20/20 ran a program tonight entitled, From Russia With Love -- Dealing With Difficult Adoptions, which focused on adoptees, especially Russian adoptees, who are struggling with adjusting to their new families.

Tanya and Mike Mulligan opened up to 20/20 and allowed their children's and their family's struggles to be filmed. The couple have adopted 3 children from Russia and 2 of the 3 suffer from multiple diagnosis's. They have a lawsuit pending against the adoption agnecy for not disclosing their children's needs before making the adoption final.

I watched 20/20's latest installment with much interest since the topic was adoption. You just never know how adoption will be portrayed and while I don't want to pass judgment on this struggling family, I thought there were opportunities for learning that may benefit other adoptive parents, things we can all learn from the Mulligan family.

Did you watch 20/20? If so, what did you think?

A special thank you to Christopher Hilt, adoptive father of 2 Russian adoptees, for the heads up on this 20/20. His ex-wife Peggy Hilt was interviewed on this 20/20 episode and Christopher Hilt provided a few snapshots of Nina for the show.

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Suggested Reading:

• Preparing to Parent the Adopted Child
• What Is a Safety Plan?
• How to Create a Safety Plan
• Russian Adoption Murders

Holidays and big family gatherings are tough situations for introducing your foster or newly adopted children to the extended family. Your extended family may feel uneasy about your choice to be a foster/adoptive parent in the first place. Meeting the child may help this situation or confirm their fears. Here are 7 Ways to Prepare Yourself, Your Family, and Your Foster Child for Thanksgiving.

And remember - if you're going to visit someone who doesn't have children or you know your kids are going to be bored - pack up a few craft supplies and have the kids make these cute hand print turkeys. These could be cute gifts for birth family in an adoptive or foster situation. Most parents love gifts that mark their child's stages of growth.

Select a project below and find simple to follow instructions.

- How To Make a Simple Hand Print Turkey

- How To Make a Double Handprint Turkey

- How To Create a Turkey With Handprint Feathers

OK, I was watching ER Thursday (I will miss ER - last season you know) and it seems that sometimes the writers like to slip in current events. An angry woman was complaining that if her kids acted a certain way she'd drop them off in Omaha! Well, no more. Nebraska legislatures revised a new safe haven law limiting the age of infants that can be abandoned without prosecution to the parents to 30 days. The original law allowed children up to the age of 18. The new law took effect today.

The unusual wording of the original safe haven law in Nebraska did bring an awareness to a problem that before only the parents and families suffering knew about, the need for mental health services and other supports for troubled teens/pre-teens. The last child to be brought in by a parent arrived Friday before the new law took effect. The 14-year-old boy arrived from Yolo County, Calif., with his mother.

The total now sits at 36 children that have been left at Nebraska hospitals since the original law took effect in July 2008. Many of them were pre-teens or teens.

What do you think needs to change? There are definite holes in services. Click "comments" below and share your thoughts.

SOURCES:
Nebraska Revises Child Safe Haven Law - The New York Times
California Boy Is Last Teen Dropped Off After Safe-Haven Law Gets Age Limit - Foxnews.com

Nia Vardalos, of My Big Fat Greek Wedding fame, has adopted a little girl.

This is the first child for the couple. They have yet to release much about the child or the adoption - which, isn't that nice? Keeping family things private for a change? It has been reported that the child is less than 5-years-old and was adopted several months ago.

According to reports, they went public now to bring further attention to National Adoption Month and to the 129,000 children who are legally free for adoption in the U.S. foster care system.

SOURCE:
Nia Vardalos Adopts a Little Girl - People.com