The current baby market

One of the questions we receive here most at DearFranz is this one: From where should I adopt a baby? From what country? Where's the newest place? That question has always been popular, so that's why, last year, I developed a top ten list!

The newest on the list is Ireland. An Irish baby shows an awareness of the country's tanking economy and it's noticeable absence of once thriving charities, such as the Magdalene Laundries. The only obvious problem is that the baby's new owner constantly has to tell people about the adoption, since it may not be obvious (e.g. caucasian parent, caucasian baby). And new parents with darker skin may easily be accused of white slavery. Not good!

Donatella Versace and I spent nearly an hour on this list, so I really do hope that it helps. Actually it was longer than that: we were sitting by the pool and had just finished this list when this huge gust of wind blew that list away....right out into the Italian Riviera. I know she'd kill me for saying this, but you should've seen her chasing that sheet of paper...topless. We laughed so hard we almost died. (Even though we had to write down all ten countries all over again!)

Anyway, here it goes:

10. Ireland

9. India (Slumdog Millionaire is still having an impact)

8. Rwanda. What can you say? It has to be somewhere on this list.

7. Vietnam. Many of us who grew up in the seventies and eighties are probably nostalgic for our childhood playmates we got after the fall of Saigon.

6. Cambodia. Angelina Jolie would cut us dead if we didn't give this nation a "shout out"!

5. China. It seems rather mundane. So many people have them. But they just continue to be popular and really say, "adoption!".

4. Turks and Caicos. People really enjoy traveling back and forth there during the adoption process.

3. Ethiopia. A perennial favorite, probably since Hands Across America.

2. Malawi. Last year this was our number one. But two years in row just wouldn't be believable and I think other countries need a chance to "shine".

1. Congo. It's absolutely the most dangerous place right now, so no.1 is only natural, right?

Remember, this list could change immediately if there were to be some natural disaster, like a tsunami or an earthquake in some remote part of the world. Just hope nothing like that happens in the middle of the adoption process! That happened to a woman I know (remotely) and she was really upset about it at first, but then the adoption country became popular again, so everything turned out ok.

Best of luck to you all!