Adoption

(Newser) - A Miami circuit judge sparked a constitutional showdown by ruling today against Florida’s 30-year-old ban on gay adoption, rebutting claims that homosexuals suffer more from mental illness and substance abuse. The attorney general’s office plans to appeal the decision, which allows a Miami man to adopt two foster kids he and his partner have been raising since 2004, the Herald reports. More »

(Newser) - Angelina Jolie is already considering adopting a seventh child, she told Matt Lauer on Today . Her twins are nearly 4 months old, leaving the Changeling star with two more months before she could start paperwork. Maddox, 7, has become a “professional big brother,” Jolie joked. And despite rumors of discord, Brad is “the right person. I don't like being without him,” she insists. More »

(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 »

(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 »

(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 »

(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 »

(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 »

(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 »

(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 »