Madonna’s Adoption Request Rejected
Posted April 3, 2009 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A Malawian court has rejected Madonna’s bid to adopt a second child from the country.
On Monday, the singer applied to adopt three-year-old Chifundo James, orphaned after her mother died in childbirth.
But in a hearing in Lilongwe Friday, the judge denied her claim, citing residency rules put in place to combat child trafficking and that require prospective parents to live in the country for 18 to 24 months. The law was waived in 2006 when Madonna was allowed to take her adopted son, David Banda, to London before the paperwork was finalized.
The 50-year-old performer, who flew to Malawi on Sunday, was not in court to hear the ruling, but has said through her lawyer she will appeal.
In addition to David, Madonna has two biological children, Lourdes and Rocco. She first travelled to the southern African state in 2006 to film a documentary.
Madonna, with her adopted son David Banda, visits a project previously set up by her Raising Malawi Foundation at the Namitete Secondary School on March 30, 2009 just outside Lilongwe, in Malawi. (Michelly Rall/Getty Images)
