CULTURE
Celebrities Who Have Adopted International Children--PICTURES
Updated: July 3, 2012 | 2:04 p.m.
June 21, 2012 | 2:05 p.m.
In the 2011 fiscal year, American parents made 9,319 international adoptions, a sharp drop from the 2004 peak of nearly 23,000, according to data from the State Department.
A combination of corrupted agencies and efforts by countries to limit the number of American adoptions makes it more difficult.
International adoption has had a storied history in the U.S., with some maintaining that adopting internationally cuts into the domestic adoption system, which has more than 100,000 children awaiting adoption and more than 400,000 in foster care, according to the Health and Human Services Department's Administration for Children and Families.
Making a typical splash across the media are celebrities who have made such international adoptions. Take a look at a smattering of celeb parents and send us names of others to possibly add.
Actress Angelina Jolie adopted her first son, Maddox, from Cambodia in 2002. She is pictured above with four of her children, (from left) Maddox, Zahara, and Pax, adopted from Cambodia, Ethiopia, and Vietnam respectively; and Shiloh (right), her biological daughter with actor Brad Pitt. Jolie has two additional children with Pitt, twins Knox and Vivienne. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)
Singer Madonna adopted her son David Banda from Malawi in 2006 after visiting the country while participating in a Raising Malawi initiative. She is pictured above in a 2009 photo holding David and daughter Mercy James, whom she adopted from Malwai in 2009. She also has one biological daughter, Lourdes, born in 1996. (AP Photo)
Actress Katherine Heigl adopted her first daughter, Nancy Leigh (nicknamed Naleigh), from South Korea in 2009 with husband Josh Kelley. The couple is pictured in this 2009 photo with Naleigh at 10 months. In 2012, the couple adopted a second daughter, Adalaide Marie Hope Kelley. (AP Photo/Cheyenne Ellis, PMK-HBH)
Jillian Michaels, known for her role as the fitness guru on reality show Biggest Loser, adopted a 2-year-old from Haiti with her partner, Heidi Rhoades, in 2012. Around the same time as Lukensia's adoption, Rhoades gave birth to a boy, Phoenix. (AP Photo/Carlo Allegri)
Actress Mia Farrow adopted Vietnamese-born Lark and Summer "Daisy" in the 1970s, followed by Soon-Yi Previn from Korea, all with her then-husband André Previn. Scandal soon followed Farrow when news surfaced that Soon-Yi, then 21, was having an affair with Farrow's partner Woody Allen in 1992. Altogether, Farrow has 15 children: four biological and 11 adopted. (AP Photo/Michael Perez)
Actress Julie Andrews and husband Blake Edwards adopted two Vietnamese girls, Amy and Joanna, in 1974 and 1975 respectively. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
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