Madonna was devastated to learn that the Malawian high court denied her adoption bid for three year-old Mercy James in early April. (Mercy could be four at this point, the reports differ.) Madonna appealed the decision but it was unknown whether she would be successful given how she flouted the country’s adoption laws. Malawian law states that adoptive parents must reside in the country for at least 18 months, and Madonna made no attempt to live in Malawi even after the adoption was denied. The 50 year-old pop singer is also single, and the courts favor married couples. Three year-old Mercy James also has a living father and a grandmother who have both spoken out against the girl being adopted and removed from the country.
All of those details were mere ignored formalities to Madonna and she’s still pushing forward with the adoption. According to The Sun, Madonna has “convinced” all three appeal judges to approve the adoption and it will be rubber stamped over the weekend. I wonder how much she paid out in bribes. The Sun has a history of scoops with Madonna-related stories and is probably accurate in this case:
MADONNA has persuaded three appeal judges to allow her to adopt Malawian orphan MERCY JAMES, The Sun can reveal.
Two have already submitted reports recommending it go ahead and the third is said to be “in complete unison with them”.
Madonna, 50, whose two-year application to adopt the three-year-old was blocked by a court in March, has been told the news by her lawyer Alan Chinula.
The ruling is set to be announced next Sunday at Malawi’s Supreme Court of Appeal.
A source there said yesterday: “The paperwork is being typed up now.
“All recommendations are in favour of the adoption taking place. Mercy should start packing her bags. She’s off to America.”
A close friend of Madonna said: “She’s ecstatic.
“She made a promise that she wouldn’t give up on Mercy and, believe me, she could move mountains when she’s this determined.”
Madonna’s adoption application was originally rejected because she had not lived in the east African state for 18 months, as required.
But one of the three appeal judges has said that rule was out of date.
The pal added: “No stone has been left unturned to prove that ruling was wrong.”
Mum-of-three Madonna has longed to adopt a sister for her adopted Malawian son DAVID BANDA, three.
Mercy will likely have a “better,” or at least a much more comfortable life, under Madonna’s staff’s care, but is it fair to the family that the little girl be taken out of the country? Sure she was in an orphanage, but from what I understand that’s common in third world countries when a mother dies and the family doesn’t have the means to ensure that the infant survives. It’s a sad necessity that some impoverished families place their children in orphanages with the hope to bring them home when they’re no longer vulnerable to malaria and other childhood diseases. That was the case with Madonna’s other adopted child, David, whose father said that he didn’t understand that he was signing away all rights to his child when he agreed to to the adoption.
There are no easy answers to this, but those adoption laws exist for a reason. The judge who first denied this second adoption cited the fact that approving this high profile case could open up the country to child trafficking. Now Madonna has three judges, probably on her payroll, not only agreeing to the adoption but possibly working toward changing existing adoption laws meant to protect children. The Malawian coalition of children’s rights organizations that spoke out against this adoption could sadly have been right.
Photo credit: Fame Pictures
In that header pic she looks like that guy in Desperate Housewives who was the example of why NOT to get plastic surgery!
While its somewhat admirable to take this under-privilaged child from poverty to prosperity, is it truely in her best interests? I know that Lourdes is doing so well, but I credit that to Carlos, not Madonna, and yes, a brother in David is good, but at what price? To them both… Its all quivers to me, and it bothers me that she deems things as her ‘right’ rather than her ‘luck’, shall we say.
If only she would give of herself as a mother, not a role-model it might sit a little better.
JHEEEEEE!!!! Congrats Madonna!
She has just showed us that she will not be denied like she is some spoil b-tch demanding some bodies kid. I’m so disgusted with her right now. If that family wanted their kid Madonna has no rights to her just because she is rich.
I feel as though she is buying kids for her collection just because she can. I can’t stand her any more.
How would we like it if some rich person saw one of our kids and took them.
She is fighting for the nanny to have this child to raise. The nanny look more like David’s mom than Madonna. That’s why Madonna go to other countries because the judges and officials will sell their children.
Time for the rich pedohiles to go to the Africans countries and buy some kids.
What a sad, sad day for that poor child.
Madonna is scum.
It’s not like the father or the grandmother give a rat’s ass about Mercy anyway, leaving her to languish in an orphanage. Only now they’ve come forward saying how “concerned” they are about her welfare. But still, this adoption should not set a precedent.
Madonna is a very good mother to her children. Instead of growing up in an orphanage with those relatives of hers on the sidelines with their false promises of pretending they want to raise her themselves, (a total bogus lie obviously), Mercy will now have a great life. The haters are bitter. They’d rather the poor little child grow up in an orphanage…strange. Admirable that Madonna didn’t give up on little Mercy.
The little girl will have a better material life with Madonna for sure. Yesterday I read here that she is going to Sumalia to adopt?
That top picture is hilarious.
she sure got over that girl from malawi quickly. if she was so intent on herr why didn’t she move to malawai for a year like she was supposed to (according to malawian law)? sick of her…children are not designer handbags, you dumb cow.
Ummm…did you even read the article, the original kate???
I really wanted to read this, but I can’t stop staring at Madonna’s face. Good god, what happened to it? I never would have pegged Madge for being a plastic surgery addict back in the day. It’s really scary.
Madonna looks a little bit like Faye Dunaway in the top photoe.
@jen: what i meant was that she got around the law quickly, and that if she really respected the girl and her culture she would have carried out the adoption in the proper way instead of throwing her fame around to get what she wanted. sorry – i shouldn’t post before i have caffeine but luckily you are here to point out my mistakes for me.
I think it was nigeria yesterday,not ‘somalia’ [and it’s not ‘sumalia’.]
strange how she picks countries with no set adoption policy,or one that makes it very difficult. There are plenty of countries that allow adoption easily.
well,yea,i too am shocked that Madonna became a surgery addict. I thought she’d do the grow old gracefully and show hollywood a thing or two…sadly,she just succumbed to it. I was very surprised,but it’s obvious now,and there’s no going back. was just hoping she’d be renegade about that aspect of things.
Are there any women out there in hollywood/stardom doing this? aging with no surgery,being themselves?
Um, her father and grandmother are not LETTING her “languish in an orphanage” that happens when the family does not have the means to raise the child themselves. If they didn’t care, they wouldn’t have spoken out about not wanting her adopted by Madonna!
If Madonna cared so much about Mercy, she’d give Mercy’s father the money to be able to claim her from the orphanage and raise her.
But this is all about getting another little black doll with a nanny to raise her.
I am in favor of adopting TRUE orphans from countries that ALLOW international adoption. Not countries in which you have to bribe every official from the locals to the high court judges just to get the kid and NOT kids with living first degree and second degree relatives!!!
How can you do that? I don’t care how much money you have, that’s like saying since you have more money, you win. You get to buy their child. Disgusting. There are TONS of true orphans all over the world who desperately need a family and a home. Why not them?
Madonna looks like a wax piece in top photo , she can barely move her face. Too many plastic surgeries.
She’s starting to look like Faye Dunaway.
Madonna just bought herself another child. It is clearly against the laws of the country but this being a very poor, third world country, with enough cash the rich & famous can just keep buying babies. Do you know how many parents here in the US go through a painful, expensive and very lengthy process to adopt abroad? If these judges believe it is in the best interest of these children to have good home, instead of living in orphanages, they should change the laws and open up adoption to all deserving parents. Not just the rich b-tches who act like children are their latest accessories. Madonna spends most of her nights being photographed with her 22 yr. old boy toy. This is a role model?