Image courtesy of US Magazine

This story has been going on for quite a while, but it seems to be drawing to close.  A Malawi Supreme Court Judge has approved Madonna’s application to adopt 3-year-old Chifundo “Mercy” James. 

The problem had to do with a residency law that said that to adopt a Malawian child, you have to live in Malawi for 18-24 months.  The Malawian government didn’t enforce that law with Madonna’s other Malawian child, David, but for some reason in this case it decided to crack down.  The case went to the Supreme Court, where the judge ruled that it was an “old law,” and that Mercy should be with Madonna.

Apparently things will move pretty fast now.  The little girl’s papers and passport will be prepared over the weekend, and Madonna should be able to take her home by the middle of next week.

Madonna released a statement through her rep, saying, “I am extremely grateful for the Supreme Court’s ruling on my application to adopt Mercy James.”

I’m glad they approved this.  I’m not a fan of Madonnna, but if I had her kind of money, I’d adopt more kids.  I like to see people with virtually unlimited resources like Madonna and the Jolie-Pitts using them to increase love and nurture in the world.

A judge in Malawi denied Madonna’s petition to adopt 4-year-old Chifuto James from an orphanage in Malawi.  He cited a law that says that a prospective parent must live in Malawi for 18 months before being eligible to adopt a child from there.  He also said that this little girl was doing just fine in her orphanage, thank you very much.  Of course, this is all despite the fact that Madonna just adopted a little boy from Malawi in 2006 without being held to the residency requirement.

A human rights spokesperson in Malawi said this: “Inter-country adoption is not the best way of providing protection to children… they should grow up in familiar cultural and religious surroundings…”

That’s absolutely true…when it’s possible.  A spokesperson for the Malawi Justice Department said, “the judge believes she was being well taken care of in the orphanage.”

So, now an orphanage is just as good as a loving home?  I’m no fan of Madonna as an artist, but nobody’s ever said she was a bad parent.  And I don’t see a whole lot of Malawian families stepping up to give these kids homes.  It just seems wrong for a judge to decide that it’s better for a child to be in a Malawian orphanage than an American home (and doesn’t Madonna live in a castle in Scotland?)–one that even has siblings of the same ethnic and national background. 

International/interethnic adoption is controversial, I know that, believe me.  But there shouldn’t be a question as to whether institutions or loving homes are better for children, no matter what their background. 

Madonna with Malawian son David