[riverview]

ok, we follow the rules and wait and wait and wait and wait and wait..... Anyone famous can just wait 3 weeks and pick up baby......

Here is the news article.

Angelina Jolie's adoption application is being processed quickly and she could pick up her
new 3 1/2-year-old son within a few weeks...

Anyone else outraged by this!! Why is it that SHE and others can get away with this. The US govt is being totally unfair to the rest of the regular US citizens adopting.

[BrandyHagz]

Seriously - you think she didn't have to meet all of the same US requirements? Do you honestly think she just decided, three weeks ago, to adopt - the *poof* she adopted?

Really folks- you've got an entire THREAD on how the media treats adoption - please keep that in mind when you're getting ticked off about how easy everyone else has it.

[JosieWales]

I wonder if even if we were breathtakingly rich if we could get a baby sooner, since we're not celebrities, or is it just the money?

My application certainly wasn't "processed quickly" and I did that months ago. To get the APPLICATION (the very first step in the whole process!) processed then get your baby in a few weeks really is fast.

Of course, the media is saying dumb things, so they may have used "application" incorrectly.

I do not think everyone else has it easier. I harbor no bitterness toward AJ. Just wish it could so fast for the rest of us peons.

[Snow girl]

To be fair, it is a different country & sometimes older children are processed fasster. But...we looked at Vietnam & were told it would be at least 9 months for an infant referral.

[Pipercub]

I guess I see this and I just have to be happy for the baby. Maybe the expedited things were on the foreign country side. Or maybe she was given her I-600 faster than usual. (Although, my I-I71H didn't really take all that long.) I dunno.

But I do know that Angelina Jolie is an amazing person. She was interviewed recently and responded to folks who say she just does this for celebrity. She has spent the last six years of her life visiting and working in 30 camps. She says the she cried during the first two because she felt like the work that needs to be done around the world was too much - it seemed like it was hopeless. But now she feels strongly that we can make a difference - and she's committed to her work. She seems like a very committed mother.

I guess what I am trying to say is I think she has raised a tremendous awareness to children's needs around the world that very few people have. She is an amabassador for the United Nations, and I can see governments willing to expedite things for her for that position alone. But to be fair, I remember hearing about this adoption being in process months and months ago. And she's NOT adopting an infant. Even countries like China will expedite the adoption of a child that is not a baby. (My friend is a writer for PEOPLE magazine and has interviewed her many times - even after Shiloh was born.) I think we're just hearing more about it now because she is close to done.

Anyway, I know waiting is hard. I hope your child is in your arms forever soon! But don't feel bad about this. <3

[devildogwife]

First of all, not every agency has a 9 months wait for an infant, and second of all, she's not adopting an infant! No one knows either just how long she has been in process for. She's most likely not going to make every detail of her adoption process for this child public, so how do we really know? And different provinces have different travel times after referral. Perhaps she is adopting from a province that gives quick travel approval.

[KKR213]

I don't know the process in Viet Nam but the article I read said that she was in Viet Nam in November and that the little boy has been in the orphanage since he was an infant. It also says that since he is older his paperwork was in order for him to be adopted and that they are moving quickly because he is older.

[Jonesfor2]

OK here's one...Vietnam does not allow unmarried couples to adopt....so she filed the paperwork as a single parent....do you think anyone of us could be an "unmarried couple" and have that be ok??? Now don't get me wrong...I think it is great when these children that need homes are adopted...but I wonder about how HER Homestudy might read????
We all just want the process that we go through to be fair...fair across the board and when you sit in PGN and get kicked out for documents that are not missing or other such things you can't help but wonder if someone like A. Jolie has ever worried about her fingerprints expiring???

[JosieWales]

Oh, he's older! I thought he was a 3 1/2 month old. Well, that does make a difference as far as speed.

[BrandyHagz]

Procedures for American Citizens Adopting an Orphan in Vietnam - Hanoi, Vietnam

Singles are welcome to adopt - please make sure you aren't posting agency rules in place of country rules.

D. Parties in an Adoption
Vietnamese children 15 years or younger may be adopted. Children 9 years and older must consent to their adoption.

Only one single person or one married couple may adopt. S/he or they must meet all of the following requirements. If married, both persons must meet all requirements. Vietnam law permits adoption by married couples (one man, one woman) and single heterosexual persons. Vietnam law prohibits homosexual individuals or couple from adopting Vietnamese children. Foreigners must also meet adoption requirements of their residence.

*
Full legal capacity;
*
20 years or more older than the child to be adopted;
*
Good ethic qualities;
*
Capacity to care for, support, and educate the child; and
*
Have not had their parental rights restricted by authorities.

[shellysarita]

I just read yesterday that she started this process in May of last year.

Love, Shelly

[kdibattista]

My understanding is that she has been in process for awhile, starting it almost a year ago when their daughter was born... this didn't just happen.

[Synesthesia]

She probably adopted a waiting child. I've read those process faster.
But mostly I'm wandering about the birth order thing.
Ah, well. Angelina Jolie is cool.

[LISAKAYE]

I agree with the last few posters. I also read she started the process about a year ago.

Lisa

[specialk4b]

I just read yesterday that she started this process in May of last year.

She must have been working on it as she just got her 171h and we all know those take more than a minute. I'm guessing that the news picked it up when she was issued her 171h. That's probably a matter of public record somewhere.

If I had every aspect of my life examined by the presss, I probably would keep as much under wraps as long as possible.