The Angelina Adoption

[pippadaisy[$]]

Cindy, I know you asked about it.

This is why I don't care. I know that she sold the pictures and gives the money to charity. I know that the press villifies her. But look at two little boys who'd otherwise be living in orphanages:

[emeleel]

Two? I thought she only adopted one?

And they are adorable.

[pippadaisy[$]]

The older one is her oldest, Maddox. She brought him along to keep Pax company.

[emeleel]

Ah, gotcha. And don't forget her older girl. I presume she'd be in an orphanage, too.

They have a beautiful family. And you really get the sense that they really do it from deep love.

Although naming a kid "Pax"........

[hadassahchana[$]]

Oh, I agree, saving babies is a wonderful thing. I have no problem at all with auctioning off the photos for charity- that was cool, since the press wanted pics anyway. Money isn't all it takes, though. Her new baby should get to be the star of the show for a little while longer, no matter how many babies are waiting in orphanages. She can't save them all, and taking really good care to build the most loving relationship possible with each kid is so much more important, IMO. It's easy to bring a kid home. Parenting it well once it shows up is the hard, and truly heroic, hard part.

Am I the world's biggest bitch?

[phoenixx]

I don't care what Brangelina does. I think she's flawed and he's flawed, just like everyone else. I also know she answered questions about why she adopted so soon in some article I was reading, and her answers made sense for her family. She has done some terrible things and some truly good things, and some whacked out things, but it sure seems like she grew up, doesn't it?

I am also a proponent of EVERYONE who wants in vitro or other expensive fertility treatments having to adopt instead, though, so I have some radical views on kids being left in orphaneges while some families waste so much time, money and emotion to have their own, so I'm biased in her favor.

[pippadaisy[$]]

The thing is, it seems, because she's so visible, that she's adopting every other week. But she got four kids in the same amount of time that I did. Has had probably the same amount of time to "bond" with each one before adding the next one.

[theworm[$]]

pippadaisy said

But she got four kids in the same amount of time that I did.

Um..... that "arguement" is a bit.....



Ya know - each family is unique. She has a beautiful family. Who am I to judge? What if she had triplets? Families grow. If the kids are healthy, happy and well cared for...if they have a real relationship with their mother....how can it be wrong.
If the kids are abused or neglected or used just for show - that's different, but it seems that they have an unusual but wonderful family.

[mtbat]

I'd be a lot more impressed if she adopted an american child out of foster care, or one who was truly special needs. Her adopting multi-cultural children from around the world bothers me on some levels. I am glad those few children will have a good life, and I think they will have a good life.

But it's like she's collecting accessories. Like she's standing in a store going -Oh I want one of those, and one of those and one of these....

[Prepoia[$]]

mtbat said

I'd be a lot more impressed if she adopted an american child out of foster care, or one who was truly special needs. Her adopting multi-cultural children from around the world bothers me on some levels. I am glad those few children will have a good life, and I think they will have a good life.

But it's like she's collecting accessories. Like she's standing in a store going -Oh I want one of those, and one of those and one of these....

Yep. That's the part that bothers me too. I'm only glad that because of her self-absorbtion and attention getting self-centeredness that the kids will have a better life.

[pippadaisy[$]]

Actually, when you think about it, each child has come from a country that she worked in or with in her role as a UN ambassador. And not only has she made sure to return with each child to his or her home country, but she also sets up a charity there in that child's name having something to do with that child's interests. I can't remember what Maddox's is, but I know I read an interview with her where they were talking about how Zahara seems to have an artistic bent, and they were trying to figure out how to incorporate that.

As far as adopting a child out of American foster care, MJ can speak to it far better than I could, but I'd honestly bet they'd have a hard time getting approved as a foster family. Not married. Often traveling around the world.

As far as special needs go... I think it takes a very special kind of person who can do that. I also don't think it's a hot idea for someone who travels from place to place to adopt a child with special needs, because those children need services and changing from therapist to therapist depending on where you are that week is not something anyone would advise. In addition, I've had three kids who needed services, and I don't think I'd have it in ME to sign up for that voluntarily.

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

pippadaisy said

As far as adopting a child out of American foster care, MJ can speak to it far better than I could, but I'd honestly bet they'd have a hard time getting approved as a foster family. Not married. Often traveling around the world.

Marriage is most certainly not a requirement any more (at least not in any states/municipalities I know of), and traveling shouldn't be a barrier either, depending on the circumstances.

As sad as it is to grow up in foster care in America instead of in a 'forever family,' in poor countries growing up in orphanages is generally much worse and the children are left with fewer options/resources when they are kicked out of the orphanage because they're too old. In some cultures, being an orphan is pretty much a sentence to slavery or a life of begging or thievery. Yes, some American foster children end up badly, but "bad" in the US is at a much higher standard of living (if you can call it that) than "bad" in, say, the streets of Brazil.

[pippadaisy[$]]

MJ, I thought one of the requirements for fostering was that you had to be able to be dropped in on without any prior notification?

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

Foster parents are told to expect that, but they're not chained to their houses either. Foster parents take kids on vacations all the time - usually not at the very beginning, but after they've developed a proven track record with the agency. As long as the agency knows where they are, the foster parents got permission to take the kids across state lines, they can be reached, and the agency can see the kids when they come back, it's allowed. Foster parents can aslo leave the foster children with a pre-identified "resource" while they travel. ("Resource" could be family friend, babysitter, nanny, extended family, etc., and are subject to the same clearance as the foster parent.)

[hadassahchana[$]]

As for marriage, the agency who recently contacted me to see if I wanted that baby didn't mind at all that I was a single mom and that I was out of state, since they failed to place him in his home state.