Madonna Update

Madonna was rejected by a Malawi judge to adopt.

Just to clarify my previous post....If Madonna or any other superstar wants to adopt a child, I fully applaud them. When they try to circumvent the system that's in place....the system that the rest of us have to follow....I'm saddened by that. If you read the above article, the judge denied her adoption because Malawi has rules in place about residency before you can adopt.....rules that she had "waved" for her last adoption in Malawi...rules she wanted waved this time too.....just because she's miss so-and-so.

The bigger point of my last post is that there are A LOT of children that need homes and there aren't that many getting homes.

I am neither sad nor happy that Madonna was denied this adoption. I'm happy that a small poor African country stood their ground.

Yeah and You missed the point....both

Let me get past my initial thoughts on this...to get to the real point of this post.....please bear with the rant to get to the heart.

So the big news is that Madonna is trying to adopt a second child from Malawi. I don't want to sit in judgment here. I don't know her motives. I don't know her heart. On the surface though it seems a little odd....and my dander raises slightly in thinking of Miss Jolie and her swoop into Ethiopia that held us up while adopting Corban.

Again, I don't know the behind the scenes stuff....but there are families waiting a long time for paperwork to clear. Out of nowhere she appears and wants to take a little girl home with her. Must be nice to have millions to grease some palms. When Angelina did it in Ethiopia back in 2005 we were held up for most of the next year because so much pressure and scrutiny was put on the Ethiopian adoption system. It appears that the same thing is replaying for a SECOND TIME for Madonna.

Let's not be too hasty to give Madonna sainthood. (or Angelina.....I'm still a little bitter there can you tell?)

SO ANYWAY......(rant off)....this morning as I sit here reading news and drinking coffee.....the AP has an article about how Madonna's adoption is part of a growing trend of African adoptions by foreigners. I would highly recommend you reading it so you know what I'm talking about from here on out.

The article talks about how these "high profile" adoptions draw attention to the ability of Westerners to adopting from Africa. I would say that's probably true. (However it does not paint a true picture of how the process actually works....you can't just show up with your family and walk out 5 days later with a new child). It also points out that traditional adoption powerhouses such as China, Russia and Guatemala have severely restricted foreign adoption, so more families are turning to African countries......particularly Ethiopia.

Apparently 1,725 children were adopted from Ethiopia from September 07-Sep. 08.....YEAH WE'RE A STATISTIC!!! Visas were issued for 2,399 African children last year by the US. That's cool. OH WAIT.....there are still 14 million orphans in Africa.....

So last year 2,399 orphans were adopted to the US out of approximately 14 million (and growing daily.....18 million by 2010!!!!!). DROP IN THE BUCKET. I know there has been a push by agencies (AAI included) to work on caring for children in country....either by extended families or by agencies in country. That's AWESOME. That's clearly option #1. Unless foreign countries severely fund stuff like that though, there's no way that can completely take care of the orphan problem.

I love hearing that adoptions are up. My hearts breaks to know how incrimentally small they are up compared to the overwhelming monster that faces us.

A religion that is pure and stainless according to God the Father is this: to take care of orphans and widows who are suffering, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.