Elton John wants to adopt Ukrainian orphan who 'has stolen his heart'
September 14, 2009
Elton John wants to adopt Ukrainian orphan who 'has stolen his heart'
Lucy Bannerman and Rosemary Bennett
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(Sergei Supinsky/AFP/Getty Images)
Sir Elton John holds little Lev, a patient of a specialized orphanage for HIV-positive children in the Ukrainian city of Makeyevka.
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British adoption rules could face another celebrity challenge after Sir Elton John announced his desire to adopt a 14-month-old boy from Ukraine.
The musician, who has not previously expressed an interest in adopting, had a change of heart after meeting Lev in an orphanage.
Serious questions will be asked about the singer’s age of 62. The rule of thumb in Britain is that the parent should be no older than retirement age when the child is 18, meaning that the singer would have to rely on his civil partner, David Furnish, who would be 63 when the child reaches 18.
Sir Elton, who once joked that he would never adopt a child because “frankly, I refuse to breastfeed”, told reporters that the little boy had “stolen his heart”.
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The singer had been visiting the orphanage during a visit with his Aids Foundation, and performed Circle of Life for the children, some of whom had lost their parents to Aids.
When asked later whether he had considered adopting, the singer said that he had changed his mind, adding that he would now begin investigating how to go about the procedure.
Britain has one of the lowest rates of international adoption in the developed world. The process takes up to two years and costs at least £20,000, putting it out of reach of all but the most determined couples.
The home-based vetting procedure is the same as for domestic adoptions and takes at least a year, when many visits and assessments are made.
There has been a sharp increase in the number of children adopted from Ukraine in the past few years after legislation in 2008 to address the problem of abandoned children. About 450 children were adopted from Ukraine by Americans last year.
Little encouragement is given for intercountry adoption by social workers. Many fear that children suffer when they are moved from their own communities and never really feel like family members. The same reservations have led to a virtual ban on interracial adoptions within Britain.
The singer said yesterday: “David and I have always talked about adoption. David always wanted to adopt a child and I always said no because I am 62 and I think, because of the travelling I do and the life I have, maybe it wouldn’t be fair for the child.
“But having seen Lev today, I would love to adopt him. I don’t know how we do that but he has stolen my heart. And he has stolen David’s heart and it would be wonderful if we can have a home. I’ve changed my mind today.”
Sir Elton also added that the death of his keyboard player, Guy Babylon, last week at the age of 52 had helped to change his mind. “What better opportunity \ to replace someone I lost with someone I can give a future to,” he said.
The singer Madonna’s legal battle to adopt a second Malawian child has already put adoption rules to the test.
She finally won her attempt to adopt Chifundo “Mercy” James, 4, after her original application was rejected. Malawian law requires parents to have been resident in the country for at least 18 months before adopting a child.
David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, and his wife Louise Shackleton, a concert violinist, have adopted two children from the United States. Ms Shackleton has dual British-US nationality and has adoption rights there.
The international children’s charity EveryChild yesterday condemned Sir Elton’s plans, claiming that they could result in more youngsters being abandoned. Anna Feuchtwang, its chief executive, said research showed that news of adoptions by wealthy foreigners encouraged mothers to place their children in care in the hope that they would get a better life. “The actions of celebrities such as Madonna, and now possibly Elton John, could be actually increasing the number of children in children’s homes in countries like Ukraine,” she said.
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