Madonna united with her adopted Malawian child

African motherOct 17th, 2006 - 19:19:27

I think people representing African children's charities should stop idealising the idea that orphans should be raised in their own country/by relatives / within their communities.

If there were people in those communities willing and able to raise some of the orphans who are eventually adopted by celebrities, there would have been takers long before the celebrity came along.
I know, because I am from an African village, and I grew up seeing relatives and neighbours fostering children when their own parents were incapable of taking of them/ if they passed away.

There is nothing 'right'about being raised by relatives who are starving themselves or who resent you because you are taking food from their children's mouths.

There is nothing right about being raised on aid, when you could have been adopted by a family, where famous or just ordinary, where you have at least one parent.

Sure international/inter-racial adoptions are about vanity sometimes, but many of African women have had babies out of a sense of duty because their married families expect it of them. What makes those reasons better than when a famous person adopts a child so she can show him off?

Madonna's David is going to grow up with all the accompanying trauma and stress that comes with being a celebrity child. That's nothing new - children who are born to celebrities face similar challenges.

He's also going to face challenges of being an inter-racially adopted child. But, whatever problems David will encounter, it will still be better life than he would have lived as an orphan [if he lived long] and he will definitely have more resources than most African children ever gain access to. What's wrong with that?

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JaneOct 17th, 2006 - 23:57:47

First: David is not an orphan! He has a father who placed him in the orphanage where he would have his basic survival needs met because his family could not provide for him. The father visited him on a regular basis. The father says he dearly loves his child. If Madonna truly cared, why wouldn't she help his family provide for him? I imagine the money she spent for the staff and transportation costs for David to travel to London would have made a huge difference in David's family's finances. Madonna could have continued to help this family through the years. I am not against celebrities adopting children, but, I find absolutely nothing noble about what Madonna has done to David and his family.

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sp4Oct 18th, 2006 - 01:23:27

One has to ask, in light of some of the dollar figures being tossed around, why she would want to adopt a child that the father would rather raise on his own, as opposed to put up for adoption???

Nonetheless, he DID want the adoption, and that being the case, why would anyone object to someone wanting the child?

The question should be, if it were not Madonna adopting, would the adoption then be O.K.?

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Again and againOct 18th, 2006 - 14:02:58

Yes, the father agreed to the adoption. But, his choices were limited: orphanage or adoption. Madonna could have provided another choice: Financial help and/or other support raising the child within his family.
understand the father making sacrifices so his son could survive, afterall this parent has already lost other children to extreme proverty

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