The reigning Queen of Pop has been in Malawi for the last few days, with the hopes of adopting a three-year-old girl named Chifundo "Mercy" James. Yet although the country's child welfare minister endorsed Madonna's adoption application, a judge rejected the request this morning.
"We have close to 2 million orphans in Malawi who need help," said Women and Child Welfare Development Minister Anna Kachikho. "We can't look after all of them as a country. If people like Madonna adopt even one such orphan, it's one mouth less we have to feed."
But prospective parents must live in Malawi for 18 months before adopting and because of that, Madonna's of bringing Mercy home were squashed - though she can appeal to the country's Supreme Court.
Madonna has adopted from Malawi before; at the time, the residency requirement was waived and she was allowed to bring her son, David, to London before the adoption was finalized in 2008. So far there has been no reason for why the judge - a different one this time around - ruled differently with Mercy.
The singer has come under criticism for proceeding with this adoption; earlier this week a coalition of non-governmental organizations called the Human Rights Consultative Committee said "adoption should be the last resort and that children need to be taken care of by their own family."
Because Mercy has other family members alive in Malawi, the committee urged Madonna to "assist the child from right here."
"I am able and willing to securely provide for Chifundo James and make her a permanent and established member of my family," Madonna said. "To deny Chifundo James the opportunity to be adopted by me could expose her to hardship and emotional trauma which is otherwise avoidable."
I don't think this is the last we'll hear about this story - we'll keep you posted.
[source]
[photo:google]
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