Perhaps that’s precisely why. Children domestically up for adoption in the US probably have a better chance at a future than an orphan in Malawi who’s siblings died of AIDS. Adopting internationally is often expensive and those who can afford to should. You can’t hold that against her.

I think all the negativity is unfortunate. She’s proven to be a good mother (her 2 kids seem fine), she’s involving herself in a real way with Sach’s Millenium Village, and was/is doing so much for the country of Malawi. She said on Oprah, she plans to take David back to Malawi with her on visits, and hopes that he can use the education and opportunties she can give him to go to back to Malawi and do something for his country. That’s a beautiful thing.

ps: stoli, I’m still having to fill in all info everytime I leave a comment!! just hope this doesn’t go to spam.

tara: I agree with you about the domestic adoption stuff to a certain extent. I mean, if the “motive” is that they want to help a poor kid, hell, there are PLENTLY of poor & orphaned kids in the US. So it can’t simply be the desire to quell poverty — though you’d be hard-pressed to find parents who have adopted kids from other countries say that their motives were financial (those kids are cheaper), selfish (those kids are more fashionable), vile (other countries typically don’t have laws that protect biological parents) or anything other than altruistic.

AWE: You bring up another good point: not everyone is fit to be a good parent. I’m sure whether Madonna is or isn’t, but it’s definitely something worth considering.

AmyD: That’s true … all the media coverage has focused on Madonna but very few people are talking about how this kid need a home (any home) right now.

Nat: You ask, “hasn’t the whole foreign adopting craze gone a little too far?” In my opinion? Yes, yes it has. I’m not against international adoptions. I’m just saying that our country hasn’t really looked into the deeper issues about the issue. For example, of the two couples that I know personally who have adopted … The first couple admitted that they got a girl from China because (a) it was cheaper and (b) it lessened the chance that one of the biological parents would ever come knocking on their door asking for their baby back. The other pair is a lesbian couple who said, unfortunately, they couldn’t find anyone in the US who would let them adopt. So, they went to Russia and got a (note: “white”) kid there.

Howard: You said, “this adoption was as newsworthy as gay marriage is important as an government issue.” I couldn’t agree with you more.

Mitch: Good point!

Darwin: And, that’s a GREAT analogy.

CeeCee: Honestly, I don’t know why no one seemed to give Angelina any crap, but Madonna is getting a TON of coverage on her adoption. Hmmm …

CeeCee: I sometimes feel like the US is also rampant with diseases. :) And, I didn’t know that the Dr. 90210 guy was adopted.

Momok: “Spending millions on him and turning him into a useless, coke sniffing, arrogant, drunk, womanising brat” … Robert Downey Jr. was adopted?!?!?! ;)

CeeCee: KUDOS to her!! :) That’s great.

sid: WELL SAID!!! :) And, you bring up the big white elephant in the room that very few in the media have been willing to touch: race/ethnicity. In the US at least, the trend seemed to be to adopt kids from Eastern Europe because, well, they were white. Then Chinese girls became the new Russians. People adopted girls because “they were unwanted there”; so China became the hip, fashionable and socially acceptably country in which to go baby-shopping. Now, as it seems, Latin America & Africa are the new China. Related sidenote …. At church the other day, I ran into this blonde guy who was holding his somewhat newborn baby. Small talk ensued. I said, “Awwww, what a cute little baby.” He laughed & said, “Yeah, we kind of felt bad because he knew the HIP thing would have been to get a kid from China or something. But, instead, we decided to kick it old school and just make a baby on our own.” Call me goofy, but I thought that was kind of cute & funny.

PS: For the record and in case anyone was wondering … if I ever decided that I wanted kids, I’m pretty sure that I would adopt–domestically. There are more than enough cute little brown babies right here in the US of A. :)

I don’t know what her motives are, but after having spent months researching and delevoping a group of stories on transracial–and by extention, international–adoption, I have to say, I generally support it. It would have been nice if Madonna had set an example by adopting an American child, but frankly, even then, she’d likely catch hell for it. It’s often very difficult in the States to adopt transracially, and even more challenging if the family is “atypical”–which can mean anything from single, gay (but stable and partnered), male, even too “old.” Sometimes it’s just easier to adopt internationally.

i do hope, however, that recent high-profile celebrity adoptions will inspire some of the gripers to take their own complaints to heart and maybe adopt some of the hundreds of thousands of American orphans, themselves.

http://www.raisingmalawi.org/rm/home.html

I think its great because she is actually helping the people of Malawi AND she is (hopefully) going to enable to child to become educated…hopefully he will return to his country to help in the future.

I think its the best of both…

Rich ppl always have this “air” about themselves that laws don’t apply to them…