Nice story, bad system

I don't know who Josh Kelley and Katherine Heigl are. Nor do I read People magazine outside of a barber shop (and even then it's last pick). As far as I'm concerned, they both exist in cloudy realms of my consciousness called "Not-My-Business."

Nevertheless, this week's issue of People magazine made me angry. It wasn't because I don't approve of their adoption of a baby from Korea. Far from it; any baby that needs a home deserves to have one. I applaud their bravery in adopting a special-needs child, and I hope they make a happy family.

Yet as a celebrity adoption, People's coverage of the event seemed to equate it with Angelina Jolie's Cambodian adoptions or Madonna's attempted adoption in Malawi. Korea doesn't deserve that.

First off, Korea's not a poor country. It may have been when Heigl's sister was adopted, but it's not now. Its per capita GDP is 51st in the world, according to the CIA factbook, putting it between New Zealand (50) and Portugal (55).

If Kelley and Heigl had traveled to Auckland to adopt a baby, I doubt that fact would have made it on the cover. It just wouldn't have been newsworthy. If anything, the public would have asked "Why'd she go to New Zealand to adopt a baby?"

People don't do that with Korea.

That brings me to my second point. Folks don't ask "Why Korea?" because that's a normal thing. Lots of Americans have adopted Korean children (98,000 by U.S. families between 1955 and 1998). I'd venture to say the American public equates it to adopting a baby girl from China, even though China ranks 133rd on that list.

So while I'm happy that little Naleigh has found a good home, it's not because one wasn't available in her country of birth.

And in this story, that's the cloud beneath the silver lining.