taraw
07-06-2005, 07:33 AM
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia - Hollywood star Angelina Jolie is adopting an orphaned Ethiopian baby girl, an official said Wednesday.
Jolie visited the Horn of Africa nation last week to file her adoption request, accompanied by her 3-year-old son, whom she adopted in Cambodia, and actor Brad Pitt, her co-star from the recently released "Mr. & Mrs. Smith."
"The paperwork has gone through. Miss Angelina's request was accepted last week. Everything has been completed, so the family can take the baby whenever they want," Hadosh Halefom, head of the country's state-run adoption agency, told The Associated Press.
The child "is less than a year old," Hadosh said, refusing to elaborate.
Hadosh said Jolie met the 10 conditions for adopting a child from Ethiopia.
"The two most important are economic capabilities and check with the police," Hadosh said. "Although she is a film star, she still has to meet the same requirements as everybody else."
The country of 70 million has more than 5 million orphans, their parents lost to famine, disease, war and AIDS - a catastrophe the government has said is "tearing apart the social fabric" of the east African nation.
Caring for the orphans costs $115 million a month in a country whose annual health budget is only $140 million. Because of that, Ethiopia has gone out of its way to make adoption easier.
In 2003, a record 1,400 children were adopted from abroad, more than double the number in the previous year. The number of private adoption agencies in Addis Ababa, the capital, has doubled in the past year to 30.
Ethiopia has enacted strict laws to thwart dubious adoption agents and to ensure that the orphan really exists, that the paperwork is not fraudulent and that no AIDS-infected children are being passed off as healthy.
Agencies charge fees of around $20,000 per child, a relatively inexpensive fee compared to many other countries.
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Jolie visited the Horn of Africa nation last week to file her adoption request, accompanied by her 3-year-old son, whom she adopted in Cambodia, and actor Brad Pitt, her co-star from the recently released "Mr. & Mrs. Smith."
"The paperwork has gone through. Miss Angelina's request was accepted last week. Everything has been completed, so the family can take the baby whenever they want," Hadosh Halefom, head of the country's state-run adoption agency, told The Associated Press.
The child "is less than a year old," Hadosh said, refusing to elaborate.
Hadosh said Jolie met the 10 conditions for adopting a child from Ethiopia.
"The two most important are economic capabilities and check with the police," Hadosh said. "Although she is a film star, she still has to meet the same requirements as everybody else."
The country of 70 million has more than 5 million orphans, their parents lost to famine, disease, war and AIDS - a catastrophe the government has said is "tearing apart the social fabric" of the east African nation.
Caring for the orphans costs $115 million a month in a country whose annual health budget is only $140 million. Because of that, Ethiopia has gone out of its way to make adoption easier.
In 2003, a record 1,400 children were adopted from abroad, more than double the number in the previous year. The number of private adoption agencies in Addis Ababa, the capital, has doubled in the past year to 30.
Ethiopia has enacted strict laws to thwart dubious adoption agents and to ensure that the orphan really exists, that the paperwork is not fraudulent and that no AIDS-infected children are being passed off as healthy.
Agencies charge fees of around $20,000 per child, a relatively inexpensive fee compared to many other countries.
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.