U.S. adoptions of Africans on rise

MONROVIA, Liberia — American couples are adopting more African children, prompted by an increase in the number of orphans, the end of wars, and even by movie star Angelina Jolie's adoption of a baby girl in Ethiopia last year, according to analysts and agencies that help place the children.

Ethiopia and Liberia have become particularly popular for adoptive American parents because of the relatively simple regulations and because both nations allow U.S. agencies to operate in their countries, facilitating the complicated process.

Last year, U.S. immigration officials granted 623 visas for orphans from Ethiopia and Liberia, according to the State Department; this year, the figure is expected to grow substantially, perhaps by several hundred children, U.S. consular officials predicted. The 2005 figure for the two countries is nearly 10 times what it was in 1995.

International adoptions began in substantial numbers in the aftermath of World War II, as U.S. parents took in German and Japanese orphans. In 2005, China and Russia accounted for more than half of all international adoptions, followed by Guatemala, South Korea, Ukraine and Kazakhstan. Ethiopia is seventh on last year's list, Liberia 12th, and Nigeria 17th. In all, 22,728 children received U.S. visas last year, more than triple the number in 1990.

"We definitely see a spike in the number of adoptions from Africa," said Adam Pertman, executive director of Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, a New York-based advocacy group that researches adoptions laws, policies, and practices.

Pertman attributed the increase to news reports on AIDS orphans and the realization by some African countries that "they can't cope with their numbers of children . . . and some of it is star driven. After Angelina Jolie adopted a kid from Ethiopia, agencies got a spate of calls from parents wanting to know how to adopt a kid from Ethiopia."

Jolie, 30, adopted Zahara Marley, an AIDS orphan, last year; she had already adopted Maddox, a boy from Cambodia, who is now 4. She and movie star Brad Pitt, 42, are now staying in the southern African country of Namibia, where Jolie is expected to deliver their first biological baby any day now. They said they chose Namibia because they loved the natural environment, and because they hoped it would afford them some privacy.

While Americans have adopted Ethiopian children for years, the number of adoptions from Liberia greatly expanded after 2003, after the end of 14 years of civil war.