And you thought celebrities got all the breaks…
It seems Madonna’s international notoriety hasn’t helped much in her efforts to adopt a young boy from the African nation of Malawi. New reports have surfaced that contend that the adoption nightmare the singer faced last fall when she first united with young David Banda could be entering another awful phase. According to news reports, the star’s custody of the boy is in jeopardy.
The latest snag involves accusations that Malawi’s Child Welfare Services director received money from Madonna without government approval. As a result, Malawi’s minister for Women and Child Development is refusing to let the country’s Child Welfare Services director go to London to check in on David and his new family.
According to British news agencies, David turns two next month and has only been seen by the Malawi official on a couple of occasions. A scheduled May 2007 visit was reportedly missed because the minister refused the Child Welfare director to fly to London. That’s when an insider said Madonna offered the director a plane ticket. However, it is important to note that as of today the Child Welfare director has adamantly denied that he personally requested an airline ticket from Madonna.
What the director is confirming is that “the whole adoption process may crumble and David sent back to his village” if the mandated assessments are not complete. In a previous blog I reported that a Malawi court granted the 48-year-old singer and her husband, Guy Ritchie temporary custody of David after his biological father, Yohane Banda, had placed the boy in an orphanage following the death of his wife. The custody approval was met with protests from groups opposing Madonna’s adoption plans. The group filed a lawsuit in which they argued that Malawi laws forbid international adoption, therefore making it illegal for the government to grant interim custody of David to Madonna. According to reports by Malawi journalists, judges there had planned to rely on testimony from the Child Welfare director before ruling sometime in 2008 whether Madonna’s interim adoption of the David would receive final approval.
Related Articles:
The Madonna Adoption-Is It Finally A Done Deal?