Madonna allowed to adopt second child from Malawi

Madonna can adopt a 3-year-old girl, Chifundo "Mercy" James, from Malawi, the southern African country's Supreme Court ruled Friday, overturning a lower court’s ruling that had turned down the singer’s appeal for second Malawian adoption.

Lower court’s earlier rejection of adoption
In April of this year, country’s lower court had rejected Madonna’s adoption application over residency rules that require the prospective parents to be resident in the country for 18 to 24 months. The court ruled at the time that the pop icon has not spent enough time in Malawi.

In a ruling at that time, Judge Esme Chombo wrote, “By removing the very safeguard that is supposed to protect our children, the courts by their pronouncements could actually facilitate trafficking of children by some unscrupulous individuals.”

Judge Chombo had also warned against the trend of celebrity adoptions, fearing it could lead to child trafficking. "Anyone could come to Malawi and quickly arrange for an adoption that might have grave consequences on the very children that the law seeks to protect," she had said.

Supreme court’s approval
Contrary to lower court’s decision, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of “Queen of Pop” on Friday, saying she will be able to adopt a young girl from the country. The court also thanked her for her commitment to helping disadvantaged children, her creation of a charity, Raising Malawi, for Malawi children with AIDS, as well as her contribution in highlighting poverty, AIDS and other diseases devastating children in the country.

The impoverished southern African state has one of the highest rates of HIV/AIDS in the world. AIDS has orphaned more than one million children in Malawi. According to the United Nations’ estimates, 18 million African children will have lost a parent to this highly infectious disease by 2010.

Reading the three-judge panel’s ruling on Friday, Chief Justice Lovemore Munlo of Malawi’s Supreme Court of Appeal said that Madonna’s involvement with Malawi for several years contributed to their decision to allow her to adopt the girl, Chifundo ”Mercy” James.

Preparations are now underway for Madonna to bring the Malawian girl home where she will join fellow adoptee David, also 3.

Madonna's lawyer Alan Chinula said he called her after the ruling. "It's the early hours in New York now but my client has been awake all night waiting for this," Chinula told People. "She was ecstatic when I broke the news to her. She said, 'Thank heavens.'"

Chinula went on: "As her lawyer I am happy that this has settled this contentious issue."

Private jet for “Mercy”
The 50-year-old pop star is not expected to fly to Africa from New York, but the director of her Raising Malawi charity, Philippe Van Der Bossche, has been asked to arrange a private jet for the child.

Meanwhile, the buzz is that for the time being Mercy may be moved to the Kumbali lodge where the pop princess stays when she is in Malawi.

After the approval of second adoption, Madonna has become the single mother of four children. The hot and sultry beauty has two biological children- Rocco John Ritchie, her eight-year-old son with her former hubby Guy Ritchie, and a 12-year-old daughter Lourdes, fathered by her personal trainer, Carlos Leon. She also has three-year-old son David Banda, whom she adopted along with Ritchie from Malawi in 2006.

On Dec. 22, 2000, the 50-year-old multi-Grammy Award-winning singer married the 40-year-old British director Guy Ritchie, whom she had met in 1999 through mutual friends, Sting and his wife Trudie Styler. Their divorce was finalized in November last.