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Jolie-Thornton Adoption Delayed
The child, a Cambodian-born infant the couple named Maddox, is technically not allowed in the United States.
The U.S. ambassador to Cambodia, Kent Wiedemann, said Wednesday that the reason Maddox, who has a Cambodian passport, has not been granted a U.S. visa is due to strict federal regulations.
Beginning in December, the government barred adoptions from Cambodia because of the country's notorious--and illegal--adoption trade, in which peniless mothers received large sums of money to give their newborns to orphanages, where typically wealthy American families would adopt them.
Wiedemann tells the Associated Press that initial research into the background of Angelina and Billy Bob's baby show that he's not a "trafficked child." Still, the tattooed twosome will have to wait in line with various other hopeful parents. (While the U.S. has outlawed adoption from the Southeast Asian nation, government administrators are still making exceptions for applications filled out before December.)
"[Maddox is among the] hundreds of others in the pipeline, so to say, and we haven't gotten to the point of adjudicating it," Wiedemann said. "I'm certain that Thornton and Jolie both know that...they must complete the proper procedures in accordance with U.S. law before bringing the child into the U.S."
In a statement released Tuesday, Jolie and Thornton said they first met the 7 1/2-month-old Maddox in November, while touring a Cambodian orphanage. They said they immediately "felt a connection" to the boy and wanted to adopt him.
Since then, the 26-year-old Jolie and 46-year-old Thornton have been working overtime to adopt the boy. The adoption was approved by Cambodian officials on Monday, but the Oscar-winning couple must wait on final approval from American authorities before bringing Maddox to the States.
(Apparently, the couple was waiting to go through all the red tape before they were planning on announcing the adoption--but Jolie's father, Jon Voight, leaked the news on Monday, prompting the couple's statement.)
Jolie and Thornton said they planned on raising Maddox in both the U.S. and Cambodia, where they are presently house-hunting. They also said Maddox "will be spending his first few months with us in Africa [where Jolie has been shooting her new movie] and Asia," presumably until they can clear his immigration status.
Last year, Jolie was named a United Nation goodwill ambassador for her work with refugees. Jolie became aware of the cause while filming Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, during which time she toured refugee villages in Cambodia and Sierra Leone. She has since spent time in encampments in the Ivory Coast and Tanzania in Africa.
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