ABSTRACT
Inter-country adoption is a subject that has seized much popular attention, and on occasion has attracted news headlines about celebrity adoptions. A storm of protest occurred when Madonna attempted to adopt an infant from an orphanage in Malawi (Mezmur 2008, 2009), and Angelina Jolie’s adoption of an infant from Ethiopia has been said to have had a role to play in the increased number of adoptions from that country (Mezmur 2012: 51). In one respect, inter-country adoption is seen as an act which provides a loving and secure home to a child who faces an otherwise bleak future.
