Madonna responds to adoption controversy

People Forum

POSTED: 4:41 p.m. EDT, October 17, 2006

LONDON, England (AP) -- Madonna said Tuesday she had acted according to the law in taking custody of a 1-year-old Malawian boy, responding for the first time to the fierce debate about the legality and morality of the planned adoption.

The pop star's statement came after she was united with David Banda at her London mansion. Madonna said she hopes to make the adoption permanent following an 18-month evaluation period, imposed by Malawi authorities.

"We have gone about the adoption procedure according to the law, like anyone else who adopts a child. Reports to the contrary are totally inaccurate," Madonna said in the statement, issued via e-mail.

Madonna said she and her husband began the adoption process "many months prior to our trip to Malawi," but she had not disclosed their intentions because she wished to keep the matter private. As child-protection groups challenged Madonna's custody order, photographers swarmed outside the singer's home and bloggers and editorial-writers weighed in, that appeared a vain hope.

"After learning that there were over 1 million orphans in Malawi, it was my wish to open up our home and help one child escape an extreme life of hardship, poverty and in many cases death, as well as expand our family," Madonna said.

"This was not a decision or commitment that my family or I take lightly," she added. (Read the entire letter, in the following post.)

David, who has spent most of his life in an orphanage in poverty-stricken Malawi, arrived before dawn at Heathrow Airport aboard a British Airways flight from Johannesburg, South Africa. He was bundled into a waiting Mercedes minivan in the arms of an aide, surrounded by airport officials and armed police officers.

Photographers, reporters and camera crews clustered in the street as the van arrived at the brick Victorian town house near London's Hyde Park that Madonna, 48, shares with her husband -- the director Guy Ritchie -- daughter Lourdes, 9, and son Rocco, 6. Madonna also has a house in the English countryside and a home in Los Angeles.

Last week, Malawi's High Court granted Madonna and Ritchie an interim adoption order giving them custody of the boy for 18 months. Madonna's New York-based publicist, Liz Rosenberg, said that during that time, the couple would be "evaluated by the courts of Malawi per the tribal customs of the country."

The order waived a Malawian law requiring would-be parents to live in the country for a year while social welfare officers investigate their ability to care for a child.

Human rights and child protection groups were challenging the custody order in court in Malawi's capital, Lilongwe. They said they wanted to ensure that child-protection regulations were not swept aside to benefit a singer who has been generous to Malawi.

Madonna's charity, Raising Malawi, is setting up an orphanage for up to 4,000 children, and the singer has said she wants to raise at least $3 million for programs to support AIDS orphans. (TIME.com: Madonna's Malawi project)

Madonna said in the statement she had been "overwhelmed and inspired" by her trip to Malawi and hoped it would help focus attention on the needs of children in Africa.

"From poverty to easy street" said a headline in The Times newspaper -- but others painted a more troubled picture of young David's journey.

The Independent dubbed the saga "Madonna and child: a morality tale," and noted in an editorial that "reports that Madonna chose the child from a selection of orphans presented to her make the whole affair sound worryingly like a commercial process."

Max Clifford, a celebrity publicist, said it was up to Madonna and Ritchie to "convince people that what they've done is right and that the way they've gone about it is right."

Justin Dzonzi, a lawyer for a coalition of Malawian human rights and child advocacy organizations, said his group was concerned that no one explained the implications of the adoption to the child's father, Yohame Banda. David's mother died after giving birth, and the father -- a farmer -- had put his son in an orphanage.

Banda on Tuesday accused the rights groups of being "jealous of my son."

"What's their interest? I want David to have a bright future, not to live in this poverty," he told The Associated Press in his village, Lipunga, 80 miles from the Malawian capital.

Malawian government officials said they had no objection to the adoption.

Some children's advocates said the adoption brought welcome attention to the plight of millions of impoverished children in sub-Saharan Africa. The AIDS pandemic has left almost 1 million children orphaned in Malawi alone, according to the National AIDS Commission.

Madonna joins a growing list of celebrities -- including Mia Farrow, Angelina Jolie and Meg Ryan -- who have adopted children from developing countries.

Jonathan Pearce, director of the adoption-support group Adoption U.K., said celebrity adoption brought attention to the need for adoption -- but could give the impression adopting a child was a simple process.

"I am sure there is a perception that you can just go out there and purchase a child," he said. "Obviously that is not a good way to portray adoption."

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

(CNN) -- The following is the text of the letter Madonna sent news agencies, titled "An Open Letter from Madonna":

My husband and I began the adoption process many months prior to our trip to Malawi. I did not wish to disclose my intentions to the world prior to the adoption happening as this is a private family matter. After learning that there were over one million orphans in Malawi, it was my wish to open up our home and help one child escape an extreme life of hardship, poverty and in many cases death, as well as expand our family.

Nevertheless, we have gone about the adoption procedure according to the law like anyone else who adopts a child. Reports to the contrary are totally inaccurate. The procedure includes an l8 month evaluation period after which time we hope to make this adoption permanent. This was not a decision or commitment that my family or I take lightly.

I am overwhelmed and inspired by my trip to Malawi and hope that it helps bring attention to how much more the world needs to do to help the children of Africa.

My heartfelt thanks for all the good wishes I have received and I hope the press will allow my family some room for us to experience the joy we feel to have David home.

Madonna Ritchie
October 17, 2006
London, England

Good for Madonna, and Guy. I think that it's great that people who have the financial capability to do such a thing, do this. There are so many unwanted children, for different reasons.

I guess what bugs me is that celebrities go to foriegn countries to adopt and overlook the fact that there are so many young children in the foster care system waiting for a permanent home. Yes they saved a child that desperately needed one, but I think that if they had adopted a young child from the States who was in foster care, it would have done wonders to help the other kids here find permanent families. Just my thoughts.

I think that it's up to each and every individual where they choose to adopt from. If their heart is set on helping an African child, then so be it. Jill (my pastor... you know her, Sher) has her heart set on having a child... but, she also has a huge desire within her, to adopt a child from Africa. She's been there, multiple times, and just loves those kids.

I am kind of torn over this I mean on one hand she has given this kid a life he could only dream of but for the rest well the have life we could only have nightmares about, if she really wanted to help she could have given some of her money to the orphanage and the village's. Malawi is a terribly poor country ( poorets in the world) The Scottish government has " adopted " and gives money and support to the orphanges and hospitals and after reading about the place I think Madonna could have given something to help the people seriously what is 500,000 or 1 million to her but it is everything to them that means those kids live for a couple more years. Anyway rant over.

One thing I hope I don't see is Madonna selling pictures of her and David to the magazines because then it looks like she got him for profit. There are rumors that she is going back for a girl pretty soon.

But Madonna IS giving money to them.... she's helping with the orphanages. Still, she's also adopting a child while at it, because her and Guy WANT another kid.

I have no doubt they do want a child and I have no doubt that she is giving money to the orphanage I just wonder how much she is giving and for how long I know there is $3 million ( does someone like Madonna have to raise $3 mil?) but that only goes to AIDS orphans is there another fund for those hwo have lost thier parents to starvation, murder etc and if there is that a lifetime commitment or just the 18 months?


My main gripe is thate she will eventually sell the pictures to some rag. That kid arrives at Heathrow with his face opartially obscured and a bodyguard blocking the press from getting pictures that makes me wonder well that and the fact that some people are specu;ating that a picture of mother and child could reach 2 million while a picture of the whole family could reach in excess of 3 million for ione lucky snapper.

The thing is Angelina Jolie managed to do this without much fuss but Madonna manages to turn it into a worldwide media circus.

Madonna tried to HIDE it... and she was successful for a very long time. Once the press gets a whiff of something like this, it's going to be all over the news. I don't think that she wanted to have such press on this.

I believe that she's trying to raise money, in order to get others involved. And I agree with that, 100%. People can spare a buck, or two. And those with a lot of money can spare much more.

Maybe Madonna will sell photos and turn all the funds over to the gov't, or the orphanages in the area. Who's to know what will happen.

I don't see anything noble about purchasing children, dressing them up like a rag-to-riches Barbie dolls and parading them around acting like some great humanitarian.

Guess Madonna gets off a world tour then wants to adopt a kid. They say there is no bad press.

-HECK!

Adopting a foster care child in the states isnt as easy as people think it is. No adoption from the states is easy.

Lets not forget that many people have put their children up for adoption only to come back years later to get them back...and the court ALLOWED it!

So, in this country, one can adopt and raise a child for a few years and then have that child stripped from them when the biological family changes their mind. (baby Richard come to mind??)

Foster care is worse...it takes years to have the courts strip away parental rights because they give that parent or parents the time to try and fix their lives first. A foster parent cannot talk adoption until the parental rights are taken, and if they do talk about adoption, the court can take the child and place them in another foster home.

Adoption from another country is easier, and that is why people do it.

if our courts would stop being so lenient on crappy parents or parents that abandon and come back, then more kids from the states would be adopted by good families.

So what??...she adopted a kid privately.

Unlike that ignorant reporter, her and her husband dont owe people anything about their adoption and how they went about it.

Trust me, if Madonna wanted a kid for some mystical underlying reason (as the reporters would make people believe), she could have one of her own. I doubt she went about it the wrong way.

As for her getting money for the pictures, I dont always agree with that, but all celebs in cases like this pose and request money.

As for Jolie...she was able to do it quietly because she was out of the country for sometime. However, when she did come back...the reporters were there!

I cant believe this is "breaking" news in the world. How pathetic has this world become that this story is worthy of huge news.

Hey Mys

I hear you, if this is headline news I think we need to take a look in the mirror and double check our spot on the evolution chart.

The whole adoption system is wacky. I know a couple who spent over a hundred grr just trying to adopt a kid. It's insane. Celeb's obviously can grease those wheels easier because they have the moolah.

Maybe I'm just a cynnic but I don't see Madonna doing this as some good faith mission. If it was she'd be back in a missionary position popping out kids as the good book infers. I just don't think Madonna is thinking about the kid as much as the publicity behind it.

-HECK!

Well, the fact of it all is that NONE of us are Madonna and Guy Ritchie. They decided to adopt a child from Africa, and that is their business, and no one elses. It's pretty pitiful, in my eyes, to think that that could be wrong. So, I guess everyone who goes outside of their own country to adopt is wrong? I don't believe so. And to be judged for that is wrong. She's too old to be birthing a child, since the baby could be born with any number of problems.

First of all, you don't know that I am not Guy Ritchie

But seriously, I do question her motives. Celebrities are of a different breed. She has been doing this for decades. She just gets done with a tour where she had to go and make headlines by hanging on a cross. I think if it would help album sales or make someone see her horrible movies she would adopt a whole village and drape them in clothes from Saks.

-HECK!

Firstly she did not try to hide it, she was in some country before Malawi looking at babies and the story is that somebody from her camp let the fleet street boys know all about it and let them know Malawi was the next stop, Madonna had body gurads and armed guards and you think she could not keep the press away I think she could if she really wanted but Madonna is hardly one for avoiding trhe cameras now is she.

If her and Guy Ritchie wan to adopt a kid from Africa and give it a better life then fine that is very noble I guess but there are times when people can do the right thing for the wrong reasons.

But, you don't know her reasons... at all. I don't know them. They could be dishonest, or totally honorable. But, since we don't know them, personally, and what is going on in their heads... we don't know why they did it. It's really as simple as that.

Sure, Madonna is one of those people who has done a lot to get attention. And this could be another. But, regardless of that, she took in a child and is giving it a loving home, instead of allowing him to starve to death.

True, we don't know.

What I do know is that I'm a material girl and I'm livin' in a material world. Or boy- er, man. You know what I mean.

Anyone that has that as their mantra and can suck a watermelon dry doesn't really get a vote of confidence from me.

-HECK!

Well, come on.... one, it is a song, and two... it was a LONG time ago. People can change. Doesn't mean that she has. I don't know her... but, I don't want to judge this one too fast.

My only opinion of this is... I mean... why this kid? There are some really bad cases who need help... this kid was living in poverty, but he was being fed and cared for... I don't know... it's just... if it was me, I'd seek out the kid with the worst chance of survival, and help them instead...

Madonna's rich and bored and can have ANYTHING she wants. She gets clucky, so she flies over to Africa and helps herself to a baby, and while she's at it, thinks she's doing some good as well. Such is the privelaged lifestyles of the pampered spoilt super rich.

I'm sure the baby will have a great life, and who knows, maybe the guilt of learning where he came from when he grows up might not be too much of a burden to bare.

If Maddona really had this particular babies interest at heart, then why didn't she just give the babies dad some money and let him look after her, thus killing two birds with one stone?

Maybe the dad wanted his child to have a better life... maybe he didn't want to riase the boy. Who knows.

Maybe it wasn't an option given to him. We just will never know. I would hope that Madonna will keep the dad involved. Hopefully he will get pictures of David and when David is older have Madonna bring the family to visit.

You know, had this just been some other rich person, people would think that they did a great thing. Suddenly, since it's Madonna, there must be ulterior motives.

I kinda of felt the same way about the whole Jolie thing. Difference is, to me, Jolie doesn't jock for attention the same way Madonna does... at least not totally the same. But Jolie giving her show kid a mohawk and $300 shoes is lame too. Makes you almost respect Cruise and Holmes for keeping their kid hidden. And speaking of Cruise, when him and Kidman adopted their kids they didn't make it a big deal. Meanwhile the Material Girl is adding to her Material World and letting everyone know about it.

I just think rich people buying kids is horrible.

It's a fad right now. In about 20 years about 1/2 of all celebrity children will come from third world nations. "Hey, aren't you Mumba Wumba Skyler Aniston-Vaughn?" "Oh look, it's Hirohito Tsang Cao Akins-Seacrest!"

-HECK!

Wow....I cant believe the crap Im reading in here.

So...she adopted a kid. So what? Why that kid?? Why any kid? Why do any adoptive parents going to another country adopt a particular kid?

I mean for goodness sake...if you are gonna ask it from her...why not ask everyone else why they adopted the kid they did?

Why is her family life such a problem for people?

When did unperfect humans start throwing morals around like they have never done anything themselves to benefit themselves???

Oh yeah...since the beginning of time.

http://216.250.230.16/ap_madonna_spears_mtv.jpg

There's no business like showbusiness like no business I know...

-HECK!

NBC: Special won't show Madonna on cross

NEW YORK - Backing away from a confrontation with religious groups, NBC said Thursday it has decided not to show pictures of Madonna mounting a Crucifix when it airs a concert special with the pop star next month.

The concert, which lists Madonna as an executive producer, is scheduled to air Nov. 22.

During the provocative passage in her concert, Madonna is shown on a mirrored cross wearing a crown of thorns. She has explained that it was meant to illustrate a theme of confession.

But this angered some religious leaders, who called it a bad-taste publicity stunt. Several religious groups in the United States told NBC they would organize a boycott of one of the concert's commercial sponsors if the cross scene appeared, and were meeting next week to decide which company to target.

NBC didn't explain its decision, with a spokeswoman saying the network doesn't discuss how its editorial decisions are made. NBC Entertainment President Kevin Reilly ducked out of an industry function in Los Angeles Thursday before reporters could reach him.

"NBC did the right thing, but the fact that it did not say why the offensive part of Madonna's concert was cut shows cowardice," said Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League. "What NBC should have done is to admit that since it refused to air the Danish cartoons that Muslims objected to earlier in the year, it felt obliged not to treat Christians in a discriminatory manner."

NBC will still show a performance of "Live to Tell," but use different camera angles so that Madonna isn't seen until she gets off the cross, the network said.

The pop star, whose video for "Like a Prayer" likewise left some religious leaders cold two decades ago, explained earlier that she wasn't mocking the church and considered the scene no different than a person who wears a cross.

Asked about it an interview late this summer, Reilly told TVGuide.com that the crucifixion scene would probably be in the special. He said Madonna "felt strongly about it."

"We viewed it and, although Madonna is known for being provocative, we didn't see it as being ultimately inappropriate," Reilly said then, according to the Web site.

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....like no business I know...

-HECK!

Judge delays Madonna adoption hearing

LILONGWE, Malawi (AP) — A judge on Friday postponed a hearing on a lawsuit by human rights groups challenging the government's decision to allow Madonna to start adoption procedures for a motherless 13-month-old Malawian boy.

Judge Andrew Nyirenda delayed the hearing until next Friday to give Attorney General Jane Ansah time to consult with the Ministry of Gender, Child Welfare and Community Services.

"We are ready for the case but the attorney general wants to consult with the Ministry of Gender on the whole adoption process," said Alan Chinula, a lawyer representing Madonna. "Our position is all legal aspects were followed."

Madonna and her husband, Guy Ritchie, have been given temporary custody as a step toward adopting David Banda, who has spent most of his young life in an orphanage after his mother died of complications from giving birth.

His father has said he is too poor to raise the boy on his own and he wants the couple to adopt his son. The boy was flown to London on Tuesday and taken to Madonna's home there.

The singer said in a statement that she and her husband have followed the law in the adoption process that would be completed after an 18-month evaluation process by Malawian authorities. Normally, prospective parents in Malawi are given custody and required to be monitored in the country for 18 months to determine their fitness. The regulations make no special provisions for foreigners.

Yohane Banda, the father of the boy, has denounced efforts by human rights groups to challenge the adoption.

"Where were these people when David was struggling in the orphanage? These so-called human rights groups should leave my baby alone," he said in an interview earlier this week. "As father I have okayed this, I have no problem. The village has no problem. Who are they to cause trouble? Please let them stop."

Undule Mwakasungura, a lawyer for the Human Rights Consultative Committee, which comprises 67 human rights groups, said the committee "is not necessarily against the adoption," it just wants the laws to be followed.

"We note that laws were flouted and our concern is that government may set a precedent that can legalize human trafficking," he said.

He said Madonna and her husband spent just eight days in Malawi but won a court order giving them temporary custody of the child.

He said the committee wants to be a party to the adoption process to make sure the law is followed. He said current law bars international adoptions, saying adoptive parents must be residents in Malawi and must be assessed for between 18 and 24 months.

The judge, in granting the interim custody order on Oct. 12, said the issue of residence is not specified in the laws.

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Madonna overseas adoption follows trend

By JOCELYN NOVECK, AP National Writer

NEW YORK - Angelina Jolie adopted from Cambodia and Ethiopia. Madonna, as most of the planet knows, is adopting from Malawi. And ordinary Americans adopt foreign-born children by the thousands each year — a rate that has tripled in the last decade.

But with close to 120,000 children waiting in the U.S. foster care system, what's driving the push in overseas adoptions? It's an emotional issue that goes to the heart of what people are seeking when they adopt a child — and the obstacles they can face in this country.

"I'm happy to see any child adopted anywhere in the world," says Gloria Hochman of the National Adoption Center, based in Philadelphia. "But every time I see a story about a celebrity adopting, I always think, 'Why don't they look here?' It makes me wonder: Do they know there are children waiting here?"

Americans now adopt some 23,000 children overseas every year, according to immigration statistics. Domestically, numbers are difficult to come by. The best estimate is about 13,000-14,000 infant adoptions, and 52,000 child welfare adoptions — the vast majority of those by foster parents or relatives, according to the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute. (The numbers don't include adoptions by stepparents, about 40 percent of all adoptions.)

One key factor in rising international adoptions is that the supply of healthy U.S. infants has been dwindling for decades. Birth control and legal abortions have reduced the number of unwanted births. And our values have changed: The stigma attached to unwed mothers has been greatly reduced, so more mothers are keeping their babies.

Supply has diminished, but demand is strong: Mothers are waiting longer to start families, meaning they may find themselves unable to conceive. And the majority of families considering adoption want infants; it's the closest thing to having one's own baby, to make an imprint from the start of life, to experience each stage of childhood.

The rise in foreign adoptions is just one part of what Adam Pertman, executive director of the Donaldson Institute, calls a "revolution" in adoption. "Many kids do not look like their parents," says Pertman, author of "Adoption Nation: How the Adoption Revolution is Transforming America." "New cultures are coming into peoples' homes. People are understanding that families can be formed in different ways." Gay adoptions are another part of this revolution.

As to whether families should focus more on needy children here at home, Pertman says all kids need homes. "Turning it into a competition isn't right for anyone involved," he says.

The top source for Americans is by far China, where there were about 8,000 adoptions (virtually all female) to U.S. families in 2005. Adopting from China "is a more viable option for many people," says Lacee Steigerwald, outreach director for the Great Wall China Adoption agency in Austin, Texas. She says people often come to her agency after frustrating experiences trying to adopt domestically, often when birth parents have changed their minds. "People come to us with horror stories," Steigerwald said. "They've been let down one, two or three times."

In interviews, a number of families echoed that concern about domestic adoption — that they would become emotionally or financially invested, only to have a birth parent change their mind. (All states have different laws defining how long a birth parent has to change their mind, ranging from 0 to 45 days.)

"One of the things parents want is the finality that this is their child," says Will Ahern of Chanhassen, Minn. He and his wife adopted their daughter, Summer, now 8, from China at 15 months, and he says the process has been "perfect" — "every morning I wake up and celebrate how cool it is."

Kathy Bargar and her husband also chose China when they were ready to adopt. In May, the couple from Danville, Calif., brought home bright-eyed Gracie, now 2, who'd been abandoned at birth in front of an auto parts store in the city of Chengdu — accompanied only by a note, on which was written her birth date and gender. "We chose China because it's a stable, predictable program," Bargar said. But also, the couple feared domestic adoption might be difficult — partly because they already had one biological daughter, and they thought they might be less marketable to a birth mother, who might think they'd favor their biological child. Also, she says, "America views the birth mother as having the first right to a child."

Now, thrilled to have Gracie, Bargar says she'd consider all options if she adopts again. "I didn't want the involvement of a birth mother, but now I see how it could be helpful and wonderful," she said.

Some parents throw themselves into the culture of the country they've chosen. Allison von Gruenigen, of Knoxville, Tenn., is awaiting news from China within days. To prepare, the 45-year-old single-mom-to-be has been attending Chinese New Year celebrations, dance festivals, and language classes. She gets huge support from an ever-growing national network of parents who've adopted in China.

"It was a natural choice to go through China," says von Gruenigen, who has a Chinese-born niece. But she's keeping her mind open for the future. "I know how many kids domestically need a home," she says. "If I see that I'm doing a good job, I might adopt here at some point."

Proponents of domestic adoption acknowledge that huge obstacles exist for families willing to adopt older children. In Georgia, Andrea Shoemaker works for the group Wednesday's Child, making three-minute films for local TV about kids waiting to be adopted, most ages 8-18.

"We have a lot of families who are willing to step up to the plate," Shoemaker says. "But they get frustrated. The process is difficult. We're not really doing our job to nurture these families, train them, help them before things get too difficult."

Janice Goldwater can attest to that. Goldwater and her husband decided to add to their family when the first of their three natural children went off to college. They adopted Elyana, then almost 10. The child had been removed from her birth family in Siberia for abuse and neglect, then spent three and a half years in an orphanage there. She then was adopted by a New York family that was ill-prepared and could not keep her.

"There have been lots of challenges helping her heal and teaching her to love and to trust," says Goldwater, of Silver Spring, Md., who is a founder of the Adoptions Together agency. "It's been very, very hard and very, very valuable."

In the adoption process, Goldwater said she was "shocked at how many roadblocks we came up against." Workers were overloaded with cases. It was hard to find the kids in the system. They considered one child, but relatives in the military expressed interest, so it fell through. Then, the relatives never followed through.

Goldwater supports foreign adoptions, but worries that some high-profile celebrity adoptions might be for the wrong reasons. "People shouldn't adopt to make a political statement," she says.

One of the most moving moments for her, she says, was the moment she was looking for something to write on a card announcing Elyana's adoption. Elyana said maybe she could help, and she composed a poem on the spot.

"First my heart said never," read the closing lines. "But now we are a family forever."

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About a boy

Madonna's adoption of 13-month-old David Banda has created a furore. Did she use her celebrity to flout Malawi's adoption laws? Was the boy's father exploited? Has a child from the developing world been turned into a commodity? Xan Rice asks the child's family what really went on

Friday October 20, 2006
The Guardian

This is the story of a 13-month-old African boy. Of a father who, after burying his wife and two infant sons, took his only remaining child to an orphanage to give him a better chance of survival. Of a pop superstar desperate to adopt a kid from a continent she had never visited. And of a government so grateful for her promise of more than a million pounds in aid that it bent the rules to help her, turning the adoption into a PR nightmare. This is the story of David Banda - the most famous baby in the world.

It begins in Lipunga, a small, neat village of 300 people in the foothills of far western Malawi, in early September last year. Yohane and Marita Banda are expecting their third child. They are nervous. Their first son, Garnet, died of malaria aged two years and eight months. The second, Babel, also a boy, died of an undetermined illness aged 18 months.
Now Marita, 28, is feeling ill. So Yohane borrows a bicycle, lays her on the trailer hitched behind it, and pedals 13 miles along a dirt road to the nearest clinic. They are sent home with medication but are back in the clinic that night.

"I took her back there on the bicycle," recalls Yohane, a pleasant 32-year-old man with a physique that speaks of physical labour.

This time the clinic summons an ambulance, and Marita spends a week in hospital. After being discharged, she travels from Lipunga across the nearby border into Zambia, where her parents live. David is born on September 24, delivered by traditional birth attendants. He is healthy, but his mother is not. By the time Yohane reaches the village, she is clinging on to life. A dispute over whether to send her to a witchdoctor or to a hospital - Yohane's preferred choice - wastes valuable time. Marita dies on September 30, six days after giving birth.

Yohane is devastated. But his problems are not over. He still owes 10,000 Kwacha (£40) to his in-laws as part of the dowry. They want nothing to do with David. So Yohane returns home to Lipunga wondering how, as a single parent who works in his tomato and onion "garden" all day, he is going to ensure that his week-old son does not suffer the same fate as his siblings. He cannot afford to buy milk. And what if the child gets sick?

In previous decades, the extended family would have stepped in to ensure the child was looked after. But Aids has shredded this traditional social safety net, known as "Umunthu" in Malawi. The official HIV infection rate among adults is 14%, although many suspect it may be far higher. There are already hundreds of thousands of orphans in a country of just 12 million, and overstretched parents are increasingly reluctant to take on the burden of another family's child.

After a discussion with his mother, Asianti, who also spends all day tending her vegetables, Yohane meets with the village chief, Henderson Geza. Geza, a small 69-year-old man with bright eyes, knows how tough it has become for single parents to look after a child in poor villages like Lipunga: his own grandson was sent to an orphanage for a few months after the child's mother died.

Yohane and Geza agree that the best option is to ask the church's permission to send David to the Home of Hope, an orphanage 25 miles away. There he should be well fed, will receive personal care from an in-house foster mother and, even more importantly, will have access to the on-site clinic should illness strike.

With Asianti and David on the back of his bicycle, Yohane cycles to the Home of Hope with a letter of recommendation from the church. David is five weeks old. The orphanage does not have space, but a kind-hearted volunteer worker agrees to take him in anyway.

"It was a very sad day for us," says Asianti. "Our only consolation was the child had a better chance of staying alive."

Eleven months later, Madonna, the 48-year-old superstar with homes in the UK and US and a fortune of nearly £250m, tells Time magazine that she is going to raise $3m to help some of the estimated 900,000 orphans in the southern African country. She says that in the past few years she has "felt more responsible for the children of the world".

The money will be used to help build a new home for more than 4,000 children orphaned by Aids and to finance a film about the plight of Malawian children. It will also fund an experimental "Millennium Village" in Gumulira, near the capital Lilongwe, one of dozens of such projects set up across Africa under a scheme by the US economist Jeffrey Sachs to prove that people can be dragged out of poverty at relatively little financial cost. Such is the current cynicism about celebrity philanthropy in Africa that the normally sober Time declares that the mission has the "pungent aroma of a coordinated act of publicity".

Undeterred, Madonna, who has never been to Africa before, plans a trip to Malawi with husband Guy Ritchie - who has quietly visited the country earlier in the year. Preparations are also under way for the trip's second, secret purpose: the Ritchies are planning to go home with an adopted child. Lourdes, 10, and Rocco, six, will soon have a baby brother.

In Malawi, all adoptions are organised through the Ministry for Gender, Child Welfare and Community Services. At the Ritchies' request, ministry officials have been asked to visit orphanages and identify a dozen babies for them to choose from. The search has begun.

By now, David is now nearly a year old, and in good health. Yohane visits him twice a week, using a borrowed bicycle to make the 50-mile round-trip. Usually he brings food that he has grown in the village. Asianti sometimes comes along, too, pedalling her own bike. Though 56, her work in the fields means she is fitter than most women half her age.

"We were very close to my child," says Yohane. "Whenever I left the orphanage, David would cry."

Madonna and Ritchie arrive in Malawi on a private jet on October 4, check into the Kumbali Lodge near the president's house in the capital, and immediately begin visiting orphanages around the country to observe the challenges facing the country. But before the day is out a government official tells the press that the singer is looking to adopt a child and, in a display of well-intentioned naivety, asks the media to respect the couple's privacy.

cont'd
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-HECK!

Madonna's spokeswoman immediately denies the report, but the damage is done. While the actor Angelina Jolie was able to slip into Ethiopia, adopt a baby girl and fly out before the media jumped on to the story, the Ritchies will have no such luck.

While it seems highly unlikely that the Ritchies want events to unfold as they do - they are reportedly furious at the leak and the government soon clams up on the topic - the official's slip-up ensures that the adoption occurs under the full view of the world's media. But the Ritchies surely also bear some of the blame - combining a pre-announced trip to the country that is bound to attract media attention with the adoption process hardly seems the best way to ensure privacy.

And with the British tabloids on the trail, there is little doubt that the identity of the latest addition to the Ritchie family will soon come out before the child leaves the country. A week after the Ritchie's arrival, it does. The Chosen One is one of the 500 orphans living at the Home of Hope orphanage. The child is David Banda.

If the news of the adoption of a tiny black boy by a white pop diva isn't enough, there is an added sensation - Madonna and Guy Ritchie are adopting a boy with a living father. Why are the Ritchies doing this, knowing the controversy it will cause? And how are they going to get around Malawi's tough adoption rules, which require that foreigners be resident in the country for 18 months before adopting a child to ensure that welfare officials have time to monitor their suitability.

Only the Ritchies - and the government that drew up the shortlist - can answer the first question, and neither seems inclined to do so for now. Even though many of the children in Malawian orphanages have lost only their mother, it is highly unusual for these kids to be put forward for adoption by welfare officials.

"Only children without any living parents and circumstances that make it unlikely that they can ever return to their extended family are selected for adoption," says the director of a well-established infant home in Malawi, who asks not to be named. "This was a very unusual case."

On September 30, several days before the Ritchies arrived in Malawi, Yohane says that he was visited in Lipunga by Penston Kilembe, the country's director of social welfare, and asked whether he would allow David to be adopted by a well-vetted foreign couple. After sitting down with Asianti and other members of the extended family, Yohane agreed that it would be best to let David go. The thinking was this: if David remained in Malawi, he would remain close to his father but would be unlikely ever to break the cycle of poverty. The best he could realistically hope for would be to become a herder, a petty trader, or a subsistence farmer. By going abroad - even as the child of another family -he could become whatever he wanted.

The decision may seem callous to some in the west - a father abandoning his only son. In Malawi, it seems selfless: I'll give up my right to the child to let him have the opportunities he would never otherwise have. He may lose his culture and even his attachment to his biological relatives - but he will have a chance.

"My interest is in the child's best chance for health and education," says Yohane, who denies that he was coerced or manipulated into making the decision - a claim reportedly made by his brother last week. "It was a hard choice to make, but when it seemed likely that David would have a better life with a new family, I could not say no."

Most people in Malawi, it seems, agree with Yohane's decision to let his child go, and many say they would do the same, were they in a similar position. "Poverty means that many people here find it difficult to support their children," says Boniface Tamani, chairman of the Public Affairs Committee, Malawi's largest interfaith organisation. He says this is not a case of a white person "saving Africa", just one person with means giving a child with an uncertain future a shot at a better life. "David will now get an education he could never have got in Africa. Local wealthy people could learn from Madonna's example."

Tamani says arguments that the singer should have given money to David's father to allow him to stay at home did not hold up. "Madonna is already giving a lot of money to an orphanage here to help many children. Here she is going further by inviting a child into her own home, which is not easy for anyone to do."

The legal hurdles disappear swiftly. A high court judge passes an interim order allowing the Ritchies to take David home with them, waiving the normal requirement of 18 months' residency for any foreign nationals looking to adopt a Malawian child. Under the order, the court will make a second ruling after 18 months to formally approve the adoption - assuming welfare officials are happy with the child's new environment. Technically, the ruling may be legal - Malawi has signed an international convention allowing intra-country adoptions, even if it conflicts with the constitution - but it was certainly highly unusual in application.

At the court hearing, Yohane meets the Ritchies for the first time, finds them to be "nice people" and formally consents to David's adoption. The Ritchies agree that David will visit his father in Malawi "within three or four years", according to Yohane.

Human rights groups, which have protested at the preferential treatment granted to the Ritchies, launches a campaign condemning the adoption and promises to fight to have the order reversed. "It [adoption] is not like selling property," says advocacy group Eye of the Child. "It's about safeguarding the future of a human being who, because of age, cannot express an opinion."

Rafiq Hajat, executive director of the Institute for Policy Interaction in Blantyre, which looks at democracy and social justice issues, says he also feels uneasy about the case. "When a foreigner comes to this country to adopt a child, they normally have to leap over all sorts of hurdles. With Madonna, it seems to have been made easy: 'Bingo, there's your child.' It's a dangerous precedent to set."

He says he is not convinced about the singer's motives. "Maybe she has genuine philanthropic zeal, but maybe she just wants to sell more records. This whole thing has been a circus."

But attempts to overturn the court's interim order appear to be failing. The coalition of NGOs looking to mount a legal challenge have had made little progress and, without the support of David's family for their motion, it seems unlikely they will succeed in having him returned home. When representatives of the plaintiffs visit Lipunga, Yohane and Asianti rebuff them: "If David is brought back here, are you going to feed him?" they ask.

Government officials are dismissive of the outcry, and insist that due process has been followed. Andrina Mchiela, principal secretary in the welfare ministry, says the government made mistakes in handling the issue, never anticipatating the "magnitude of publicity" it would attract. But she denies that rules were bent. "I would not say that Madonna has been given special treatment. This interim order is not adoption - we still will monitor the child's progress before that happens."

But, if not starstruck, the government clearly feels deeply indebted to Madonna for her pledges to help out the country's orphans and to raise international awareness of their plight. "Madonna has a big programme in this country," Mchiela says. "She is a daughter of Malawi. There is no mistrust, and her integrity cannot be questioned."

As for the fact that David has a father who regularly visits him, Mchiela says that by placing his son in an orphanage Yohane has demonstrated his intention to seek a better life for his child. "It was like when Moses was left in the basket in the hope that someone would rescue him. Madonna has rescued the baby. All we can say is, 'Bon voyage, David'."

It's now Wednesday. Thanks to her visit, Madonna's songs are still being played in Malawi's nightclubs; Holiday is a particular favourite. David has spent his first full day in the UK.

It is nearing midday. Asianti has been tending her fields since 5am. With a giggle, she sums up the happenings of the past two weeks. "My son is a father who was poor and did not know much. Now he has a child that will be cared for by a rich and famous woman!"

Yohane is spraying his tomato crop nearby. He is wearing a pair of old tweed trousers, a yellow and blue T-shirt that says "Dada" and blue sandals. He appears tired of all the media attention, but sits down to answer questions without complaint.

"I will miss David," he says. "I miss him already. But I know that it's for the best".

------

-HECK!

Amercians are adoption outside of the US because it's much easier to get finish up the process of adoption. Maybe if it wasn't so hard here, in the US, we would see a higher rate of adoptions.

$$$ & publicity.

She paid a bunch of dough to this little country and bought a person. It's like someone buying a doll on QVC.

-HECK!

What does it matter? Had she done that same f'n thing here in America, would people stop their complaints, and slanderous comments against her? So what... BFG... she chose to adopt a child from another country. I'm not losing any sleep over this.

It's not about whether she bought this kid in America or wherever the blazes this village is. Fact is, she bought a kid.

Not to mention she's just following a crappy celebrity trend of adopting foreign kids while so many American kids are rutting around.

Hey, maybe the celebs should start adopting illegal Mexican immigrants, wonder what the vote on that one would be

-HECK!

Why does it bother you, and everyone else, if she adopted a child? MOST people who adopt have to spend money to make it happen. Does this mean that everyone knows that Madonna did this for absolutely no other reason than to give a child a home? It just astounds me, the backlash that she's receiving, for doing something that more people should do.

I agree that it's a good thing that people are adopting kids period - whether it's from here or from another country that's poor and/or diseased. Especially when the adopters are rich because they can provide a good home for these kids.
But, i do hate that these stupid ass celebrities get to bypass any regulations simply b/c they're celebrities. This hits especially close to me b/c I have relatives who went through a horrendous adoption procedure to adopt kids from another country (b/c it was way too difficult and took too long here). They went through over a year of anguish and ended up getting jacked, and after like 70k dollars, had to start ALL OVER AGAIN with a new agency. They got their kids finally but what a horrible experience it was to go through. And money was no object to them. BUT NO, they aren't celebrities. It's lame, everyone should go through the same procedure.

I just don't get why madonna is getting flack and angelina jolie didn't get poop. She's like an angel. she did the SAME thing. and if i recall heck, you didn't care what she did.

There are differences between what Jolie did and what Madonna did.

In fact, Jolie and then husband Billy Bob abided by the two-month waiting period in which the couple and child had to remain outside the U.S. while the INS reviewed the child's case to make sure he was obtained legally. Cambodia's illegal child-trafficking trade is very popular so the INS had to clear it. Which they did. Not to mention Jolie has been to Cambodia and even bought a house there. Maybe Madonna got her kid out of an IKEA catalog...

Meanwhile... a judge has stopped the Madonna adoption process to make sure the law has been followed to make sure there is no illegal child-trafficking going on, ie. rich people buying kids. And did you know because so many Cambodian kids were illegally purchased by rich Americans that federal regulations were enacted barring Americans from adopting them? Zuh?

Did anyone read the news stories I posted? They're not just decoration people

-HECK!

what about the other kid?

Oh, she bought that one on Ebay.

-HECK!

i meant jolie's african baby. thanks.

I did too. You're welcome.

-HECK!

::: waving my fist at you :::

we should have a smilie like that.

Official: Angelina Jolie Adopting Ethiopian Girl
Wednesday, July 06, 2005

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — Angelina Jolie, who has been romantically linked with her "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" co-star Brad Pitt, is adopting an orphaned Ethiopian baby girl.

Jolie visited the Horn of Africa nation last week to file her adoption request, accompanied by Pitt and her 3-year-old son, Maddox, whom she adopted in Cambodia, an official said Wednesday.

"The paperwork has gone through. Miss Angelina's request was accepted last week," Hadosh Halefom, head of the country's state-run adoption agency, told The Associated Press.

The child "is less than a year old," Hadosh said, refusing to elaborate. The actress filed her request through a private adoption agency.

"If people's paperwork is in order, it can take only two days to finalize everything," Hadosh said.

In a posting on People magazine's Web site, Jolie is quoted as saying the child's name is Zahara Marley Jolie (search) and that she and Maddox are "very happy to have a new addition to our family."

For months, rumors have been circulating about the extent of her off-screen relationship with Pitt. Photos published in the July 11 issue of People show Jolie standing near her Buckinghamshire, England, estate while Pitt rides a dirt bike with Maddox. Other photos show Pitt, Jolie and Maddox at Luton Airport outside London.

Pitt and his wife, Jennifer Aniston (search), announced their separation in January, and Aniston filed for divorce in March, citing irreconcilable differences. Pitt, 41, has denied Jolie, 30, is the reason for the split and Jolie has said she's never had sex with Pitt.

Hadosh said Jolie had met the 10 conditions for adopting a child from Ethiopia.

"The two most important are economic capabilities and check with the police," Hadosh said. "Although she is a film star, she still has to meet the same requirements as everybody else."

Ethiopia, a country of 70 million, has more than 5 million orphans, their parents lost to famine, disease, war and AIDS -- a catastrophe the government has said is "tearing apart the social fabric" of the east African nation.

Caring for the orphans costs $115 million a month in a country whose annual health budget is only $140 million. Because of that, Ethiopia has gone out of its way to make adoption easier.

In 2003, a record 1,400 children were adopted from abroad, more than double the number in the previous year. The number of private adoption agencies in Addis Ababa, the capital, has doubled in the past year to 30.

Ethiopia has strict laws to thwart dubious adoption agents and to ensure that the orphan really exists, that the paperwork is not fraudulent and that no AIDS-infected children are being passed off as healthy.

Agencies charge fees of around $20,000 per child, a relatively inexpensive fee compared to many other countries.

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I think Ang went to the Wal Mart of child adopting countries. Got the express kid. Maybe Madonna should have gone there too, filed the paper work correctly, step foot into the country, not try to buy people off... who knows.

-HECK!

"Although she is a film star, she still has to meet the same requirements as everybody else."

see, that's how EVERY country should be. Okay, well then good for Jolie. (if that's actually true).
Madonna.... (future gif of waving fist here)

Madonna went through 18 months of trying to work on this... so, how did she skate by and get something without waiting?

Well, I guess that it's like everything else, when you're a celebrity... you get what you want.

Yeah. It's like that MTV show Cribs. "Here's my diamond covered toilet paper... there's my golden toothpick... oh, have you seen my pet dinosaur?"

-HECK!

Well, money and fame gets you what you want in life. I don't agree with it, for the most part... but, it's life.

I have no qualms about it. People will do what they want with their money. It's easy to lose touch with reality when you are uber rich. Hell, even if you're mildly well off.

That's why I plan to be humble when I make my first million.

-HECK!

Well, when you make your millions, remember your friends who cheered you on, along the road. We're poor, but we love ya.

. From the NY Post:

"If we were told she wants to take the baby as her own, we would not have consented, because I see no reason why I should give up my son," said Yohane Banda, father of the 13-month-old, David Banda.

"I am just now realizing the meaning of 'adoption,' " said Banda, adding that he had expected Madonna to raise David for him but not keep him as her own. [...]

[H]e explained yesterday that at the time, he believed that "when David grows up, he will return back home to his village."

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-HECK!

Well, if you don't know what it means to "Adopt" then you shouldn't do it.

Unless there was a signed contract, that Madonna and Guy had, that said they would "return" David when they were "finished with him" then Ummmmmmmmmm, sorry. It's an ADOPTION!

And this is why countries like Malawi rerquire potential parents to stay in the country for a period of time because at least that way both parties know exactly what they are letting themselves in for. I feel sorry for this guy most people in Malawi are poor and have little education so he probably did not know what he was getting himself into.
Mind you it will be intresting to see what happens because we all know that there are some groups challenging the adoption and if they can prove that the father either signed a contract beliveing it was a foster care form or did not know what he was signing or even worse was dupoed by somebody into signing over his son then that might mean that David has to come back, it would depend on Malwi law and these contries tend to favour the father.

Well, before ANYONE goes through with an adoption, there should be FULL DISCLOSURE of what you're expecting, etc....


I would say that Madonna won't let David forget where he came from. I just don't see her being like... "Well, he's ours, and we will never tell him the truth." Ummmmm, all he has to do is learn to read, and he will know. This is forever 'written' in history. Just google it, David, and you will know where you're from. You've been adopted by Madonna... not some no name person. The world knows the truth.

Well we are not talking about David's background here are we, we are talking about the fact that David's father may have given up a child and not known waht he was getting himself in for ( I always though he seemed a bit to happy and non - chalent about the whole thing when he was interviewed) and that is an issue that needs to be adressed now and not by Madonna or her PR officer and not by her lawyers but by the Malawian orphanage and adoption agencies and if something bogus has gone on then action has to be taken.

I dont buy this whole thing about the dad not knowing. Lets face it...someone doesnt give up the kid and not know the outcome of the occurrence. Are we to believe that the government, or no one informed this guy of what adoption is??? Nope...dont buy it.

he said it himself...he was looking for a better life for his kid...did he really believe this kid was going to come over here and live this kind of life and then return to poverty to live? C'mon!

I realize that some people arent fully educated and dont "get it," but this guy seemed to have understood.

Personally, I think the guy is getting pressured by his own people in oreder to come up with a story change.

Maybe Madonna should get a kid who doesnt have a family as to avoid this kind of stuff.

Obviously there was a language and culture barrier here. Maybe he was a goon to boot. Regardless it all seems shady.

-HECK!

Mystic can you give me one logical reason why the father would agree to adoption then say he was mislead? because right now I can't think of one. For all we know the father may have put David in an orpahanaghe hoping that someone could take care of him for a while now what if Madonna or somebody from her entourage then said to the father "well we will look after David is that OK" he would probably agree. Also I think this claim sheds a little more light on why Madonna left Malawi pretty sharpish.

If the father signed papers for an adoption, then Madonna does have rights to the child.

I don't think that mystic is painting the father in a bad light... but, if he wanted to keep David, then he shouldn't have agreed, for any period of time, to allow another to his child. Now, he's guaranteed a better life, and future... and everyone wants to shoot at Madonna for doing something good.

"and everyone wants to shoot at Madonna for doing something good."

Let's not get crazy now.

Beside the news stories I've posted before, let's also remember that there is a massive language and culture barrier that this poorly educated man from a third world country was on the losing end of. That needs to be recognized. Not to mention he's dealing with a multi-millionaire who lined the pockets of his country's president so s