Madonna Loses Adoption Bid

[Nancy66]

Malawi court has turned her down because she did not adhere to the residency rules.

Nancy - what on earth makes Angelinas adoptions dodgy?

yes i would still say ha bloody ha and feel incredibly sorry for the little girl who has been put through so much already.

I am not against adopting from other countries, but agree with other posters that rules are rules and there are not one set of rules for mere mortals and another for 'celebrities'.
If the residency requirement states that you must live there for 18months plus, then that's what you have to do! Whether you are Mrs Maud or Madonna.
You should not treat children like accessories and try to co-ordinate them by saying 'we need to even things up here'.

If you really want to spend your life with this little girl, giving up 18 months to learn about her culture, getting to know her existing family etc is NOT a big ask.
I'm sure Madonna would think nothing of uprooting her other children for a music tour or film for 18 months - she would simply bring along the nanny.
I really hope she has to go down the same route as everyone else. I really hope it's not a case of them and us. It's not easy to adopt and Madonna should go through the same channels as everyone else, no matter how frustrating she finds it.

Zahara - the little girl Angelina claimed was (to quote her) 'An Aids orphan' but who turned out to have a living mother - who never signed any adoption paper.

Isn't it the case though that the woman was presumed dead, and the grandmother signed the papers? IIRC, it was a good long while, at least a year or so before the mother turned up and Angelina, along with the rest of the world, found out she was alive.

and now the mother has quietly disappeared. Funny that.

(BTW I'm suggested she was paid - not killed!)

Well, who knows, and we shouldn't speculate for it is pointless, but lets assume for arguments sake that the mother was paid.

The mother did, for whatever reason abandon her daughter. I don't know the ins and out, but the girl was in an orphanage, and the grandmother was listed as the only living relative.

a couple of years later (or whenever), she came out, presumably after finding out who it was that adopted her child, and now she has gone again. Maybe she did accept money? But I know that no matter what my circumstances, no amount of money would be enough for my child.

The residency requirement can be bypassed if a judge deems it to be in the best interest of the child. So Madonna wasn't necessarily trying to break the law or even bend the rules.

The point of inter-country adoption isn't to give a child a life with better health care or education but to give a child a parent (or parents). No matter how clean or warm an orphanage is or how caring the staff are there, they cannot compare with the love and devotion of a parent. As I mentioned on the other thread, my DD (aged 4) was adopted from China. She's upstairs just now being read a story by her daddy. If she wakes up in the night feeling ill or tired then she has a mummy and daddy to comfort her.

An orphanage cannot take the place of a parent but inter-country adoption can give children a second chance at having a loving parent.

I reckon that if Madonna's High Court appeal fails, then she will regroup and make a bid for an orphan from a country whose law does not require the prospective adoptive parent to live in the country before the adoption goes through. I don't think Angelina Jolie lived in Cambodia, Thailand or Ethopia before adopting her dc.

Madonna met this little girl for the first time in 2006...so, this wasn't a spur of the moment idea on her account....so...I think she might have invested a bit more in adopting that little girl than people like to give her credit for....and by invested I mean emotional investment...

it would be good if those of you who are so critical of Madonna adopting from overseas could tell us something of your own positive experiences of adopting from the UK

Why would it?

You don't have to have had an experience of adopting from anywhere to think this is wrong. She's 50 years old. She didn't comply with the criteria. She shouldn't be allowed to adopt.

as i understand it, she isn't being refused on her age? its about a residence requirement and the courts have the right to waive that.

i was referring to the posters who have criticised her for adopting from overseas " there are orphans in your own counrty" and being a working mother.

i assume that those critics have adopted " orphans" or are otherwise helping orphaned children? and that none of them use paid childcare.

i wonder how many of those criticising her have actually done anything to help these children they care so much about

why do people assume she wants to " save" a child? maybe she just wants to parent her

i do not think she should be able to " bend the rules" because she is famous, but i am sceptical of all those posters who are so against overseas adoption when they obviously don't know the first thing about it

And as a parent of mixed race children i find it offensive that posters have referred to black children as " a fashionable must have item"