Hello Moe,
This response if for you and for anyone else who might be looing for some general information about adoption from Latvia.
First of all, our girls are doing wonderfully. We are blessed with two beautiful, smart, talented, enegetic, outgoing daughters. We are committed to maintaining their Latvian language and heritage by taking them to Latvian School every Saturday, Latvian camp in the summer, and maintaining involvement in Latvian social circles in our community (I am of Latvian heritage). For older children especially, who can remember their past, I think this is very important. They need this connection with their past in order to develop a healthy sense of self and an understanding of where they came from and who they are. Although our girls are well-adjusted and happy here in the USA with us, they also miss Latvia and look forward to returning for visits.
Both grils are doing great in their American school, and speak English nearly perfectly after only a little over one year.
I'm not sure what kind of information you are looking for about adoption from Latvia. I know some of the regulations have changed a little in the past year, but have not kept on top of it since our adoption was final in 2004. The ministry there has a web site with all the latest Latvian adoption information, laws and regulations. The link is
http://www.**.gov.lv/eng/ The specific page with the adoption law is at
http://www.**.gov.lv/eng/outoffamily_care/adoption/ (For some reason stars are being put in by the web site in these links.Where you see the 2 stars should be the letters birthmom.) I would encourage you to read all of this carefully. There is also a list of waiting children. I know they are telling people the waits are very long (3 years of more), especially for chilren under the age of 9. You can also e-mail them for more detailed information. I found the ministry to be quite receptive and helpful. We did our adoption "by the book" and had no major problems, and a very good outcome, although the process was tedious!
Here are several other links which may be of interest.
http://www.usembassy.lv/Main/site/CB/adoption
http://www.lanet.lv/links/ea.html
http://www.myadoptionlinks.com/Latvia.html
Best wishes!