Adoption

Stories

19 Stories

September 2008
- HIV Adoptions From Abroad on Rise
  
  Associated Press | Sep 2, 08 1:16 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - More US families are adopting HIV-infected children from overseas, primarily in Ethiopia, the AP reports. Stats from one international agency show 38 adoptions of infected Ethiopian children this year, up from 13 in 2007 and four in 2006. HIV adoptions have also increased in China, Ghana, Haiti, and Russia, say US adoption agencies, though at significantly lower numbers. More »
August 2008
- Chinese Adoption: Anguish Along With Joy
  
  Vanity Fair | Aug 19, 08 12:46 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - A proud but troubled mother of an adopted Chinese girl is wondering how to cope. Diane Clehane grieves for the woman who was forced to give up little Madeline under China's "one child" policy, she writes in Vanity Fair . She also wonders how to explain it to Madeline without making her sad for her parents. "It was impossible to ignore the fact that I was getting a daughter because someone had been forced to give her up," she writes. More »
- Foreign Adoption Getting Harder
  
  USA Today | Aug 14, 08 3:44 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Heightened awareness of child trafficking and improving economies abroad are making it harder for Americans to adopt foreign kids. US officials are taking a closer look at visa applications and discouraging adoptions from countries that don’t comply with a new international adoption agreement, USA Today reports. At the same time, China, Russia, and South Korea have begun encouraging more domestic adoptions. More »
June 2008
- Gwyneth: Baby No. 3 on Agenda
  
  People | Jun 4, 08 12:29 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Call her IronMom. "I may force myself to do it one more time because the result is so worth it," Gwyneth Paltrow tells Harper's Bazaar of her desire for another baby. But instead of getting pregnant—which she described as 9 months of nausea—the 35-year-old mother of two says she and hubby Chris Martin are “very open” to adoption. More »
May 2008
- Baby-Stealing Charges Halt Adoptions
  
  CNN | May 28, 08 11:39 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Guatemala and Vietnam, two of the most popular countries for international adoptions, recently halted their programs, following reports that some babies are kidnapped and put up for adoption or birth mothers coerced—fueled by the $30,000 an adoption can fetch. Vietnam says it will no longer allow adoptions to the US, while Guatemala will resume them only after slogging through a case-by-case review of pending adoptions. More »
- Madonna: Adopting as Hard as Childbirth
  
  AFP | May 23, 08 10:30 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Madonna says her struggle to adopt a 3-year-old boy from Malawi is much like childbirth, AFP reports. “I sort of went through my own kind of birthing pains with dealing with the press on my front doorstep accusing me of kidnapping,” the singer said. “It was painful, but in the end, I rationalised that, when a woman has a child and goes through natural childbirth, she suffers an enormous amount." More »
- Adopted Kids More Likely to Have Social Problems
  
  Minneapolis Star Tribune | May 6, 08 4:24 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Adopted children are twice as likely as biological offspring to develop mental-health disorders in adolescence, but rates are low overall, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports. International adoptees in a group of more than 1,200 Minnesota residents had lower overall rates of the conditions than American-born children, but they were more susceptible to internalized problems such as depression, researchers said. More »
- Guatemala Suspends Adoptions
  
  BBC | May 6, 08 10:38 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Guatemala has suspended roughly 2,300 adoptions in an effort to prevent fraud, the BBC reports. The hold-up, for at least a month, will allow authorities to verify—using DNA testing if necessary—that each child is a legitimate candidate. Charges of baby-snatching and other fraud have prompted a crackdown on the adoption system that channeled 4,700 children to American parents last year. More »
April 2008
- Vietnamese Babies 'Sold to US'
  
  Associated Press | Apr 25, 08 3:47 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - US adoptions of Vietnamese children are tainted by bribery, kidnapping and baby-selling, according to an investigation by the US Embassy. The report, obtained by AP, discovered that one hospital sold a baby whose mother couldn't pay her medical bills. US couples—including Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt—have adopted more than 1,200 Vietnamese children in the last 18 months. More »
- Madonna to Adopt Indian Baby
  
  Sun (UK) | Apr 7, 08 11:26 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - A year and a half after Madonna's controversial adoption in Malawi, the Material Mom will bring home another baby—this time from India, reports the Sun . Hubby Guy Ritchie was initially "against the idea," a friend told the paper. "But when she wants something, she gets it." More »
February 2008
- Angelina Jolie: Hooked on Kids?
  
  ABC News | Feb 28, 08 10:16 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - As actress Angelina Jolie nurtures her latest pregnancy that will boost the number in her brood to 5—all under the age of 7—people are beginning to wonder if it's a bit much. In fact some mental health experts believe the former wild child's rapidly expanding family could be a sign of depression. A compulsion to have children "is a way of self-medicating," a psychologist told ABC News. It can be "a distraction from feelings of emptiness." More »
January 2008
- Sheryl Crow: Single, Singing & Cancer-Free
  
  Daily Telegraph (UK) | Jan 27, 08 4:58 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - Singer Sheryl Crow took one of life's "Detours"—the name she has given to her new album—after being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2006, the Telegraph reports. She now says that serious illness always brings a lesson: “For me, it was to quit worrying about what people thought about me.” Having left cyclist Lance Armstrong, she filled her life with female friends and adopted a son with "incredible fearlessness." More »
- Separated at Birth, Twins Marry
  
  Daily Telegraph (UK) | Jan 11, 08 11:35 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - A British court has annulled the marriage of a couple who learned they were twins separated at birth, the Telegraph reports. Their identities and the specifics of their romance remain secret, but a member of the House of Lords who have access to the details said the siblings had felt an “inevitable attraction.” More »
December 2007
- Chad 'Kidnappers' in France
  
  Reuters | Dec 28, 07 4:55 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - Six charity workers convicted of kidnapping children in Chad arrived today in their native France, where they are expected to serve out 8-year sentences, Reuters reports. The six, employees of humanitarian group Zoe’s Ark, will meet with a prosecutor to decide their prison placement. By serving their sentences in France, they swapped a Chadian court’s sentence of hard labor for jail time. More »
- Best, Worst Celeb Do-Gooders
  
  Reuters | Dec 28, 07 10:45 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - From Angelina Jolie (nominated as a UN Goodwill Ambassador) to Madonna (the Malawian adoption controversy), these stars topped a Reuters poll that asked: Who gave the best—and worst—name to “celebrity humanitarianism” in 2007? The best: Angelina Jolie Bono Desmond Tutu Bill Gates Bill Clinton More »
- Foreign Adoptions Down 15%
  
  Associated Press | Dec 2, 07 5:11 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - US adoptions from abroad have sunk for the third straight year, mostly because China and Russia have tougher policies, AP reports. A drop in adoptions from Haiti and South Korea have also added to the 15% decline since 2004. But a spike in adoptions from Guatemala, Ethiopia, and Vietnam have partly balanced the scales, experts say. More »
November 2007
- 3,700 Adoptions in Limbo
  
  Associated Press | Nov 20, 07 5:38 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - Thousands of Americans are caught in heartbreaking limbo as Guatemala debates new rules for its adoption system, the AP reports. US families await 3,700 kids, but Guatemala wants to regulate what many call a crime-ridden $100 million business that includes coercion and kidnapping. The US has asked for current adoptions to be okayed, but Guatemala claims that 1,000 cases already show problems. More »
October 2007
- Twins Split by 'Science' Reunite
  
  CBS | Oct 1, 07 2:29 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Three decades into a bizarre nature-versus-nurture experiment, Elyse Schein abruptly discovered she and a twin sister had been separated at birth and adopted into separate homes—all in the name of science. They eventually found each other in 2004, and now talked with CBS about their new memoir, Identical Strangers. More »
March 2007
- Quickie Adoption for Angelina
  
  BBC | Mar 14, 07 2:22 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Vietnamese officials say the paperwork on Angelina Jolie's adoption is nearly complete—just days after it was submitted in early March. Vietnamese officials say their efficiency was spurred by the child's age and complete files and not by preferential treatment, but the speed up likely has a simpler explanation: anticipation of a massive donation, like the ones Jolie dropped on Cambodia and Ethiopia after adopting children there. More »