Children are sent to orphanages in hope to appear abroad · 2008-04-08 19:32
Celebrities such as Madonna who adopt children from poor countries are doing more harm than good, researchers claimed.
They said that demand for children from wealthy Westerners means large numbers of families in the developing world are sending their children to orphanages in the hope that they will be adopted abroad.
Their view is likely to upset couples in Britain who are trying to adopt children from overseas because of the difficulty of adopting a child in this country.
It is said that adoptions from abroad are too much of a trade and do harm to the children involved.
The researchers said orphans were better with foster carers in their own country and that international adoption should be a last resort, Daily Mail reports.
Madonna is not the only celebrity to have adopted a child from abroad. Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have a "rainbow family" with two adopted boys, Maddox from Cambodia and Pax Thien from Vietnam, and a girl, Zahara, from Ethiopia.
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