Adoption

Union boss Paul Howes is tipped to be a future Labor leader, but just 16 years ago he was living on the streets after his adoption "happy ending" soured. Here, he shares his story.

Celebrity trainer Jillian Michaels is getting closer to becoming a parent, a life-long dream of the 37-year-old who left her position as trainer on The Biggest Loser in the US to focus on adoption. After beginning the adoption process in 2010 within the Democratic Republic of Congo, she has now been paired up with a […]

Deborra-lee Furness headed a star-studded guest list at a breakfast launching National Adoption Awareness week in Sydney on Monday. She was joined by Rebecca Gibney, Sandra Sully, Layne Beachley, Professor Kerryn Phelps and MP Bronwyn Bishop, as well as actor Jack Thompson, who gave a passionate speech about the opportunities and love he was given […]

Actress Deborra-lee Furness has joined forces with the celebrity “orphan doctor” to save the world’s forgotten children. Bryce Corbett reports. To look at Deborra-lee Furness and Dr Jane Aronson on paper, they make the most unlikely of duos. One is an accomplished actress in her own right and the wife of Aussie Hollywood sensation, Hugh […]

Abandoned as a toddler on the streets of Calcutta, Irani’s future was bleak until an Australian couple decided to adopt her. Jordan Baker charts the bureaucratic nightmare that almost destroyed a little girl’s chance of a new life. Irani Bate’s first years on earth will forever remain a mystery. No one knows anything of her […]

Hollywood actress and model Denise Richards has announced she has adopted a baby girl domestically, introducing Eloise Joni Richards to her family. Denise, who has two girls in seven-year-old Sam and six-year-old Lola with ex-husband Charlie Sheen, welcomed the youngster into her family on June 30. Her representative confirmed to People magazine that Denise had […]

Ruby Mei Zhi Xia McNeil came into her parents’ lives with nothing but a nighty and a pair of plastic shoes. With three years of her life to fill in, Fiona and Jamie McNeil were sure there was more to know about their Chinese adoptive daughter and they were determined to find out. The McNeils, […]

When Angelina Jolie adopted an abandoned boy in Cambodia, no one realised she would go on to pour millions of dollars into his homeland and make a lasting difference to some of the world’s poorest people. As the town of Samlout in north-western Cambodia comes into view, naked children and crumbling shacks give way to […]

Dr Jane Aronson is a world authority on adoption. She has overseen the placement of thousands of children, including to celebrities Angelina Jolie and Mary-Louise Parker. Angelina credits her with saving her daughter Zahara’s life: “My daughter is one of those children whom Jane helped have a chance to live, and I am forever grateful.” […]

The Weekly's Editor-in-chief Helen McCabe on why the magazine is campaigning to change Australia's adoption laws.