Adopted Children of Celebrities

I don't know how celebrities can claim to want to give their kids an idea of where they came from when they get treated better than almost anyone on the planet.

In Feb. of this year the Jolie-Pitts took their children for Italy. They just upped and took them for a trip while Angelina and Brad's younger biological children stayed home.

Seriously, how many Ethiopian, Cambodian, or Vietnamese kids are flying around the world in private jets getting first hand experience of different cultures and people.

Don't get me wrong, there are many positive things to come of this. Perhaps the Jolie-Pitts will be more open than children who had not had their same experiences. Perhaps they will do something amazing with their uniquely acquired perspective. However, I would appreciate it if I wasn't later told that the same children were also brought back to their countries of origin so as "not to loose a connection to who they are." They have lost connection to who almost any of us are!

I think these kids are getting a great education by traveling, but the second they were adopted by uberfamous and powerful celebrities they lost contact not only with their roots but with most of humanity.

Operation Moses

Typically we think of adoption as an event limited to the confines of a family, however adoption can take place at a national level as well.


Operation Moses is the single largest adoption event in history. Over the course of six weeks from Nov. to Jan. 1984 some 9,000 Ethiopian Jews were transported from Sudan to Israel. The objective of the operation was to rescue the Ethiopian Jewish community from a famine in Sudan and relocate them in Israel where they were to be "adopted" by the country.

This story adds some twists to concepts what we have discussed in class.
First, because the Ethiopian community was Jewish Israel sort of served as their "biological parents" despite the fact that they had never been to Israel. From this perspective, Sudan was the adoptive country despite that fact that that was where this Ethiopian community was from.

Second, we have often discussed the notion of rescuing adoptees. But in this case the goal of the operation was to rescue an entire community, not one child, not a few siblings, the entire Jewish community.

In fact, the mission was only completed in 1991 when the remaining 14,000 Jews were finally brought to Israel.


I just thought it was interesting to see how the term adoption is not limited by number, that it can be applied to an entire community.

Sandra Bullock's Baby Boy

There are two things I like about this particular example of adoption.

1) While celebrity interracial/multiethnic adoptions tend to focus their attention abroad, adopting children from third world countries, Sandra has adopted a black child from New Orleans. This says a lot. Throughout the course of the semester I noticed a trend in American adoptions. American adoptive parents tended to adopt black children who were not from America. I thought this was interesting, because if you want to "save the world" you would think that at least some parents would want to start close to home. However, I think that adopting black American children sent a message not many people were willing to send. It was better to adopt a black child from an impoverished country.

But Sandra has set a different example. I am happy for her and feel that she is doing this for the right reasons, for the love of the child and not for the public message. That's brave.

2) Sandra kept this "on the down low" for a while, which to me reinforces the impression that she wasn't doing this for publicity.

Good for her!

Adopted Russian Child Returned!

WTF?

Seriously? Are we really returning kids now?
Has human life become a commodity that we ship around the world to fulfill momentary needs or desires?

How does something like this even happen? Was the mother not given background check to see if she was suitable to be a parent? Did she get the child illegally? What?


It is just outrageous!

If the child wasn't "mentally ill," as the mother had claimed, before he may be on his way there now. I can only imagine the short and long-term negative effects such abuse can cause a child.


Horrible!



Ok... after getting that off my chest I also want to say something about the parents. The article makes an important point, that adoptive families are many times inheriting children with problems they were not responsible for creating. This story brings light to the orphanages and their treatment of children.

One thing is clear, adoption should be about matching loving parents with unloved children, not about getting rid of children.

Celebrity adoptions, a Trend or a Mission?

There is something slightly unsettling about celebrity anything.
Their whole existence is built on the projection of an image. As a result they tend to be about setting and following trends. Remember when Madonna started studying Kabbalah and became Esther? As Bruno would have said: Ahhh, dat iz soooo 2006! Do you remember that she inspired Britney Spears to take up classes, and her friends Ashton and Demi? When was the last time we heard about Kabbalah and these guys?

How do we know that current celebrity adoption trends aren't just going to fade away like the clothes they wear, the way they cut their hair, or even the person they're in a relationship with?

I guess time will tell if in the coming years international celebrity adoptions remain "in" or "out..."

Brangelina Land?

This was just a joke made by Brad, but as the saying goes, in every joke there is some truth.
Could Angie and Brad be at the forefront of creating a new universal country established by celebrities?

Lets think about this for a sec....

I guess it would be good to some extent because everybody would feel wanted and equal, they would have tons of money, and seemingly no concerncs, but then again no one would know what to do or how to behave until the directors showed up...

In all seriousness, I have to wonder where the line between saving a child and saving the world is crossed, and whether or not celebrities such as Brad and Angelina know the difference.

Overturning a Ban on Unmarried Adoptions

On Friday a judge in Arkansas overturned a decision to ban unmarried couples right to adopt children. Judge Piazza stated that the ban "cast an unreasonably large net" on many potentially good families that could offer healthy homes for the roughly 1500 children waiting for adoption in the state, and as a result was not in the state's bets interest.

I have this argument before. The claim is that children are suffering and waiting for homes, while their are loving homes waiting to receive them. The conclusion thus seems to be straight forward; let same-sex couples adopt.

I recognize the practicality of the solution and how it serves to provide a seemingly win-win result for both the couples and the children. However, I also believe that if you are going to fundamentally reorganize the family nucleus and let same-sex couples serve as the foundation of future families, then we had better have a stronger argument then "they had room so we shipped em'."