Madonna to appeal court ruling on Malawi adoption
(Agencies)
2009-04-05 10:55
 |
Large Medium Small |
Celebrity watchers agreed.
"Madonna usually gets what she wants, doesn't she?" said Us Weekly magazine senior editor Ian Drew. "She's Madonna, the one and only. She's a deity to people in many ways, in a pop culture sense. People do feel ... there's nothing Madonna can't have."
But Drew said that may have led to unfair criticism about the adoption.
"She's invested so much in Malawi and had really identified this girl as being someone she really wanted to take under her wing," he said. "It's probably devastating to her, but she'll definitely use all of her legal juice to get it reversed somehow if she can."
Critics had accused Madonna of using her fame and money to fast-track the adoption, but the singer said she followed standard procedures.
Mavuto Bamusi, an official with Malawi's Human Rights Consultative Committee, called Friday's ruling "a defining moment for child protection."
"We sympathize with children like Mercy who find themselves in orphanhood," Bamusi said. "But the Malawi authorities should take this as a moment of reflection. The laws of Malawi should now be strengthened so that no celebrity, no family that is trying to adopt should be seen as taking advantage of our weak laws."
In court papers made public Friday, Madonna said Mercy's grandmother was unable to care for her. The grandmother had initially opposed the adoption but later changed her mind, according to local media reports.
The girl's mother died at age 14, not long after Mercy was born on Jan. 22, 2006; there was no mention of the father in the affidavit. The mother's brother was listed as having consented to the adoption.
Malawi's child welfare minister, Anna Kachikho, had endorsed Madonna's adoption bid, telling the AP on Thursday: "If people like Madonna adopt even one such orphan, it's one mouth less we have to feed."