I agree with her. Who says American orphans are more important than others? Every child deserves a good home and happiness. And in the states it’s by choice. We are talking third world country poor were being poor is the only option. In the states their are plenty of well to do people that can take care of these children. And some people that aren’t wealthy find a way.

Shan
Both Deborra-Lee Furness and Hugh Jackman have been very outspoken about how difficult it is to adopt in Australia, but they had no preferential treatment from the Australian government since they gave up their attempts to adopt in Australia and adopted from the U.S. instead (http://www.celebrity-babies.com/2007/08/australian-adop.html)

I do agree with that. I am sure it is just frustrating to alot of people who cannot adopt and it is always thrown in peoples faces that celebs can do it all.
I guess that is all to do with the media and paparazzi who should sometimes mind their business.

I just want to clarify that it’s possible that SOME countries DO give preferential treatment to celebs (for example, I have a feeling that Madonna would not have been able to adopt David if she weren’t famous). However, that isn’t the case with ALL countries.

shan- Actually, celebrities are NOT given priorties in adoptions. For example, when Angelina Jolie adopted Pax, the adoption agency she used stated very clearly that she was NOT given preferential treatment, and that she had to follow the same laws, regulations, etc. that anyone else adopting from Vietnam would have to follow.

Also, someone (I forget if it was the agency or Angie herself) stated that the process of adopting Pax began shortly after Shiloh’s birth. Considering Shi was 10 months old when Pax was adopted, the adoption process took nearly a year, which is the amount of time it normally takes in most countries.

We need to remember that we don’t usually hear about a celeb’s adoption until the adoption is either iminent or has happened. Therefore, of course it seems to us like celeb adoptions happen quickly.

However, we have no idea how long those celebs have actually had to wait to adopt (except in cases like Pax’s, where the celebs state how long it took).

oh when I said you need $500,000 in the bank I was quoting a friend of ours experience, and even then it did not guarantee her a baby, Australian adoption laws are disgusting, Debra Lee Furness has spoken out about it before, and if her husband was not Hugh Jackman no matter how much money they had, at their age they would not have been allowed to adopt at all.
Someone like Diane Keaton, she would not have been allowed to adopt here.
It is sad, and needs to be addressed, some countries would rather see children rot than let a loving family take them in.

In response to everyone who has found it easy to adopt, in Australia it is very hard, if you are over 40, very hard, younger couples with a couple of kids already, well unless you have $500,000 dollars in the bank, you can’t do it. I would love to adopt from another country but it won’t happen.
And I am sorry it is just a fact of life that celebrities are given priorities, people can deny it all they want, yes you can foster.
It is a personal choice, my neigbour does it all the time, but there are different kids in her house every week, personally I want a child I can raise for the rest of their lives. That may be selfish but that is what I want.

It is highly doubtful that Baltimore streets are filled with dead bodies that children have to step over to get to school. While Baltimore has a horrendous crime rate and murder rate I don’t see the local Baltimore government leaving any dead body in plain view in even the worse neighborhood. So I think if you want to make a comparison at least leave out the exaggerations.

I believe overseas children and domestic children have equal rights as far as deserving a loving, healthy, happy home. I don’t question why someone chose to build their family with international children or domestic children. It’s all good in my book.

The US adoption system is very, very flawed and indeed fraught with much heart-break and while the International adoption system is equally flawed there does seem to be a higher rate of coming home with a child.

I also think it’s very insulting to White women (and I’m Black, btw) to say they shouldn’t want a child that “looks like them” as if it is someone how selfish, when it’s certainly not and to assume that all they want is to adopt newborn White babies, especially when the statistics say otherwise. I think people like to spew devisive sound-bites that don’t reflect what is happening in the real-world.

For those who do foster-to-adopt, my hat is really off to you because I can’t imagine having raised a child for any amount of time but still having the looming reality that the child may never be yours.

And while states have time limits as to when a birth parent can change their mind, they still leave it up to the agency’s discretion. And yes, I have know children who have been taken from their adoptive parents after 1 year to 10 years have past and it is absolutely devastating and disgusting if I may add.