These celebs embraced adoption and we love them for it

National Adoption Day is observed annually on the Saturday before Thanksgiving. This event is focused on raising awareness of children in foster care waiting to be adopted. Although celebrities share much of their lives with the public, in sharing their love, some have privately chosen to do so via adoption. These celebs opened their homes and hearts, building amazing families in the process.

America’s sweetheart, Sandra Bullock, started her family in 2010 when she brought home her son, Louis. Five years later, she adopted her daughter, Laila. She told People magazine, “I can tell you absolutely, the exact right children came to me at the exact right time.”

Photo: Getty Images
Photo: Getty Images

When she’s not fighting crime on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Mariska Hargitay is busy raising a family with husband (and star of Younger) Peter Hermann. Hargitay gave birth to their first child, August, in 2006. When she and Hermann were ready for a bigger family, they adopted two more bundles of joy: Amaya Josephine and Andrew Nicolas! She jokingly told Good Housekeeping: “August thinks this was all his idea. He said, ‘I want a baby sister,’ and Amaya came. Then he said, ‘I want a baby brother,’ and Andrew came.”

Photo: Getty Images
Photo: Getty Images

The “material girl” had enough love to go around, and Madonna’s small family soon grew to include six adorable kids — four of whom were adopted from Malawi. David Banda, Mercy, and twins Esther and Stella joined her two older kids, Lourdes and Rocco, as part of the pop star’s clan.

Photo: Getty Images
Photo: Getty Images

Viola Davis became a mother in 2011 when she and husband Julius Tennon adopted daughter, Genesis. She told InStyle, “There are so many ways to mother rather than to carry a child in your body. So many children need parents, and so many of us want to mother. Know that you will experience motherhood to the full extent.”

Photo: Getty Images
Photo: Getty Images

One of our all-time favorite Hollywood couples, Hugh Jackman and Deborra-Lee Furness, have been very public about their struggles to start a family. Jackman told Katie Couric, “Deb and I always wanted to adopt. So that was always in our plan. We didn’t know where in the process that would happen but biologically obviously we tried and it was not happening for us and it is a difficult time.” The duo eventually brought Oscar Maximilian and Ava Eliot into their lives, and realized their dream of becoming parents. “You can’t even explain how incredible it is and that avalanche of emotion that comes and how it opens up your heart, how it frustrates you, how it angers you, how everything is just all the sudden how alive you are as a parent.”

Photo: Paul Hiffmeyer/Disneyland
Photo: Paul Hiffmeyer/Disneyland

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