It used to cost a small fortune to make an international phone call. Thanks to modern technology we can now hear and see the person we’re calling in real time.

We can sit at the television in the living room or at our computers at the office, or look at our smart-phones in the subway station and watch news unfolding half way around the globe.

For years Thomas L. Friedman has been telling us that the world is flat, and he authored a book by that title. He noted that old boundaries of walls, ceilings and floors no longer define a place of business. Tele-commuting to work is commonplace.

Internet websites and chat rooms have helped us create virtual neighborhoods. And that’s not all. We’re contributors to Wikipedia and rank our restaurant experiences and shopping successes on eBay. We write hotel reviews on Expedia.com to help our fellow travelers make informed choices.

The world of adoption is flat, too. The Hague Convention on International Adoption is changing the way the adoption community in the U.S. works and thinks. The US Department of State has issued regulations governing adoptions of children from the United States who are adopted by non-American citizens. That’s right. The borders are permeable from both sides now. There are not many outgoing adoptions taking place, but there is an increase in the numbers of non-American families from many countries who are stepping forward with offers to adopt American children featured on our agency websites.

The idea makes some people uncomfortable. They say that if we have trouble overcoming geographic barriers to adoption within the country, how we can consider leaping across the ocean to make a placement.

Some worry about American children moving to a country with different customs and where English is not the first language.

On the other hand, we know boys and girls simply need parents.

How do the children feel about it? Rachel probably said it best when she said, “It is better to have a family that loves you than to have no family at all.”

Read Dixie’s complete article on this subject in the March/April issue of Fostering Families Today magazine.