According to this blog (citing the People article), Katherine Heigl and her husband began the paperwork for their daughter's adoption "shortly after their December 2007 wedding."

Susan Cox, well-known spokesperson for Korean adoptees and VP of Holt International Adoption Agency refuted claims that the star received "special treatment." According to this blogger, "Cox said that Heigl and Kelley did not get special treatment and the
adoption was done according to good social work practices of putting
the child's needs first."

I would respectfully disagree. As an social worker at an agency doing home studies, prospective parents home studies were postponed until after 1 year of any big life event, including a marriage, divorce, birth of a child, death of a close loved one. From what I understood (not having done home studies for international adoption) the marriage requirement for Korea is 3 years.

1) I hope that the social workers working with Heigl and Kelly actually followed protocol (but I'm guessing that didn't happen and they DID get special treatment; and

2) putting the best needs of the child first would mean placing that child with a couple that met the required protocol for adoption. I'm sure there were plenty of other families who were ready and had been waiting longer.