“Til Death” actress Joely Fisher is speaking out about the importance of adopting children from right here in the U.S. as opposed to seeking kids from other countries. Fisher, whose family grew by one last month when she and her husband adopted a girl, Olivia, from South Central L.A., says that through her work as an ambassador for Save the Children, she learned that most foreign countries don’t want people taking their needy children out of their country- instead they’d like help sustaining their countries so these kids can grow up there.
Over a month after adopting an African-American baby from the Los Angeles area, Joely Fisher talks to Star about the importance of adopting domestically.
Star told you first that the ‘Til Death star and her husband Chris Duddy adopted a baby girl, Olivia Luna Fisher-Duddy, from South Central Los Angeles. Now, Joely reveals what went into her decision.
“I always thought that I would adopt,” the actress told Star at the TotSpot.com launch part at the Treehouse Social Club. “I’ve had many friends go into China, Africa or wherever [to adopt]. I went to Africa — not in search of a baby, as Ambassador for Save the Children — and they don’t really want you to take their children. They want to sustain. They want to have a way to keep their countries prospering and have happy, healthy children. It’s tough over there.”
So when Joely and Chris decided to add to their family, they didn’t have to look further than their home state. “There are 70,000 children in foster care in the state of California,” she says. “That’s 7-0. It’s unbelievable! There are many children in our own city that need parents.”
Joely also has two biological children. I think she was very diplomatic here – she didn’t disparage foreign adoption or people who choose that route, but instead pointed out the need for adoptive parents domestically.
OMG – everybody’s jumping on the anti-Angelina bandwagon. First Jennifer Aniston drops a bomb on her in Vogue and now Joely is raising awareness about unwanted US kids.
yeah, i’m sure that’s why she did it, to get to Angelina….
Dur, there are “unwanted” children in the USA, and *every* country. Adoption should be encouraged however possible. Loving families and needy children aren’t exclusive to one country.
Fisher’s sort of grossly oversimplifying – “Oh, don’t adopt from other countries because those people just need a stable economy!” Just in case Ethopia’s economy doesn’t grow a middle class overnight, how about some rich Americans adopt some of those kids dying in an orphanage? Why judge?
Yes, everything has to do with ANGELINA!
Will Brad now call up Joely whining about how “totally thrown” he and Angelina were about that statement?
I think it is great that somebody in the public eye actually addresses the issue of children in need of love and security right here in our very own backyard. kudos to her. I am in the process of adopting a new member from our own state, our own country and not a baby, who is in desperate need of a stable home and the love she deserves.
Oh god, can we leave the Terrible Trio out of this? She didn’t say a thing about Angelina, Brad, Jennifer. Or about Madonna either. She didn’t even say people shouldn’t adopt from other countries. She just pointed out that there are kids in this country in need of adoption and that she adopted one of them. Kudos to her! Any child, no matter what its nationality, that is adopted and saved from a life in foster care or an orphanage, is a triumph.
congrats to Joely and her family on their new addition. There are plenty of children around the world that need a loving family, but I do applaud her for looking right out her front door. Maybe a bit controversial (religion, beliefs), but I strongly believe in bringing womens’ birth control to these countries, along with the condoms for prevention of disease.
Geez, some people have a problem no matter what a celebrity says. She’s not criticizing anyone for adopting children from other countries (in fact she says she thought about doing it also). She is just pointing out the need right here in California.
And for all those Prop 8 supporters, you’re totally right…it’s sooo much better for these 70,000 poor children to remain in orphanages than to be adopted by a married gay couple cuz then they’ll learn to be gay too.
I always wondered why so many people go out of country to adopt when clearly there are thousands and thousands and thousands of children that are available for adoption in one’s country. I remember the huge flurry of adoptions of baby girls from China. Now China is experiencing a real bad decline in the female population and they’re starting to stop adoptions of baby girls from there. Anyway, getting off track, why do so many people, especially celebrities, adopt from outside the USA? Could it be the paperwork involved for adoption is “lax” in other countries or the waiting lists much shorter? It can’t be the cost because I understand foreign adoption can be like $50,000 or more. Whatever the reasons, it is clear domestic adoption procedures need to change for the better so people are encouraged to adopt from their own country instead of other countries.
Most people that adopt from outside the U.S. do so because they don’t have to fear the birth mother coming back when the child is 8 and being given rights from the court system to take the child away again.
I know more than a couple families who have adopted from China…and they all did that rather than adopt babies in America because they wanted to have a family without fear of the birth mother.
Only in America would we give legal rights to DNA over giving legal rights to the home that nurtures a child.
Does it really matter why or where people adopt from? Just the act of giving a child a home is amazing enough and it’s 100% a personal choice.
I don’t know…I’m really with Fisher on this one. I know, I’ve read the quote from Mary Louise Parker, but if you live here, on this soil and plan to raise a family here, I feel you need to think of America first. Unloved kids can turn into adults with lost souls, and THAT has a great effect on us. So, major kudos to her.
P.S I knew this waspy woman once, and she was talking about how bad the aborigani’s (sp?- don’t have time to check) had it in Australia and I said, sort of like the blacks here have/do….and you should of saw the look of disgust she sent me. It was in this same conversation where she went on to describe how poor the countries in Africa were, how the children had nothing but fantastic teeth, so I asked her, what she was going to do to help, as she was traveling in these countries as a gift to herself for selling her company for around ten million dollars. Again, a look of disgust as she wouldn’t dare think of such a thing. She went on to tell me how where she lived in Ct, had the highest income per capita..and I said, funny as when I was overseas in school, Bridgeport, Ct was one of our choices for a child on the Save The Children list. I guess what I am trying to say, sometimes it’s just not chic to help the poor near our communities and more often then not, people sympathize with things that seem more exotic.
So, great for Ms. Fisher.
Yes, I think it does, Doodahs, but not in the way you mean. I agree with you totally that no matter where you adopt from, you are giving that child a better life, and I would never bash domestic adoptions vs. foreign adoptions or vice versa.
HOWEVER…
When a huge part of the reason people look outside their own country to show that compassion is because if they chose to adopt one of their countrymen’s children they are sentenced to keeping contact with the teen mother or crackhead mother or whoever it was who gave birth…putting up with her input while the state calls it co-parenting or somesuch nonsense…dealing with the damage and confusion that causes the child…facing the constant fear that if said egg donor gets her act together at some later date and “wants her baby back,” the courts will likely grant her that…
well…given all that, I think that it does matter where people get their adopted children from. Questions should be asked. It should be looked into. It should be repaired.
She and her husband do a wonderful thing by adopting a child and yet people STILL can’t help bringing AJ and BP into the conversation.
Although I believe every child no matter where they live should have a stable home I have to agree with Fisher. 3 of my sisters are foster parents. 1 has adopted one of her foster kids and another is in the process. They have biological children of their own.
It saddens me to see children go into the system and don’t get adopted. It seems strange to me that you would rather ignore the child next door and go 1000s of miles away to get one. I hear a lot about how hard it is to adopt but it’s really not that hard. And some of those who complain aren’t fit to adopt here and shouldn’t adopt from anywhere.
Instead of adopting children from other countries you can donate money and help their communities in other ways, so they can raise their own children.
And instead of taking one child and leaving millions behind you- how about using the money to help the orphanages and make the lives of many children there so much better.
International adoption has become an industry and is some places that means exploitation and horrible things- because wealthy Americans pay for these adoptions and by doing so – they make it impossible for a couple who can’t have children but is not rich- from adoption.
Kudos to Joely Fischer for drawing attention the issue of domestic adoption. Foreign adoptions have serious consequences to their society. Families and cultures should not lose their children to westerners simply because they are poor! David Banda (Madonna adoptee) is a perfect example, his father is still alive and would like to have raised him yet did not have the money. How can you walk away with someone’s child or grandchild simply because they do not have the money, power and privilege of those adopting their kids. Help build infrastructure such as schools and clinics. Adopt stateside where young American children need families.