Madonna's Malawian Mission Not Maternal Minded
Some celebrities (cough, Angelina Jolie, cough) can't seem to visit an impoverished nation without coming home with a child.
Apparently, Madonna is not one of those celebrities.
Though the singer plans to return to Malawi shortly, adoption is not something she plans to pursue on her travels, her spokeswoman Liz Rosenberg said Thursday.
Instead, she will reportedly be focusing on her work with the Raising Malawi organization, to which she has pledged at least $3 million, and will be overseeing the construction of a children's health care center.
It was unclear when the singer was scheduled to depart for Africa. Some reports claimed she had already left, while others claimed she planned to travel to Malawi over the weekend.
Her London publicist, Barbara Charone, told Reuters Thursday that Madonna was still in England and that she did not know when she would depart.
It was also unclear whether Madonna planned to bring her adoptive son-to-be, David, with her for a reunion with his biological father, Yohane Banda, as some reports suggested.
Though Banda said he supported his son's adoption by the pop star last fall, he complained in January that he had no way of contacting Madonna and her husband, Guy Ritchie, to learn how the boy was doing.
"I don't have her phone numbers and mailing addresses," Banda told Malawi's Daily Times. "I want to find out how my son is, but I don't know how I can do it. If there are people who can help me get these details, please come forward. I would appreciate [it] very much."
Perhaps Madonna decided that rather than giving out her digits, she'd simply bring David back for a visit.
The singer's decision to take the one-year-old boy from the orphanage where he had lived since soon after his birth resulted in international controversy last fall, with human rights groups accusing Madonna of using her celebrity to skirt the proper adoption procedures, an allegation she firmly denied.
She and Ritchie were granted temporary custody of David in September, but were required to submit to monitoring by child welfare officials for 18 months, after which time the adoption can be finalized. The first official court assessment of their parental skills was expected to take place next month.
In addition to David, Madonna is the mother of 10-year-old Lourdes, her daughter from a previous relationship, and six-year-old Rocco, her son with Ritchie.
Though she called the experience of adopting from Malawi, where no real framework for international adoption exists, "a cocktail for disaster," Madonna has urged others to follow in her footsteps.
"There's over a million orphans in Malawi, and in my opinion the laws need to change because these children need to be rescued," she said during an appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman in January.
And while Madonna may not be prepared to "rescue" another child this time around, she has said she may consider adopting from Malawi again in the future.
"I wouldn't rule it out…but I would like to experience David for a while and see how it works out," she told the BBC in November.
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