Uh...something missing here

WashingtonPost.com is running this graphic from the AP with an article on adoptive parents' concerns about their children's health in the wake of the Chinese tainted formula problem.

The graphic, you'll note, is headlined "Adoptions Steadily Decreasing," and notes that the number of international adoptions by US parents has declined since the peak in 2004.

But there's nothing in the graphic, or the article, that so much as hints at why. Readers are left to draw their own conclusions.

The reason, of course, is that some sending countries have tightened requirements or even shut down for periods since 2004, resulting in fewer completed adoptions.

But if you didn't know much about international adoption, would that even occur to you? You might make any number of assumptions -- lack of interest, lack of children needing homes, whatever.

Not helpful, AP!

(OTOH, look at that number for 2008 from Vietnam: 751 adoptions before Vietnam shut its doors this fall. And one of the 751, thank God, was Owen!)