From PRI Public Radio International and KCRW Santa Monica, this is To the Point.

The satisfactions and pitfalls of foreign adoption.

Hello again, I'm Orman Alney, and this is To the Poet from Public Radio International.

A daily look at the issues Americans care about most.

Spurred by church groups, charities, and Hollywood stars, American families have been adopting foreign children at an increasing rate.

But there are signs of corruption in what's become an international business.

Members of a French aid group are under arrest in Africa on charges of stealing children from Chad

while claiming they were orphans from Darfur. On To the Point, an adoptive American mother

struggles with personal pain and cultural differences. Why don't more American parents adopt

American kids? On reporter's notebook later on, bad news for Wall Street and the economy. First, here's

the news. Support for To the Point comes from subscribers of KCRW Santa Monica and from the Public

Radio International Program Fund, whose contributors include the Ford Foundation and the John

D. and Catherine T. McArthur Foundation. Hello again. Moran Alney, back with To the Poet. The adoption of foreign children reflects the most basic of human needs and emotions. It's also a growing international business, subject to abuse and corruption. On To the Poet, we'll hear about personal and cultural conflicts and national pride.

On reporter's notebook, after a bad week on Wall Street, Federal Preserve Chair Ben Bernanke

talks about the economy.

First, this news update.

For the first time in a decade, Congress has passed a bill over a presidential veto.

President Bush said a water resources bill was too expensive, but two-thirds of both the House

and the Senate disagreed.

Bruce Alpert is Washington reporter for the New Orleans Times-Picayune.

Bruce, thanks a lot for being with us.

Thanks for having me.

...