Pop Singer Madonna ‘to adopt second child from Malawi’

Madonna is expected in Malawi this weekend to try to adopt a second child from the impoverished southern African country, government sources have told The Times.

The pop singer, who divorced Guy Ritchie, the film director, recently, will take her Malawian son David with her to visit his natural father as part of the controversial deal that allowed his adoption to be fast tracked.

“We expect her over the weekend or even earlier than that . . . but without a doubt she is coming,” said an official at the Ministry of Child Development, which deals with foreign adoptions.
Sources also confirmed that Madonna may attend a procedural hearing at the High Court on a second adoption on Monday. However, child rights activists noted that as a single parent the singer could face a bigger legal battle second time round, as Malawian law strongly favours adoptions by married couples.

“She will have to prove that as a single parent she still has the abilities to raise another child alone,” said John Phiri, a local activist who strongly criticised the Government over the previous adoption for apparently bending the regulations.

Malawi does not approve adoptions for single or divorced people as a rule, but the official at the country’s welfare department said that each case was considered on merit.

In an interview with the daily Nation newspaper this month Madonna was quoted as saying that Malawian friends had advised her that David needed a brother or sister. She admitted wanting to adopt again but “only with the support of the Malawian people”.

Writing in response to e-mailed questions from readers last week, Madonna said: “It’s something I have been considering.” Critics had accused the Malawian Government of sidestepping laws banning foreign adoptions simply because Madonna, 50, was a wealthy celebrity.

The singer was accused of “buying” the child after she set up a charity called Raising Malawi, which is about to start building a multimillion-pound school for girls. Madonna took David Banda, then 13 months old, to Britain in 2006, but the adoption was declared official only last year. Normally, children have to stay in the country until the adoption is legalised. Supporters said that David, who had been left in an orphanage by his father, would receive an education and have a life of far greater opportunity. He now lives in a sumptuous flat in New York and already has a lifestyle unimaginable in his native village of Lipunga, where people eke out a living eating maize cooked on open fires, and a wealthy person is someone who earns £1 a day.

After David’s adoption was legalised, Madonna said that the difficulties had arisen because “this adoption essentially was the beginning of the creation of adoption laws in Malawi”. She said she hoped that it would make it easier for others to adopt from the country, adding: “I am the template or the role model, so to speak, for future adoptions.”

The star has two biological children – Rocco, her son with Guy Ritchie, and Lourdes, whose father is Carlos Leon. Madonna’s divorce was finalised in November. David’s father, Yohane Banda, a peasant farmer, said that he had been told he might see his son next week. “Someone from Raising Malawi visited me last week and told me that my son may be visiting me sometime next week. I am delighted. I want to see my son,” he was quoted as saying by Reuters.


News Sourc: women.timesonline.co.uk

Pop Singer Madonna ‘to adopt second child from Malawi’

Head to head: Pop Star Madonna adoption

Pop star Madonna is in Malawi awaiting the result of a court bid to adopt an orphan, four-year-old Chifundo "Mercy" James. Her case has sparked a wider debate over inter-country adoption.

Should parents in affluent countries be encouraged to adopt children from different cultures in the developing world?
Sarah Jacobs is the Africa spokeswoman for the charity Save the Children.

No doubt Madonna is looking to adopt Mercy with the best of intentions.

But such a high-profile adoption risks sending out the wrong message to families around the world.

And far from helping, it could make the situation worse for some of the world's poorest children.

The fact is that the vast majority of children living in orphanages aren't orphans. Most have at least one parent.

And those that don't almost always have extended family that could give them the loving home they need - with the right support.

In most cases it is poverty, and the ensuing hunger and lack of opportunity, that forces parents to give their children up in the hope of giving them a better future. A hope that usually proves a damaging myth.

The problem

No child should have to grow up in an orphanage. They can be dangerous and unregulated places where children are subject to abuse and neglect.
International adoption is trumpeted as a solution, yet the world remains unaware that it can actually fuel the problem.

International adoption has become big business in some countries. Orphanage workers go out into communities to recruit children, luring parents to give up their youngsters with promises of education and three meals a day.

These children, taken from the protection of their families, can be left vulnerable to unscrupulous adoption agencies, who profit from the sale of children without ensuring the child is eligible for adoption, or adequately vetting the adoptive parents.

Releasing children from these conditions should be a global priority. But the answer is not to whisk children away to a new life thousands of miles from where they were born, unless as a very last resort.

'The answer'

The answer is far simpler. Families need help to get themselves out of poverty, so they can feed, educate and protect their children in a loving, family environment.
This is the message that needs to be heard around the world - a message to which high-profile celebrities like Madonna could give enormous weight.

Investment is needed, and needed now. World leaders at the G20 must prioritise developing countries at this week's summit to ensure the global financial crisis doesn't push more parents into abandoning their children.

Families in the affluent world wanting to make a real difference to the lives of orphans can support aid agencies, such as Save the Children, that are working on the ground to get children out of institutions and support their families so they can live safely and well at home.

Celebrities are trend-setters and influence decision-makers.

By promoting the message that children are best looked after by their own families or in their own communities, they can change the lives of not just one, but thousands of orphans across the globe.

Julia Fleming works for the Overseas Adoption Support and Information Service (Oasis), a voluntary support group for people in the UK who wish to adopt a child from overseas.

Oasis looks forward to the day when no child needs inter-country adoption (ICA).

The day when no orphanages exist and those who cannot live with birth families are cared for adequately in their birth countries.

Until then, it is desirable that those children who need a second chance (and whose governments have decided that ICA is in the child's best interests) be welcomed by families in other countries.

Many readers would expect Oasis to rally to the defence of all adopters.

However, as an extremely knowledgeable organisation who have been involved in ICA for decades, we are more aware than most that there are ethical problems in some countries and with some placing agencies.

'Sweeping generalisations'

Save the Children's sweeping generalisations are unacceptable, though.

It is wrong to condemn all ICA because of one case.

Here in the UK, all children being adopted from abroad are afforded the same status as UK children.

That means that any parent wishing to adopt from overseas is assessed in exactly the same way as a family planning to adopt from the UK.

They undergo the same training and in no way is the procedure less time consuming or "easier."

Madonna's case could never happen here. A recently divorced mother of three would never be approved in the UK to adopt domestically or internationally.

Parenthood impulse

Save the Children states that families wanting to make a real difference to the lives of orphans "can support aid agencies... that are working on the ground to get children out of institutions and support their families".

But adoption and charity are not synonymous. They arise from completely different impulses.

Families adopt because they wish to experience parenthood, or in some cases, because they have loved being parents so much that they want to do it all over again.

People don't adopt because they feel sorry for children.

Anyone expressing such a desire to a social worker would not be approved as a prospective adopter.

That said, many ICA adopters are generous supporters of charities working within their children's birth countries.

But no charity can care for all children. Not all children can be reunited with birth families or placed in local foster families.

There will always be cases of children who need new families.

News Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Head to head: Pop Star Madonna adoption