A while back I blogged about the media warp around Angelina Jolie's adoptions.

A bit later, I wrote another about the surprising appearance of a misquote from that blog in a Dubai newspaper that prompted me to explain how the media works.

Turns out, that misquote has gone around the world. Yep, Like the Scarlet Pimpernel, I'm here, I'm there, I'm everywhere. I'm the news in Malta, on Yahoo news, ... in two places, covered by Reuters, on AlertNet, showing up on E! Online, reported again in Scotland, picked up by HashBush and Fan ChitChat, in another publication in the Gulf, on the Tiscali newswire in the UK, and have been carried on Netscape ... and those are just the ones I could find in a five minute search.

Because of all of this ... news growing in the circular little world that gets spin spinning ... I was contacted by a reporter for the New York Post for a comment on the Jolie adoptions.

Ms. Benoiton:

My name is Kathianne Boniello and I'm a reporter with the New York Post. I'm hoping to get your input on a story about international adoptions (the celebrity kind). With the news that Angelina Jolie is so quickly trying to adopt what would be her fifth child, I'm curious: what is the process? What's the opinion in the adoption community - is she getting special treatment or is she doing a good thing?

Any help you could give would be most appreciated. Thank you in advance for your time.

Kathianne Boniello
Reporter
New York Post

Here's what I wrote back:

Ms. Boniello,

The process depends greatly on the birth country, as each has its own system of handling international adoptions. There are certain practices that have become fairly standard, such as what they require in the dossier ... homestudy, medical, police clearance, documents like birth certs, marriage lisences, etc. ... but the number of visits required, time frames, prerequisites for potential adopters and such vary.

Angelina Jolie, star that she is, goes through the same process every other family adopting internationally must go through. It's not uncommon in her age group to work relatively quickly to build the family, much like biological families in their 30s may, so mulitiple adoptions fairly close together are neither rare nor extraordinary. One of the bloggers here has completed seven adoptions in five years, so you can see that Ms. Jolie's plans ... if reports turn out to be accurate ... are far from groundbreaking. Since her paperwork, homestudy and other documents, are all recent, she is more easily prepared to move ahead with an adoption than someone starting from scratch would be. Plus, of course, she has none of the financial issues that keep many from adding as many children as they perhaps would wish to their clan, but she is certainly not alone as an affluent parent, nor should she be condemned for her success.

Like every diverse group, the adoption community offers differing opinions on most topics. Given the general propensity for casting aspersions in the direction of anything involving celebrities ... easy targets, assumpition of familiarity and all ... star adoptions are flash points, and there's no shortage of bandwagon jumpers in the adoption world. Developing uninformed opinions is a hobby for some, and posting them all over the Internet may give a sense of credibility to people who think seeing their words in print make them important. The fact is, however, that it is all just so much blather.

There is also a large contingent of anti-adoption fanatics in the world ... hard to imagine, I know, but unfortunately very real and vociferous ... who leap at every slim opportunity to muddy the waters and try to throw a negative light over all adoptions in hopes of seeing an end to the option of adoption for the world's children. Using the easy hook of celebrity, then dangling the bait of insinuation and innuendo, is becoming an art form, and when they drop "Angelina" or "Madonna" into their diatribe the anti-adoption people get more attention drawn to their POV than is normally accessible, so of course they take advantage. Like a chihuahua on a cuff, they are hard to shake off no matter how silly the act may be.

As for addressing your question, "... is she doing a good thing?" ... By doing the right thing for her family, she is doing a good thing.

Adoption is about families, not about saving the world, and it appears she understands that very well and adopted her children for exactly the same reasons I adopted mine. From what I understand, she does her bit to make the planet a better place through efforts directed toward that purpose ... her foundation that works to protect precious natural places in Cambodia, for example ... and she is widely admired for this.

I hope this helps. Please feel free to contact me if you would like any more information.

All the best,
Sandra

For a look at how this came out, see my next post.