Angie's Adoption Agency Says She Got No Preferential Treatment

Karen Murphy — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 12:06:00 GMT

So Angelina Jolie is a celebrity and clearly used her name and fame to fast-track her most recent adoption, right? Or she must have given some big donation to the adoption agency or to the orphanage her new son came from, right?

Wrong. According to Adoptions From the Heart, the agency Angie used to execute her adoption of Pax Thien, the answers are No and No. No special treatment, no big donation. Here are current adoption laws associated with the U.S. and Vietnam, and from reading this I get the impression that once everything is approved, the child is handed over within seven days and that the entire process often takes only about six months, less time than for other foreign adoptions. Angie began her process last summer.

Yeah, this news surprised me too, and I'm still a little skeptical. Still, which makes you feel better: thinking Angie's a typical American celeb who uses her money and power to get what she wants, or thinking she's (kinda) a mom like the rest of us (if we had that body and that face and Brad Pitt and all that money, yeah. Identical.)?

Angie Baby, Don't Break Our Hearts OR Vietnamese Adoption Laws

Rachael Brownell (Redsy) — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 18:57:00 GMT

The prettiest adoptive parents since the beginning of time are considering expanding their fair family even further. But adopting a Vietnamese baby is starting to make Brad and Angelina seem more like Madonna than Mother Theresa.

According to recent reports, Angelina Jolie is filing to adopt a Vietnamese baby claiming to be "single" even though she lives with and shares custody of her other children with Brad Pitt, a clear contravention of Vietnamese adoption law.

This certainly isn't the first time celebrities have bent adoption rules, and unfortunately it probably won't be the last. Adoption appears to be the new in thing for Hollywood couples and I look forward to seeing if this new rage takes off. Meanwhile, if the rest of the world continues to despair of the arrogance and thoughtlessness of famous Americans who deign to adopt, while ignoring the laws of the countries of their adoptive children, who can blame them?

Strollerderby : Vietnamese children

Angie's Adoption Agency Says She Got No Preferential Treatment

Angie Baby, Don't Break Our Hearts OR Vietnamese Adoption Laws