Good morning to all

Reminder - Get your submissions in for the first issue of the Voice of Adoptees Newsletter. Deadline Feb 5th, first issue due out Feb 19th.

In the news
Have you heard of Dr. Jane Aaronson, the Orphan Doctor? Well for one she is a pediatrician and second she's from Brooklyn, NY where I am originally from too. She was interviewed by Babble magazine on her non-profit organization and specialization in pre/post adoption orphans.

Beginning her career as a pediatric AIDS specialist, she became interested in the health of children living in international orphanages.

When asked about age preference of children to be adopted, she noted the pros and cons of infant/toddler age versus the older child leaning heavily on the fact that the older child's personality can be seen whereas the infant is in the development stage.

Regarding attachment disorder effects observed in adoption she said, "Attachment disorder is likely more based on brain chemistry and brain damage." She explains further that "attachment likely has more to do with brain damage that occurs during the pregnancy, due to malnourishment, exposure to toxins in the environment, infections during the pregnancy, exposure to alcohol and drugs and smoking."

Aaronson, herself the mother of two adopted children (one from Ethiopia and one from Vietnam) is founder of Worldwide Orphans Foundation (http://wwo.org) and has a website at (http://OrphanDoctor.com).