A few weeks ago, Us Weekly had an exclusive story claiming that Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt “wanted” to adopt a child from Syrian. My mind went to the thousands of Syrian refugees being taken in by Iraqi Kurdistan, Iraq, Jordan and Turkey. Many of those refugees are children, and many of those children are orphans. But! As I said at the time, it’s not like Angelina and Brad can just stop by a refugee camp and grab a child. The protocol for adopting refugees is actually much more difficult that adopting a child from a stable nation-state, and Angelina would know that. Still, it was interesting to me that Us Weekly’s sources were so insistent on this idea that Brad and Angie were ready to adopt again. And now this…

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are planning to adopt another child, this time from war-torn Syria, according to friends. The Hollywood couple have made no secret of the fact that they want to expand their family of six children. They already have Cambodian-born Maddox, 13, Vietnamese Pax, 11, Ethiopian Zahara, 10, biological daughter Shiloh, eight, and six-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne.

A business associate, who has known Brad and Angelina for more than a decade, said yesterday: “She has been moved to tears on several occasions over the plight of youngsters orphaned in the Syrian conflict. Now she has sorted out her health issues, she and Brad believe the time is right to adopt another orphan from there, most likely a daughter.”

In an impassioned plea in November 2013 the actress called on the world to act “to save a generation of traumatised, isolated and suffering Syrian children from catastrophe”. Now she and husband Brad, 51, are ready to follow up on her appeal by legally adopting a Syrian child.

Another friend revealed: “This is something that has become very close to their hearts. They would like to accomplish it, if possible, before the end of summer because, even though they are both busy, their diaries are relatively light for most of 2015. Angelina’s feeling good about turning 40 in June with a clean bill of health but what will make her happiness complete is seeing a new little face at the dinner table.”

[From Express]

I have two simultaneous trains of thought. One thought: where there’s smoke, there’s fire. It seems very suspicious to me that somewhat legit outlets like Express and Us Weekly are saying similar things, claiming that sources close the Jolie-Pitts are telling them that it’s happening. The second train of thought? It’s utter bulls—t because Brad and Angelina’s friends know well enough to keep their mouths shut. Brad and Angelina keep their gossip game pretty tight, especially on matters of their family.

So, what do you think? I’m actually coming around to the idea that Brad and Angelina might be looking to adopt again, but I think these details are wrong – I just don’t see how they could legally adopt a Syrian refugee?

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