It’s seems as if Madonna really will be adopting the little four-year-old Malawian girl Mercy James. It was officially announced and confirmed by Madonna’s people and by people within the Malawi government that Madonna has filed much of the paperwork for another adoption, and will be picking her daughter very soon. Madonna has tried to adopt this girl for the past two years, ever since David Banda’s adoption was finalized.
Now The Daily Mail is reporting that Madonna is flying to Malawi this weekend, and she will stay in-country for a week. Madonna hopes to leave Malawi with Mercy in hand, so to speak. However, there will likely be some controversy, and maybe even some legal problems, as Malawi’s adoption system is rather poorly run, and Madonna tends to appear to be “hijacking” Malawian babies.
Madonna is finally due to adopt the little girl she has wanted for nearly two years when she flies into Malawi this weekend.
Four-year-old Mercy James was taken to a luxury lodge outside Lilongwe earlier this week, in preparation for being united with the singer, according to sources.
Madonna, 50, is expected to stay in the south-east African country for a week before flying out with Mercy – bar any last-minute hitches.
The girl is being cared for by a nanny at Kumbali Lodge – where Madonna has stayed on her previous visits to the country. She had been living at an orphanage near Blantyre, in the south of Malawi.
Madonna had hoped to keep the fact that the child is already at the lodge a secret until leaving the country.
‘Mercy has been handed over to Madonna’s people, who are already at the lodge, and is being cared for by a nanny,’ says the source. ‘They are waiting for Madonna to arrive so mother and daughter can be united and then Madonna is expected to take Mercy with her when she leaves.’
Madonna is expected to bring three-year-old David Banda – whom she adopted in Malawi in 2006 – with her to meet his new sister. The Lodge has been booked out from March 26 to April 4.
On Monday, the singer is expected to attend a court hearing in Lilongwe to formalise the adoption after having reportedly filed adoption papers. If the judge refuses to rubber stamp the adoption, however, it will be a severe embarrassment to Madonna, now that Mercy is in the care of her staff. The adoption of Mercy is likely to be every bit as controversial as that of David Banda in 2006.
After Madonna’s divorce from Guy Ritchie last November, Malawian adoption official, Penston Kilembe, reportedly said: ‘One fundamental condition in scrutinising adoptions is the connectedness of a family.
From The Daily Mail
“’Mercy has been handed over to Madonna’s people, who are already at the lodge, and is being cared for by a nanny.” That sentence gave me a little shiver. Like Mercy was a Brikin bag that Madonna ordered, and was awaiting delivery at a hotel. Yikes.
Some commenters had issues with my statement yesterday that I don’t really think Madonna is a bad mother. I don’t think she’s mean or intolerant or abusive, and I really do think Madonna loves her children. I think she’ll probably provide David Banda and Mercy James good lives, with more opportunities than they would get anywhere else.
Is that enough? Probably not. Because even with the opportunities Madonna can and will give a needy child, the whole situation still makes me very uncomfortable. Some of it isn’t Madonna’s fault – the Malawi government should treat all prospective adoptive parents the same way, regardless of celebrity. But Madonna shouldn’t treat the adoption of a child like she’s picking up or dropping off a designer gown.
Header photo is of Madonna with David Banda on 3/6/09. Credit: WENN. Photo of Mercy below credit: Fame
She bought herself a child.
I’m disgusted. She needs to meet OctoNut.
I feel like she is buying the kids like zoo animals. Now that she don’t have a stable life style she needs to lay off the kids. She’s buying the 22 year old services that should be enough for her.
sweet girl though
Pro-life folks tell me it’s a child not a choice, to which I respond, unless you’re rich- then the stores are open !!
What’s wrong with that country that they would sell their kids to her.
She must employ alot of help; Nanny’s, cooks, maids…
She is my age and I just had 3 of my grand-kids spend the night and I’m exhausted…..
so … if i go ahead with my plan for an international adoption because i am infertile, can’t have kids of my own, and adoption of a child under 3 in my province takes 10 years, am i buying a baby?
Say what you like about Madonna, but adding another child to the mix has got to be a lot of hard work, even with all the help she has. She must really want this child. Kaiser, I’ve always thought Madonna was a good mom, too, maybe a little too strict. The girl is such a cutie, too, I almost want to adopt her myself (though one child is enough for me).
sketches: so … if i go ahead with my plan for an international adoption because i am infertile, can’t have kids of my own, and adoption of a child under 3 in my province takes 10 years, am i buying a baby?
Depends on how many adoption laws in the country you’re adopting from you manage to neatly avoid because of your wealth.
@Hieronymus Grex, well said. Two different scenarios.
If I were that kid, I’d never let her pick me up, with those 150 year old veiny man hands. *cringe*
I think it’s true (obviously) that she can provide incredible financial support for these children but both of her kids from Malawi have family member that WANT to parent and simply can’t provide for these kids. It seems arrogant and selfish for her to go in and take these kids (illegally I might add) when she could literally throw some money at the issue and let them stay with their families.
And Sketches, most international adoptions are a case of abandonment or truly being an orphan. If you adopt from a country will clear laws in place and a relatively stable adoption program, you won’t have the kinds of ethical questions Madonna has encountered.
Looks like she is about to drop little David. When I see pictures of David with the nanny-they look more loving together than David and Madonna.
I’ll bet she buys these kids for tax write off as well.
I don’t know why, but this whole story just strikes me as sad. She’s WITH Madonna’s PEOPLE? And being cared for by a nanny until Madonna goes to pick her up?
Honest to God, have any of you seen the British comedy Absolutely Fabulous? Remember the episode where Eddie wanted to get back at her daughter for ignoring her and threatened to adopt a baby? She told her personal assistant to just ship over a selection and she’d choose one.
This reminds me of that. Except it’s not funny. Or a joke.
Why oh why oh WHY can’t she adopt ACTUAL ORPHANS who have no family members? Or why can’t she just help the community these kids live in so that they can STAY with their family? I know she’s got the financial means of doing that.
@AnastasiaB – well it was, when Eddie did it. Still one of the funniest episodes ever! But yeah, completely agree re your and Kait’s points. One controversial adoption is one thing, this second one just smacks of sickening arrogance and a complete disregard for rules.
Shameful!
From other reports, Lourdes, Rocco and now David are happy, polite and well adjusted children. Mercy will have a much better life with Madonna than spending her young years as a number with no future in a Malawi Orphanage. David hardly looks like an “accessory” but the haters must have their day to spew out their venom.
i wonder if mercy is an orphan? i always found it odd that she adopted a boy whose father is still alive. come on, madge…how hard can it be to find an actual orphan in africa, for god’s sake?!
Instead of taking these kids from the family they have left, why not donate some money to their families and the orphange? You know she must be spending big bucks on airfare, paperwork and lodging. That money would go a long way in a poverished country.
I just think it is wrong to take them away if they have some family left that loves them but cant afford them.
She got her way again like always. Sad.
guys,zahara’s mom came forth as alive,after the adoption…it happens that the media and others in a country will seek out family when there is a famous person involved. Z’s grandma i believe had give her away b/c she couldnt care for her-or perhaps it was the other way around…
point being,it’s specifically b/c there is a rich foreigner involved that there is even an OPTION for a biological parent to come forward.
YOU SEE?
Otherwise,things would have continued along as they had been: child in orphanage,parent doing whatever they do to survive in their life/village.
I think this is something that needs to be viewed with Asian circular logic,maybe a Zen koan? Not western linear thinking.
Cuz honestly,the issue would not have arisen w/out the variable of the wealthy adopter in the picture.
Again,I maintain that there are those on the scene who would try to create a scene to get madonna to buy their silence. [Not the parent per se,but someone coaxing the parent into the spotlight.]
Same as happened with the slumdog uprising,when the film became popular and had international attention.
Riding on coat tails is a viable option,and often the only one,for many in this world.
Pretty little baby, I hope she will be ok. Madonna seems a bit wacky.
“What Madonna wants, Madonna gets”
If Kait is right about a parent who wants the child, I’m concerned. However, I don’t think Madonna gets anything external for adopting these children. I think it is something she wants to do in her heart. And I think she tries to be a good parent. I also think that we know only what the media reports and they have been known to make up stories.
A woman in our office adopted 3 children from China. I don’t even like her particularly, but believe she has good motives for wanting to adopt these children. It happens, even to those not rich or famous.
i think addoption is a very honorable deed… and i’m also glad madonna has the “ovaries” to continue doing whatever she wants to do despite all the controversy…
“point being,it’s specifically b/c there is a rich foreigner involved that there is even an OPTION for a biological parent to come forward.”
my point is that there are so many orphans in africa whose entire families have been wiped out because of war, famine or AIDS, that for madge to adopt a kid who still has a living parent seems odd. if there are no biological parents then none can come forward.
Mercy is an orphan. Both her parents are dead.
Madonna bugs me more and more everyday. Ditto on the financial opportunities that she can bring to a child’s life. But at what emotional cost to the child? It seems like whoever becomes a member of that woman’s family becomes a hostage to all of her ideologies. Her way or the highway! How suffocating.
Maybe she thought Mercy James was a hot new designer and was flying out to check out the latest collection.
Since African cultures do not place the same importance on the nuclear family as we do in the West, the word “orphan” as we understand it does not really apply there. Each Malawian family has on average 6 children, and extended families are huge. Culturally, it is expected the grandparents, aunts and uncles will raise a child if its parents cannot.
This is my issue with Madonna here — I don’t question her motives, but by her example she undermines this social structure and may encourage people to abandon children — in the same way that people buy lottery tickets even though the chance of winning is 1 in a million. She may think its her personal decision, but as a celebrity her actions have repercussions far beyond herself. To fail to consider these repercussions is highly irresponsible.
Mercy James has her extended family still. Unfortunately they can’t afford to support her.
This is why I think VADGE should do the right thing and donate to families in these circumstances instead of taking the child away from it’s family and culture.