Vietnam speeds up Jolie adoption

Angelina Jolie has already adopted from Cambodia and Ethiopia

Film star Angelina Jolie could soon be taking home a three-year-old Vietnamese boy after the country's authorities speeded up the adoption process.

Vu Duc Long, head of the country's international adoption department, said just the final pieces of paperwork had yet to be processed.

He originally said the adoption could take up to three months to go through official channels.

Jolie has already adopted two children and has another with partner Brad Pitt.

The actors spent last November's Thanksgiving holiday at an orphanage near Ho Chi Minh City playing with the children.

Jolie, 31, filed adoption papers without Pitt because under Vietnamese law unmarried couples may not adopt children.

The actress arrived in Vietnam on Wednesday night ahead of an adoption ceremony on Thursday, according to an Associated Press report.

'Good health'

Vu Duc Long had previously said the child was a boy aged between three and four years from the Tam Binh orphanage in Ho Chi Minh City.

But on Wednesday he declined to confirm the details, adding: "We have been asked to keep the boy's details confidential".

The director of a related orphanage told the Associated Press that Jolie and Pitt had not chosen the child themselves.

"The child was recommended by us, just like any other adoption case," said Nguyen Van Trung, director of the Tam Binh 2 orphanage.

"He is three and a half years old. He is in good health. He is a little bit shy."

Jolie gave birth to Brad Pitt's child last May

Adoptions in Vietnam often take up to six months, but they can be fast-tracked if background checks are completed quickly.

Vu Duc Long said he received Jolie's request for permission to adopt around the beginning of March.

Paperwork has now been completed in the Vietnamese capital, Hanoi, and passed to authorities in Ho Chi Minh City.

Jolie gave birth to a baby daughter, Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt, in Namibia last May.

Pitt later told US TV programme Today that becoming a parent was the "best thing" he had ever done.

In 2002, Jolie adopted her first child, Maddox, from Cambodia, who is now five. Three years later, she signed papers to adopt an Ethiopian baby called Zahara, who is now two.