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We all know that it’s coming eventually and a lot of media sources have already started speculating: The next Jolie-Pitt adoption. Both Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have said they aren’t finished with having kids yet and we know that adoption is still very important to them. They’ve also said in the past that they would like to have a physical balance as far as ethnicity is concerned – for example, they adopted Pax from Vietnam to share some Asian heritage and identity with older brother Maddox from Cambodia.
It stands to reason, then, that they would likely adopt another child from Africa as they did when they adopted Zahara from Ethiopia, or perhaps a child with darker skin from South America. Whether it would be a girl or a boy, I don’t know, and I’m not sure if gender necessarily matters to them.
Obviously we have no way of knowing unless either Brad or Angelina talks to the media and says, “We’re adopting a child from [whichever country] next month!” Which, of course, is highly unlikely!
However, it’s fun to guess and we always have such great conversations in the discussion posts, so in light of a slow-down on the news right now, let’s talk about where Brad and Angelina might go to adopt next!
(Please keep in mind that the majority of us are not necessarily aware of all the international adoption laws, so if anyone should mention countries where it would be just about impossible, kindly refrain from attacking – this is just for fun after all!)
I could have seen the rumor about an adoption in India being true until people mentioned how difficult it would be – having read up on the international adoption laws in India now, I realize that even if they wanted to, it would be a near impossibility.
I see them going back to Africa at this point. They might even go back to Ethiopia specifically. It’s very dear to their hearts, and not just because Zahara was born there but also because they have their clinic that they started there to help treat patients with tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS (through the Jolie-Pitt Foundation). I don’t know what other countries are like for adoption laws (recent news about Madonna’s adoption attempt in Malawi springs to mind), but if they don’t have any specific laws, Darfur might be another option for them – Angelina Jolie visited refugees in Darfur through the UNHCR and saw first-hand how in need the country’s people are.
Another question, which is more interesting to me than whether it will be a boy or a girl, is will it be a baby or an older child? Zahara was a baby when she was adopted (though not a newborn), whereas Pax was a bit older. With their current family dynamic – two twin babies, three pre-schoolers, and an older child – I wonder which would work best for them. I can’t even guess!
Like I said before, for all we know, they may have already filed the preliminary work somewhere to prepare for adopting. Angelina had mentioned they wouldn’t start the adoption process until Knox and Vivienne were six months old due to legal reasons, but that deadline has passed now. In some places, adoption can pass fairly swiftly, but in other countries the wait time can be quite lengthy so they may have needed to get started right away. Maybe while we’re guessing the origins of the next Jolie-Pitt child, they’re already half way through the set-up.
What do you think?
(Thanks to joliepittfanatic for suggesting this topic!)
Image used with permission: Newscom
512 days ago
Tania- Actually, Angie seemed to indicate in her interviews this past Fall that they’ll be adopting next. I actually think that there’s a very good possibility they won’t get pregnant again, due to the fact that Angie’s been through 2 C-sections and one twin pregnancy, and would likely need to have a C-section again if she got pregnant again (most doctors won’t even consider VBAC after you’ve had two C-sections, or at least two C-sections right in a row).
All of that can really take it’s toll on the body, plus pregnancies tend to get riskier the more C-sections you’ve had, and the older you get (not that Angie’s old, by any means, but she IS already, if I’m remembering correctly, 33, which is starting to get up there in terms of having babies and healthy pregnancies).
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512 days ago
phoebe- They don’t. Angie said in at least two seperate interviews this past Fall that they ONLY add to their family when they and the kids they already have are ready for it. Also, Brad’s already 45, so it’s understandable that they want to add to their family sooner rather than later (at least one of them even said a few years a go that, “If we’re going to have 10 children, we’d like to raise them while we’re still young”).
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512 days ago
Oh, and phoebe, I’m not trying to criticize you at all. I understand what you were saying, and am just trying to reassure you. :)
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512 days ago
If she finds an obs who okays a VBAC, it’ll definitely be 2 full years before a pregnancy – but highly unlikely given her history as joliepittfanatic said. Her pregnancies gets riskier and riskier each time! Age-wise, it will be an issue when she hits 35 and risk of genetic issues exponentially increases. Either way, her next pregnancy will be classified as high risk until proven otherwise with her history of LUSCS, PE, GDM and twins. A further LUSCS will definitely be recommended and even then it’ll be a harder one compared to the previous 2 secondary to more scar tissue in the pelvis. We would definitely hate performing 4th and above LUSCS – trying to get to the uterus without cutting through bowels and everything else that gets stuck in scar tissue is a nightmare!
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511 days ago
In case anyone’s wondering, LUSCS stands for Lower Uterine Sagment Ceaseran Section (I looked it up!), or, in plain English, a C-section using a “bikini” cut rather than a vertical one (although we have no idea which type of C-section Angie actually had. Especially with the twins, she may very well have had a “classical” or vertical incision, at least in her uterus. It is possible to do a “bikini” cut through the skin and then a “classical” cut through the uterus.).
That said, however, I want to point out something important about the other things Charmaine mentioned. PE stands for Pulmonary embolism (in otherwords, a blood clot in/near the lungs), and GDM stands for Gestational Diabetes Mellitus…both of which are things that it has NEVER, I repeat, NEVER been proven by any reptuable source that Angie had. It was just the tabs that printed that.
Sorry if I sound defensive. I just h8te when people take what’s in the tabs as the gospel truth (then again, in Charmaine’s defense, she may have read those reports on the Internet or something and not realized they came from tabs!)!
In anycase, I’m guessing that Angie probably didn’t have either one of the affore mentioned things. PE is very serious and often life-threatening, so I’m guessing we’d have heard it from a more reputable source (or even from Angie herself!) if she really HAD battled it. As for Gestational Diabetes, she didn’t really show any of the symptoms (and all three of her bio babies were on the smaller side, with Shi being 7lbs and the twins being 5.3 and 5lbs. Women with GD usually have large babies).
By that I mean she didn’t appear to have any swelling or be exceptionally large (she did get pretty big with the twins, yes, but not really any larger than normal for a twin pregnancy).
However, it would probably still be a bit risky for her to get pregnant again, for the reasons I mentioned earlier, along with the fact that the risk of complications in pregnancy tends to increase with each subsequent pregnancy (for example, the more C-sections a woman has, the more at risk she is for Placenta accreta, a condition in which the placenta implants too deeply into the uterine wall, or even pentrates so deeply that it goes straight through the uterine wall and attaches to the bladder or other organs.).
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511 days ago
UNDER MOD- In response to Charmaine.
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509 days ago
Salmie81, I can understand your worry about them adopting more. Neither one I think is right or wrong, big families are not for everyone. I was just reading on articles on raising big families and there are definitely advantages and disadvantages. My Mom is the youngest of 7 children. All of her siblings were professionals and successful in their careers. I do have to tell you and I might be biased in this one but my Mom is one of the most wonderful and talented person you’ll ever meet! Granted, my grandparents were well off, very kind, loving and down to earth and made sure that each child focused on their education (sent them all to college), bookwise and streetwise, if you know what I mean. My grandfather in particular taught them about helping other people since as a lawyer, he did a lot of probono for those poor familes that coud not pay and their house was always open to all the relatives who are in need. Bottomline is, big families can or cannot work. It just all depends on how it’s handled.
Another thing, I am adopted! I believe that I am one of the lucky chosen ones. Now I am a RN, well travelled, happily married and own my home. Without my loving and supportive parents, I don’t think I could have accomplished any of these things. I am one of 3.
One last thing, you sound like a very good and loving mother and with that I’m sure your kids will grow up fine ;)
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509 days ago
Lucky 7 for The JP’s! Angelina said in a TV interview for Changeling, I think it was it was Anderson Cooper that they are adopting next. I have a feeling it will be a younger Z. African American.
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508 days ago
Brangelina4Ever- Very well said! I want to add that I think some people can raise several kids and be wonderful parents, some people can raise just one child and be wonderful parents, some people can raise several kids but be lousy parents, and some people can raise just one kid and be lousy parents.
My mom, for example, has the exact opposite background that your mother does: She is an only child. However, she turned out just fine, and continues to be very succsefull in life.
On the otherhand, someone can be an only child and turn out terrible. The bottom line is, no matter whether you have one child or several, there are advantages and dis-advantages to both situations, and different family sizes work for different people.
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508 days ago
Brangelina4Ever- Actually, if they adopt from Africa, it will be an African child, not an African American child!
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508 days ago
Lol, you’re quite right joliepittfanatic! I was busy being politically correct that I totally missed being correct:) By the way, I was adopted twice within the same family!
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507 days ago
Last night I was reading some old tabloid “stories” about the J-Ps (while I don’t actively search for tab “stories” I DO sometimes stumble across them when searching for other J-P related things…or for tab cover pictures, which I sometimes do just for fun and to have a good laugh!)…and I really had to chuckle at one of them.
The “story” was the one about them adopting an Ethiopian girl that circulated earlier this year and was started by Out of Touch. According to Out of Touch, Angie was going to go to Addis Ababba (the capital city) to file the adoption papers…and then pick up the new J-P two days later!
Clearly the tabs have absolutly no clue about how the adoption process works! I mean, maybe celebs get preferential treatment in some countries, but even they cannot adopt a child in just two days!
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507 days ago
Oh, and I also wanted to say that, after reading the above-mentioned “story”, I can now see why some people complain that Angie “collects” kids. Some of those people probably are just h8ters looking for any excuse to bash Angie, but some of them are probably people who get their J-P “news” from tabs.
If you relied only on the tabs for J-P “news”, then you would probably get the impression that she “collects” kids! Good thing we Pittwatchers don’t take the tabs seriously!
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505 days ago
Why not a white child, perhaps from somewhere like Russia, even closer to home in the US? It would send a powerful message to all 6 of her children that Asian and African are not the only ones who need to be “helped”. All children need and deserve loving adoptive parents.
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504 days ago
Auntie- First of all, I want to thank you keeping your comment respectful. Unfourtantely, a lot of other people who make similar comments don’t do so.
Anyway, I see your point. However, they have talked about wanting to balance the races in the house, and so far Shi and the twins have each other, and Maddox has Pax (and vice versa). So, logically, it seems like they will next adopt an African sibling for Zee.
That said, they may adopt a white child in the future, but I doubt it will be from the U.S. Some one please correct me if I’m wrong, but, from what I’ve heard, you generally aren’t allowed to adopt from the U.S. if you have a past history of substance abuse, and Angie has been very open about the fact that she abused drugs in the past.
Also, I think their family size would disqualify them for adopting in the U.S.
All of that said, however, I think that might actually make a good discussion topic: Why don’t Angie and Brad adopt in the U.S. (as long as it was made clear that, as with all Pittwatch discussion posts, it was for dicussing the topic, NOT bashing Angie and Brad for not adopting kids from the U.S.!)?
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504 days ago
UNDER MOD- Response to Auntie.
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502 days ago
Hello, thank you for not reacting too negatively to my comment. The Pitt-Jolies have every right to focus on balancing out the races in their own family. I myself am an Asian, living in Southeast Asia where poverty does in fact generate enormous needs for good adoptive parents. Adopting a white brother or sister can send a powerful message to the non-white siblings that Asians and Blacks aren’t in some way “weaker”, in the sense that they need rescuing more than white kids. Peace – Auntie
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391 days ago
JUST LEAVE THEM ALONE, LET THEM BE A FAMILY LIKE WE ALL ARE TRYING TO DO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HEY BRAD & ANG, YOU REMIND ME OF ME & MY HUSBAND’S RELATIONSHIP & OUR FAMILY.
THANKS…..
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