Weeks after the birth of their first biological child, Hollywood stars Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are planning to adopt another. "Next we'll adopt," Jolie told CNN in an interview to be aired on Tuesday.
"We don't know which — which country. But we're looking at different countries. And we're — I'm just– it's gonna be the balance of what would be the best for Mad and for Z right now. It's, you know, another boy, another girl, which country, which race would fit best with the kids," she said, referring to her adopted children. More…
*bangs head on table
I know, I know, adoptee flavor of the month (isn’t Zahara the MOST beautiful little girl) — but Jolie gives a third of her income to refugees and causes. I respect that tremendously. And she really works on those issues, she doesn’t just mouth off about them.
Debbie
What I don’t like is that every article I’ve ever read seems to tie Jolie’s desire to adopt children internationally with her charitable acts as one of the wealthiest people on earth. Yes, good for her for contributing money to places that obviously need financial help. I wish I could do that myself. I just get so sick of seeing this part of her life blended into her charitable desire to adopt children from other countries. From my perspective it continues to send the message to the general public that children must be saved from their conditions in their poor birth countries. WAKE UP and realize that the USA is also a poor country and that there are many children to “save” here.
Then the argument could be made that their birth countries don’t have the means to take care of them properly, so they’re better off being sent to a home where at least they can have their basic needs met. Duh. I agree. But it’s the bigger picture that famous people like Jolie continue to ignore and perpetuate into the already arrogant and privileged minds of (mostly) white Americans that makes me ILL.
Sorry, Sume…this could easily become my own post of ranting. Hope you don’t mind that I’m writing this long comment on your blog!!!
I suppose we’ll just have to call the child Benetton. I’ll wager it’s from South America, and go so far as to say, Brazil. Maddox’s ‘issues’, on the other hand, should start about… now.
I’d praise Jolie’s philanthropy. It reminds me a great deal of Shirley Temple Black and compared to the philanthropy of most of her peers, it seems earnest and well-intentioned. She puts her money where her mouth is, although I wonder how many other people have actually acted based upon her example.
What bothers me is no longer that Maddox et al are growing up in the transracial experience, but rather, that they’ll be growing up in such a distorted sense of everyday lives.
And at the same time, I hope this all doesn’t become a weird hoop dream for people: Well, see, it’s not so bad, my baby could grow up to become a jet-setter.
One wants success for such children, but not at the expense of warping them beyond human experiences.
Nor should we ignore very real and legitimate concerns regarding the process of transcultural adoption and its short term and long term effects on children and the nations involved.
I like to think that Joile, if she had the option, would not let the press portray her adoptions they way that they do. I like to think that she’s considered issues of race and adoption and respecting the cultures of her children. I hope for the sake of her children this is true.
I see this from the POV of one who spent two years, am still expending a lot of energy, just helping my kid transition to a new language and culture, bonding, attaching, paying close–some might say neurotc–attention to every emotional nuance. How can this possibly be done when boom-boom-boom, one kid after another is introduced to a family? Sibling groups are one thing, but serial birth and adoption just seems nuts. And these are actors who spend months on sets!
I am sure they can afford for each kid to have several servants and can afford to pull a caravan behind them wherever they go, but do mom and dad feel like a mom and a dad, or just the heads of the staff?
I dunno, maybe they are superhuman superheros who can do it all. But beyond the attachment and family stuff, what hope is there of having any sense of cultural integrity? Hell, we can’t even pull that off sufficiently when adopting two kids from the samecountry.
I am joining you in your head banging. BANG (ow) BANG (ow)
Thanks everyone. I think she's done great things and believe she's sincere in her intentions, but you know what they say about good intentions.
Rant away, Soon Young. I worry about how her adoptions combined with her humanitarian work is going to be perceived and consumed by the general public. Ohh, don't get me started on that charity thing. Aside from how it affects adoption, I have issues with that combined with consumerism and fair trade practices. Noo economics please. It involves math and you know how much I hate math.
As you point out, there's an even bigger picture. What about globalization, environment, root causes of poverty and so on? I'm too sleepy to get into it but I'm sure a few people know what I mean.
Bryan, I guess we'll just have to wait and see how the kids develop and what kind of people they become. Growing up the child of a major celebrity comes with pitfalls anyway. I do wonder how being a TRA and an adopted child of a major celebrity is going to affect them.
I don't think they're necessarily doomed but the odds may be a little skewed. And let's not forget about the trend setting factor. When I heard that Jessica Simpson was considering adoption, I got chills.
There may be hope in that she is so involved in philanthropy. She may set a good example for the kids and teach them values above the shallowness of Hollywood. BUT, as Sue pointed out, she's going to be one busy woman.
Can she "do it all" and still give the kids what they need as not only adoptees but TRA's?