Madonna was facing growing opposition today to her plan to adopt another child from Malawi.
Children’s charity Save the Children urged the singer to think again, while there were reports the family of the toddler she is seeking to remove from the impoverished African republic is fighting the adoption.
The 50-year-old star has filed papers in Malawi setting out her intention to adopt an orphan called Mercy James, who she hopes to take back to the US if a Malawi court approves the plan.
Madonna already has an adopted son from Malawi.
Questions were asked after she and then-husband Guy Ritchie took David Banda to their London home in 2006 while the child was 13 months old, and her latest quest for a sister for David has led to renewed criticism.
Mercy’s grandmother hit out at the Material Girl star, who will reportedly travel to Malawi tomorrow to spend time with the girl and to launch proceedings to make the girl legally her daughter.
“Why doesn’t this singer pick other children?" asked Lucy Chekechiwa (61). "It is stealing. I want to go to court, I won’t let her go.”
Mercy has been living in a Malawi orphanage and Mrs Chekechiwa claimed it had been agreed the child would go to her when she reaches the age of six. Mercy’s 18-year-old mother died five days after her birth.
Meanwhile, Save the Children said orphans should be cared for by extended family in their home country and suggested international adoption can make matters worse.
Spokesman Dominic Nutt said: “The best place for a child is in his or her family in their home community.
“Most children in orphanages have one parent still living, or have an extended family that can care for them in the absence of their parents.”
According to Save the Children, international adoption should only be considered if the child is a genuine orphan, and if all other alternatives in their own country have been genuinely exhausted.
“International adoption can actually exacerbate the problem it hopes to solve,” said Mr Nutt. “The very existence of orphanages encourages poor parents to abandon children in the hope that they will have a better life.”
Mr Nutt also said international adoption can mean big business in some countries, with “unscrupulous” adoption agencies profiting from the sale of children.
He said: “We urge any celebrity to set an example, to follow internationally agreed procedures designed to protect the child, and to ensure that the child in question has no other options in their home community.”
The southern African nation of Malawi is one of the world’s most impoverished. Ravaged by Aids, the population have a life expectancy of just 44 years. It has an infant mortality rate of close to 90 per 1,000 live births, according to 2009 estimates.
Madonna has established ties with the country over the past few years, setting up the Raising Malawi charity to raise the profile of the plight its people.
Her spokeswoman Liz Rosenberg was not immediately available for comment.
PA