Adoption is a legal procedure in which a person or persons assume the parental rights and responsibilities of another person from the original parent or parents. It denotes a permanent change in the status of the adopters and the person being adopted, who now has legally recognized inheritance rights.
Celebrity adoptions have long attracted public attention. Most celebrities are wealthy, and the children they adopt often come from neglected or impoverished circumstances and third-world countries.
While some people may question the motives of celebrities who adopt foreign-born children for publicity reasons or to follow a trend, it has at least raised the awareness of adopting children who are in dire circumstances.
Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have adopted one child from Cambodia, one from Vietnam and one from Ethiopia, all of whom reportedly came from extreme circumstances. While inspiring many people to adopt internationally, those interested should be aware of the different laws in each country that may make it easier or more difficult to adopt a child.
Madonna famously adopted two children from Malawi. Elton John, however, encountered opposition to his attempt to adopt an HIV-positive Ukrainian child after Ukrainian officials pointed to his age and single status.
Celebrity adoptions have focused on the barriers potential parents come across in international adoptions, especially from many children’s rights organizations that oppose international adoptions, arguing that these children should not be taken out of their native countries. There is also the concern that orphanages or institutions for orphaned or abandoned children may resort to child trafficking and abduction of children and coercion of parents in the pursuit of considerable profits.
Even celebrity parents who have sought to adopt in the U.S. have encountered blackmail or requests for compensation from the biological parents in return for their consent to relinquishing their parental rights.
Still, celebrities like Madonna and Angelina Jolie have contributed millions of dollars to improve orphanage conditions and to encourage international adoptions to improve the lives of disadvantaged children.
