impenetrable to common sense when it comes to supporting adoption. And, yes, as...

The Washington Times (WT) wrote a fascinating two-part story on the status of adoption in the United States. Today we take a look at part 1. The series begins by looking at the falling number of infant adoptions. In fact, according to the WT, only one percent of all pregnancies out of marriage lead to an adoption. Meanwhile, a new report shows that there are 10 million American couples looking to adopt. Why the discrepancy? One reason is abortion. Since 1973, the percentage of unwed pregnant women who seek abortion has skyrocketed to 35 percent. We live in a culture...

A majority of Roman Catholic adoption agencies have cut their ties with the Church rather than defy gay equality laws. Five agencies have declared themselves independent - and some have changed their names - to comply with laws that say they must allow homosexual couples to adopt children.The retreat ends decades in which the adoption charities have worked in the name of the Catholic Church with support from dioceses, clergy and congregations.The decision to end the formal connection with the Church follows a deadline set by the Government for charities to comply with the 2007 Sexual Orientation Regulations. These...

ATLANTA -- By a vote of 108 to 61, the Georgia House sent the nation's first ever embryo adoption bill, HB 388, to the desk of Governor Sonny Perdue for him to sign into law. "We are pleased that we are making headway in our goal of establishing personhood for the pre-born" says Daniel Becker, President of Georgia Right to Life. "Gone are the terms designating the human child at an embryonic stage as property ... devoid of rights." says Becker. The language of the bill stops short of declaring full personhood for the child but does introduce new terms...

Controversy Stirs As Madonna Applies For Adoption Of Second Malawian Child: A court official in the African nation of Malawi says Madonna has applied to adopt another orphan...If she wins … controversy. If she loses ... embarrassment. And either way, the welfare of a child in the balance.