Madonna heading for Malawi to adopt second child

Madonna is preparing to visit Malawi where she plans to adopt a second African child, it was revealed today.

An official at the Malawi welfare department said the pop star had filed adoption papers.

Another person close to the case said Madonna would be there this weekend and a court could hear her adoption case as soon as Monday.

Madonna’s lawyer later confirmed the reports.

The pop star, who adopted a two-year-old Malawian boy last year after huge controversy, is expected to arrive in the poverty-stricken country over the weekend.

Earlier this month, the recently-divorced singer confirmed to the Malawian newspaper Nation that she would like to give her adopted son, David, now 3, a sibling from his own country.

“Many people – especially our Malawian friends – say that David should have a Malawian brother or sister,” she told the newspaper.

“It’s something I’ve been considering but would only do if I had the support of the Malawian people and the government.”

David’s birth father, Yohane Banda, has also told reporters that Madonna is expected in Malawi. The peasant farmer, who has previously spoken out against his son’s adoption, said that the charity that Madonna set up, Raising Malawi, had told him she was due to visit.

He said: “Someone from Raising Malawi visited me last week and told me that my son may be visiting me sometime next week. I am delighted, I want to see my son.”

The singer, who has two other children, faced a raft of criticism after she and former husband Guy Ritchie, secured an interim adoption order and brought David to the UK in 2006.

She was accused of using her status to fast-track the adoption process and criticised for choosing a child with a living parent over an orphan.

But as she was granted permission to formally adopt David last May, the singer rubbished claims that she had acted unethically.

“There is nothing controversial about the adoption. It is just there’s a lot of bureaucracy and administration. This adoption essentially was the beginning of the creation of adoption laws in Malawi. I am the template or the role model so to speak for future adoptions.”

Madonna has come in for further criticism after splitting with Ritchie in October. The singer has taken David to live with her in the US, while Richie remains in Britain.

Banda has said he was astonished by the split and did not want his son raised by a single mother.

“When a mother and father divorce, or the mother or father marries another person, I know that it becomes very difficult for the children to adjust,” he said.

An official at Malawi’s Ministry of Women and Child Welfare recently threw doubt on Madonna’s ability to succeed in adopting a second child, saying that the department did not favour single parents.

From the Times Online.