Madonna defends adoption as row brews in boy's native Malawi (Roundup)

Oct 17, 2006, 22:30 GMT

A personal body guard (front) for pop star Madonna protects her adopted Malawian child, David Banda, held by her personal assistant (back), as they are whisked through Johannesburg International Airport en route to London, Johannesburg, Monday 16 October 2006. Two body guards pushed away the media as they left their private plane from Malawi and boarded a commercial flight for England. EPA/KIM LUDBROOK

Johannesburg/London - US pop star Madonna defended her adoption of a one-year-old African boy Tuesday after arriving back in London, as rights groups in the boy's native Malawi stepped up their bid to challenge the legality of the process.

In her first statement since the adoption became public last week, Madonna insisted that she had 'gone about the adoption procedure according to the law, like anyone else who adopts a child.'

Justin Dzodzi, the chairman of Malawi's Human Rights Consultative Committee, said his coalition of non-governmental agencies had requested to speak at court proceedings underway to allow for the adoption.

The committee has challenged the legality of a waiver granted to the 48-year-old singer with government approval, which led to her being given an interim order and custody of little David Banda for the next 18 months.

Madonna, who is married to British director Guy Ritchie, said she hoped to make the adoption permanent after the 18-month evaluation period is over.

'It was my wish to open up our home and help one child escape an extreme life of hardship, poverty and in many cases death, as well as expand our family,' she said.

The speed and circumstances with which the couple were apparently able to formalize the adoption has prompted criticism in Malawi and in Britain.

Karen Gillon, a member of the Scottish parliament, last week said: 'This smacks of celebrity-itis and I think it's more about Madonna's needs than the child's.'

Madonna and Banda arrived at Heathrow airport in London Tuesday morning and were driven to the star's home in Marble Arch, where they were confronted by a wave of reporters and photographers that had staked out the mansion.

Foreign non-residents are not usually allowed to adopt children in the impoverished southern African country that is home to nearly one million orphans, partly as a result of high HIV/AIDS infection levels.

'What we are saying is that adoption is a legal process in Malawi. It has its minimums and maximums. We are not looking at faces,' Dzodzi told South Africa's SAFM public radio station.

Dzodzi noted that the Malawi High Court order that paves the way for the adoption to be finalised, should have been registered in the country of residence - Britain - while social authorities there should have been alerted to assist authorities in Malawi.

The case involving Banda had taken Malawians by surprise, he said. It was also not clearly understood by most in the country, where fostering rather than adoption is common practice.

'What's common is foster parenting, where foster parents have no rights over that of the biological parents. The children can be fostered and return to their parents,' he explained.

'Adoption is a totally different setup where the parental rights are extinguished completely,' Dzodzi said. Banda's subsistence farmer father, Yohane Banda, who brought the child to an orphanage after his wife died late last year, has reportedly given the adoption his blessing.

In Britain, child welfare groups have argued that under international convention, removing a child from their place of origin is considered a last resort, even if this involved providing a home for a child from a struggling third world country in the developed world.

South African radio meanwhile Tuesday began punting a debate scheduled for early Wednesday with the question: 'Are African children becoming Hollywood fashion accessories?'

Madonna's adoption follows other high profile adoptions by movie star Angelina Jolie, who adopted children from Cambodia and Ethiopia, and Meg Ryan, whose adopted child hails from China.

Madonna already has two children, nine-year-old Lourdes and Rocco, a five-year-old son she has with Ritchie.