by Selaelo

Created on: September 09, 2008

Adoption is a means by which people can alleviate or reduce the poverty that is affecting the world today. Would the world rather have one more child going to bed without food each night or can the world accept adoption as a way of avoiding a plight that is affecting millions of people over the world? Yes, adoptions including celebrity adoption do help international adoption relations. A celebrity adoption should not be viewed differently to any other adoption. Celebrities are human beings just like all of us, being Angelina Jolie or Madonna does not make them more or less human.

It will be hard to give the impression that adoption can have a negative effect on international adoption relations. As witnessed recently, there is a trend of celebrities adopting children from developing or third world countries. The standards of living in these countries are usually very poor and many families affected by poverty usually live on less than one United States dollar a day. These countries also seem to have a high number of orphans that they cannot afford to care for. To add to all these problems, adoptions by citizens of developing countries are usually not popular because the people are generally not well off economically. In many cases, authorities in countries where children are being adopted are usually happy with the fact that they will be spending on one less child and the adopted child will live in a loving environment. Adoptions, be it by celebrities or by ordinary people will most likely strengthen or help international adoption relations.

The issue that usually causes problems should be blamed purely on the adoption agencies or authorities in countries where the children are being adopted. What often comes to light after the adoption, is the fact that the parents of the adopted children did not really agree on the adoption, that is in cases where the children have biological parents. This is indeed a disturbing factor and an issue that the country where children are being adopted should deal with and try to address. There has to be proper, adequate and appropriate processes in place that need to be followed before a child can be adopted.

For example, when Madonna adopted her child, David from Malawi, reports surfaced that the biological father of the adopted child did not really understand what adoption was. The father did not really understand that he will never see his little boy again. If true, that is a disturbing and a sad fact indeed and it is the duty of the authorities in the countries where the children are being adopted to ensure that the biological parents or guardians understand the process very well. The same issue also surfaced with Angelina Jolie's adoption of the little girl she adopted from Ethiopia, Zahara. Biological parents should be informed of the consequences of putting up a child for adoption and this responsibility should clearly be put on the shoulders of authorities in which the adoption occurs. When celebrities adopt, they sorely rely on the information being given to them by authorities in countries they are adopting and it's fair to say that the reliance is justifiable given the fact that they do not live in the country.

Celebrities like anyone else, need to ensure that they make use of reputable adoption agencies. This is an issue that should be handled with care and due diligence. Adoption, be it by a celebrity or any other person is a good way of removing one child at a time away from poverty. International adoption is a way of improving relations between two countries while impacting the world positively.

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