The New York Post reports that the real cost to Madonna of adopting baby Mercy James from Malawi was $19 million. The money was paid out to charity projects in the country. The allusion is that without this kind of financial good will contribution, Madonna may not have been awarded the adoption of 3 year old Mercy because she did not comply with the country's adoption laws.

Madonna last week won her court appeal to adopt a second child from Malawi. The star was appealing against an earlier decision that she could not adopt Chifundo “Mercy” James, four. In April, a judge ruled out the adoption saying prospective parents had to be resident in Malawi for 18 months. But the appeals court said that decision did not take into account the singer’s commitment to helping disadvantaged children.

The state’s chief justice, Lovemore Munlo, praised Madonna’s interest in helping Malawi orphans and said the child would have a better life with the star. She was also financially stable, he added.

Judge Esmie Chondo ruled out the adoption in April, citing residency rules. Those rules were waived in 2006 when Madonna adopted a boy, David, from the southern African state. Mercy has been living in an orphanage since her 18-year-old mother died shortly after giving birth. The 50-year-old entertainer also has two biological children — Lourdes, 12, and Rocco, aged eight.

Madonna, who's blended family includes Lourdes, from former boyfriend Carlos Leon, and Rocco and David Banda, born and adopted, respectively, from ex-husband Londoner Guy Ritchie, was awarded her adoption of 3 year old Mercy James without having to live in the country in which Mercy was born and raised, according to normal Malawian laws. Some people are crying foul play.

The little girl's father, who placed his daughter in an orphanage because he cannot afford to care for her is devastated that Madonna is able to adopt his daughter and take her out of the country according to the Daily Mirror, a British newspaper. Mercy's dad, James Kambewa is quoted as saying, "I am devastated. I did not even know that the judges were making a ruling about Madonna adopting my child on that day...I feel betrayed by my countrymen who gave me a deaf ear because I am poor and Madonna is rich."

- See video featuring Mercy's grandmother and father

- Examiner.com, BBC Online

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Archie Bishop  - Vicar   |2009-06-21 06:44:53 Is there any other better form of child traficking? Reply 0   0

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