STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

does anyone know if billy bob was involved in maddox's adoption?  just curious cuz i thought adoption agencies were kinda strict about single parents adopting so maybe this means her & brad ARE a couple!  i mean, i know she can handle it financially, but u would think the adoption agency would want a father figure in the baby's life especially since she travels so much & will need someone to watch the baby while she is on set.

crystal i think the standards in foreign countries are different than in the U.S. not that they're lax but my understanding is that there is so much bureaucracy in the U.S. that adopting a child becomes really difficult (i.e. the single parent thing, it's harder to adopt if  you're a gay couple).

forgive me if this is too blunt and causes offense, but in a country racked with famine and AIDS, with five million orphans--FIVE MILLION--if there is a wealthy American woman with enough care and love to want to adopt one of those poor desperate babies rather than conceive her own, I really think whether the baby has an adequate "father figure" has to be at the bottom of their list of concerns, which is exactly where it should be. She is rescuing that little girl from, at the very least, poverty and suffering, and at the worst, an ugly, early death. I'm not suggesting that babies from third-world countries be given out without proper background checks simply because their circumstances are so dire that anything has to be an improvement, but I think we should be applauding what she has done rather than fretting over whether she sets quite the example of family values that we might like to see. And personally I think the tremendous amount of money and effort that she has poured into humanitarian causes says a great deal more for her character than all her known and rumored romantic indiscretions.

sephorablue wrote:

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forgive me if this is too blunt and causes offense, but in a country racked with famine and AIDS, with five million orphans--FIVE MILLION--if there is a wealthy American woman with enough care and love to want to adopt one of those poor desperate babies rather than conceive her own, I really think whether the baby has an adequate "father figure" has to be at the bottom of their list of concerns, which is exactly where it should be. She is rescuing that little girl from, at the very least, poverty and suffering, and at the worst, an ugly, early death. I'm not suggesting that babies from third-world countries be given out without proper background checks simply because their circumstances are so dire that anything has to be an improvement, but I think we should be applauding what she has done rather than fretting over whether she sets quite the example of family values that we might like to see. And personally I think the tremendous amount of money and effort that she has poured into humanitarian causes says a great deal more for her character than all her known and rumored romantic indiscretions.

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oh gosh, i feel like a jerk now!!  i was merely suggesting that maybe her & brad really are together.  i definitely do not have a problem w/ her adopting on her own, i'm sure she's more than qualified which she has already proven w/ maddox who she seems to love dearly.  i think that someone who can afford it should definitely be able to adopt alone from a country where the children are in such desperate situations.  i really didn't mean to sound like i was against it, i was only trying to think of more reasons to prove why her & brad are together... i guess i get carried away in the entertainment section sometimes.

i've read in interviews with angelina that billy bob pretty much flew the coop when she first brought maddox home.  for what it's worth, i've seen her around new york a couple times, first with billy bob before the adoption and once with maddox.  she looked worlds happier when she was with her son -- she had a happy smile and a definite glow about her.  in person she's incredibly beautiful.  anyway, that's my two cents worth of insight!  i agree 100% with how sephorablue put things.  angelina jolie really puts herself out there to help people and i respect that.