International adoptions should not just be accessible for celebrities like Angelina Jolie and Madonna.

I’ve heard of two stories about about these adoptions recently – one is inspiring, and the other is tragic, denying a young boy left disfigured after being thrown face down on a fire, the chance of a loving home.

I’ll tell you about 10year-old Kevin Wafula first who was flown to America from Kenya for major reconstructive surgery to his face after being hurled face-first into a burning fire when he was only 4 or 5 years old. He was left with a disfigured face and the loss of his left hands, and had been cruelly abandoned by his parents on the streets of Kenya when he was little, and lived in an orphanage there.

The generosity of philanthropist Paul Zimmerman (Kevin’s legal guardian in the States) and the South Hill Rotary Club funded Kevin’s trip from Kenya. Shriners Hospital provided his reconstructive surgeries free of charge in the Washington community where he settled  in well the local school. He has had three major reconstructions over the last few months, enabling Kevin to sleep with his eyes closed, but he now has to leave America. On 18th October Kevin is due to fly back to Kenya. Several people in his American community have warmed to him so much that they expressed an interest in adopting him, but are unable to because of complex international adoption bureaucracy. He will return to his orphanage, turning his back on the kind of hope and future opportunities he may never have again.

I find that tragic.

Then there is the inspirational story of Francesca Polini who lives in London with her banker husband Rick and offered to adopt a black or Asian child because of the national shortage of ethnic minority couples offering to adopt – only to be refused because they were “too white”. What makes Francesca’s story remarkable is that she was not wanting to adopt because of infertility difficulties, but because she and her husband genuinely wanted to give a child from a deprived background the chance to live in a loving environment.

Francesca, a former Greenpeace communications director, eventually adopted a baby girl from Mexico after overcoming countless obstacles and bureaucracy and believes there should be a radical review of the UK adoption system, with regulated international adoption agencies being able to help families in the UK, instead of being forced to use less reputable agencies overseas.