11.   Every year, thousands of international adoptions are conducted legitimately, though the possibilities for exploitation always exist.

12.   Felicia Van Pragh, director of international adoptions at the nonprofit Spence-Chapin agency in New York, was sanguine about the new law.

13.   Hand in Hand, a Phoenix-based international adoption agency through which the Thornes adopted the girls, could not be reached on Thursday night for comment.

14.   He showed her the papers she had signed before, and explained she had consented to an international adoption.

15.   In September, Paraguay suspended new international adoptions for a year to revise its regulations.

16.   Increased demand for international adoptions has been accompanied by accusations of baby trafficking in countries such as Guatemala, Romania and Russia.

17.   International adoptions are seen as more troublesome.

18.   International adoptions, along with transracial domestic adoptions, also have helped make the process more visible because parents and children are often different colors.

19.   Not only is that rare in international adoptions, but the information you have may be sad or troubling.

20.   Riquelme, however, doubts the altruism of those who make their livings off international adoptions.