Posted on 06/12/2009 7:37:40 PM PDT by Morgana
Highest Court In Malawi Says She Can Adopt 2nd Child From The Southern African Nation; "Father" Says He's "Crying"
(CBS/AP) Madonna can adopt a second child from Malawi, the southern African country's highest court ruled Friday, overturning a lower court decision it said was out of touch with the times.
Chief Justice Lovemore Munlo, reading the three-judge panel's ruling, also said the singer's commitment to helping disadvantaged children should have been taken into account when deciding on Madonna's request to adopt 3-year-old Chifundo "Mercy" James.
Madonna has founded a charity, Raising Malawi, which helps feed, educate and provide medical care for some of Malawi's more than 1 million orphans, half of whom have lost a parent to AIDS.
Children's welfare groups had expressed concern that rules meant to protect children were being bent because of Madonna's celebrity, and perhaps out of gratitude for what she has done for Malawi, one of the world's poorest and most AIDS-ravaged countries.
A Malawian man claiming to be Mercy's biological father had also objected to the adoption, as CBS News correspondent Priya David reported last month.
James Kambewa, a security guard, says he'd been told Mercy had died in childbirth. The girl's maternal relatives have said they don't believe Kambewa is the father, and his objections weren't addressed in Friday's ruling, which removed all his potential parental rights.
He told David on Friday that the court's ruling had left him in tears.
"I'm crying," he said. "I need my baby. I don't know where I can find any help."
Madonna's lawyer, Alan Chinula, said he called his client after the ruling was announced Friday.
"It's the wee hours of morning in New York, but she is excited at the news," Chinula said. "As her lawyer, I am happy that this has settled this contentious issue."
In a statement issued Friday, Madonna went further, saying, "I am extremely grateful for the Supreme Court's ruling on my application to adopt Mercy James. I am ecstatic. My family and I look forward to sharing our lives with her."
Chinula said he would now turn to arranging a passport for Chifundo, which could take several days, and was awaiting word from Madonna on travel plans for the girl. The adoption may not be final for some time.
Madonna had appealed after the lower court ruled she could not adopt the girl because the singer had not spent enough time in Malawi. The lower court said residency rules had been bent when Madonna adopted her son David from Malawi last year.
The appeals court said that was a narrow interpretation based on old laws.
"In this global village, a man can have more than one place at which he resides," Munlo said in the ruling, which took more than an hour to read in court Friday. "The matter of residence should be determined at the time of application of the adoption. In this case, Madonna was in Malawi not by chance but by intention. She is looking after several orphans whose welfare depends on her. She can therefore not be described as a sojourner."
The ruling also said the judges saw only two options for Chifundo, "either to stay at the orphanage without the love of family and live with the possibility of destitution, or be with Madonna where she is assured of love.
"Every child has the right to love."
Madonna met the girl in 2006 at Kondanani Children's Village, an orphanage in Bvumbwe just south of Blantyre. It was the same year she adopted David, who she found at another orphanage in central Malawi.
The girl's 18-year-old mother was unmarried and died soon after she gave birth. Since Madonna moved to adopt the girl, a dispute has arisen between the girl's maternal relatives, who agreed to the adoption, and a man claiming to be her father who said he wanted to care for the girl himself.
Peter Baneti, an uncle reached by phone in his village just outside Blantyre, said the family welcomed Friday's ruling.
"We hope Mercy will be joining Madonna soon," he said.
The chairman of the coalition of non-governmental organizations that had opposed Madonna's adoption efforts said Friday's ruling "disregarded" international agreements on children's rights and adoptions.
Undule Mwakasungula also took issue with the argument that because Madonna has made an investment in the country and has interests there, she could be considered a resident.
"We are a bit surprised but we can't challenge it because the Supreme Court has ruled and we have to go with that," he said.
I don’t care for Madonna but at least the child has the chance at a better life & to get an education. At least Madonna is doing something for these children & for that I am grateful. Would you rather the kid sat in the orphanage or went to a man who thinks he is the father?
Stealing more babies from their fathers?
Another Hollywood accessory to be raised by hired help.
Agreed.
Is she starting a plantation and in need of help?
There are no American kids up for adoption??
Plenty of kids in the USA up for adoption .
2 bits, 4 bits, 6 bits, a dollar.....if you’ve done it with Madonna, stand up and holler!
And she already has one kid from Malawi . What about equal opportunity and adopt a white kid ? Another white guilt whacko job . There are poor white kids in the world .
...and Chifundo loses.
all she needed to do is pony up more bribe money. She did and now she gets another kid for her collection.
Thank you for your reply i agree with you 100%.
Now the child has a chance at a normal life,i am no fan of Madonna at least the child will not rot in some African orphanage and die.
Now if she grows up to be a pop singer i will have to consider what i said...
Well to quote Rush Limbaugh on that....Life in a hut in Africa or life growing up with Madonna.....yea...he will live a life of free sex, a bowl of condoms by the bed, doing it with every girl...or who knows...boy?...in town.
Black fathers none the less
surprised the NAACP is isn't raising holy hell .../s
GIVE me a break. This child was in an orphanage. Anybody who thinks this child would be better off in a third world African Country is just not being honest. Your hate for Madonna trumps your good sense. One child will have a chance at a life beyond anything imaginable. What on EARTH is wrong with that?
Yes there are. I don’t care for her at all. But I am glad she uses her money to help children even if they aren’t American.
Then I guess you were for Elian Gonzalez being returned to his Father, right? I’ll wait for your answer.
It’s not cool to adopt an AA.
Buying or bribing officials to get your own negro baby is the new status symbol within the airheaded entertainment elite.
If I knew for a fact her motives were good, I’d applaud but somehow I suspect it’s more like Paris Hilton touting a Chihuahua as a fashion accessory. When the Material Girl gets bored with the latest Hollywood trend, they get turned over to the staff seldom the see “mommy dearest” again.
I was. Fatherhood was, and is, more important than objections to communism.
Well..then at least you’re consistent and I respect you. Believe me, the majority here weren’t.
Wow...now we have to know motives? Even if she never saw that child except on holidays, that child is better off.
Oh gee....how much do they see of her already? She is busy as it is. She tours, makes videos, and is at the gym three hours a day. The kids have nannies, who raise them not Madonna. You are correct, this is just a fashion statement.
I adopted a bunch myself. Newborns all healthy and all american.
“”No one wants to listen to me, I have protested this all along ... I want my child back but I don’t know what to do now,” James Kabewa told Reuters by telephone from his poor township.
“Madonna cannot take her away.”
There is little he can do. The Supreme Court ruling cannot be challenged. Kabewa said he quit his job as a security guard to fight the adoption and was being supported by his aunt.
According to tradition in southern Malawi, where Kabewa lives, a grandmother has more say in a child’s future than the father. When Mercy’s mother died Kabewa was powerless to stop his daughter being sent to an orphanage when she was 3-days-old.”
even more reason why this adoption should go through. It doesn’t sound like he has any say in it. It’s not about even what’s right or wrong anymore...the ball is in the Grandmother’s court. That’s the way it is.
You have NO idea what kind of mother she is. To make a judgement like that is stupid. Even her ex-husband said she’s a good mother, and he seems like a decent bloke.
If there's a willing parent, I'd think that is more important that the material wealth of a materialistic hag.
But if the child was an orphan, that does make a difference.
But, come on, does it not sicken you that adopting children from Africa has become the latest cause celebre by these Hollywood egotists?
Elian’s mother DIED getting him out of a tyrannically run hellhole.
He had family here.
Sending him back was NOT so that he could be with his father, but to smooth over relations between Slick Willy and his bud Fidel Castro.
Get with it and drop the absurd analogies.
No..it doesn’t...unlike many here, I don’t care about the motives...a child has a chance at a life.
The father said he wanted Elian back..so you’re questioning HIS motives?
I disagree. The love of a father is of more
value to Mercy than the attention of a show
biz whore who has an unstable home life and
is in a cult.
Fatherhood is God ordained. It is being subverted.
There is nothing Madonna could buy the child
that has greater value than that which Mercy
will lose forever as a result of Madonna’s
forcing of this adoption.
Very good. Write me again when you return to planet Earth.
He'll be raised by hired-hands, no guarantee they are any better than those in an orphanage.
If it had been an average family, I wouldn't mind so much.
My original comments were meant as a dig against Hollywood egotistical maniacs who carry African children around like fashion accessories.
Apparently, you think that's a fine life for a child.
We don't know what Elian’s father really wanted. You can be damn sure that Castro had some guys in army fatigues pay him a visit to tell him what to do. And I seriously doubt that Elian is being raised by his father. In that hellhole, he has probably been raised by handlers for the better part of 10 years.
Indeed!
Shge has taken this child out of a hell hole and given him a chance to have a life
How he turns out nobody knows but that can be said of any child. God bless Madonna for her efforts.
For one thing, it’s a girl we’re talking about. A girl in a THIRD WORLD ORPHANAGE. What is wrong with you people? If Laura Ingraham was doing this you’d be ready to give the the Nobel Peace Prize.
I have no problem with adopting children from third-world countries and improving their lives.
I have a problem with skanks like Madonna doing it for attention.
I agree with you. I don’t have a lot of regard for Madonna, but at least the child will have a chance at life. In Malawi she won’t. One in every six people in the country have AIDS, and nearly 60% of them are girls and women. Average life expectancy is about only 47 years. (Some sources place it at about 37 years.) About 1/3 of the population is malnourished, and the growth of half of the children under 5 is stunted because of it. The man who says he is the child’s father may or may not be. He may sincerely care for the child, although his statement that he needs his baby tells me that the focus is on him, not on the child.
So, you know what’s in Madonna’s heart? Wow, I was wondering when I was going to meet God.
Does anyone know inside a person’s heart,motive? I am all about helping children out in desperate situations. But the child had a family. Should any child that has a bad family be taken away to someone because they have money? Isn’t that why planned parenthood set up in poor black families? they figure if they don’t have the money to care for a baby they might as well get rid of it. If people really want to do good,then do good. Why couldn’t Madonna brought the father and daughter here and help them,together, to have a good life. Just because Madonna has money no one can assume she is a bad mother but neither can we assume she is a good one. She could have taken herself out of it and help a family,daughter and father. We can never forget Hollywood has lots of money and power comes with it. I am sure there are plenty of poor black babies here Madonna could help as well. And for the record I truly believe black babies are so beautiful and it breaks my heart to know so many have been lost to us because of abortion. Whatever happens to the baby Madonna adopted I pray God may bless her and help bring Madonna back to God.
that would be abortion clinics setting up in poor black neighborhoods! It’s getting late.
We're talking Madonna her,a walking STD biological hazard who I wouldn't let a dog within a 100 mile radius of her without a hazmat suit on.
And likewise, you KNOW she's going to be a great mom, right? So who does that make you, Hera? Medussa?
But thank, Hildy. It had been several months since I had an exchange on FR with someone who was so incapable of grasping the basic point I was making.
You keep defending Madonna, though. It really makes you look brilliant. (FYI: That's sarcasm).
Go to post 41. There’s your great mother, God.
Not sure Rush should kick water out of that pool.
So she steals the kid from its real father and is dancing with joy.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.