Changing LIVES... One Child At A Time.

Adopting and changing the lives of children all over the world. There has been several controversial debates as to whether it's right or wrong. Who knows which celebrity was the first to begin the whole craze. One thing that is for sure, is that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie definitely played a huge role in making it widely popular. 


Angelina and Brad have 6 kids, three of which have been adopted. Before her relationship with Pitt even bloomed, Angelina had already adopted her first child Maddox in 2002 from Cambodia, who was later adopted by Pitt as well. Together the couple adopted Zahara from Ethiopia in 2005, and Vietnamese Pax in 2007. After receiving so much attention from the press and the media, Brad and Angelina better became known as Brangelina. 


This couple became a huge discussion across the world. There were debates on whether it was right or wrong for them to adopt. Questions like, was it for the right reason? Are they capable of fulfilling this child's life? Were they getting too much attention? Was this lifestyle healthy for the children? Were they spending their money most effectively? America became obsessed with the couple and demanded updates ever minute of the day. I think still til this day, these questions remain unanswered in many of the media's eyes, but I also think it has opened the eyes of others. On a positive note, Brangelina inspired many to explore their options of adoption. Being such popular public figures that they are, they had an advantage of easily influencing their audience. 


Other celebrity families have followed in the footsteps of Brangelina, and expanded their family by adopting a child. Some rides along the way have not been so easy such as Madonna's with adopting one of her children. Madonna is a mother to two adopted children, David Banda, and a Malawian child Mercy James. Conflict arose when Madonna first attempted to adopt Mercy James. There was a debate on the controversies of raising a child outside of their culture. 


Adoption has opened up so many opportunities to many individuals. For example, before adoption was some what acceptable within the gay community, same sex couples were at a loss when it came to children. Celebrities such as Rosie O Donnell and wife Kelli helped change the lives of people in this situation. Rosie and Kelli adopted Parker Jaron (born in 1995), Chelsea Belle(1997), and Blake Christopher in 1999. Their fourth child Viviane Rose, born in 2002 was concieved through aritificial insemination. The couple tried to adopt a foster child in 2001 but sadly the state of Florida banned same sex adoptions. Despite this unfortunate situation, the O' Donnells along with others as public figures, in my eyes help make this more acceptable. 

One more thing I wanted to take notice to was the increase of adoptions within single parents. Very recently Sandra Bullock has taken on the responsibility to raise a child on her own. Although this wasn't her original plan, when beginning the process four years ago with her husband at the time. Sandra hasn't been hesitate with moving on despite her separation from her husband because of cheating. Sandra is the mother of 9 month-old son Louis Bardo Bullock, who she will now raise as a single mother. Sandra has become an inspiration at it's best. There are so many women in this world that can easily relate to her situation. Despite her wealth, Sandra's will to move through pain says a lot about her character, it's REAL.