Madonna's Adoption: Back Off, Big Mouths, She's Not "Stealing" A Baby!
When Little Orphan Annie is adopted by Daddy Warbucks in the Broadway show "Annie," does anyone in the audience think, "This is an outrage"? Daddy Warbucks lives in a huge, fabulous mansion on Fifth Avenue, is friends with President Roosevelt and when he first brings Annie home for a tryout visit, he assigns his assistant to take charge of her — yet no one in the audience gasps. I don't recall theatergoers telling their children that poor little Annie should have stayed in the orphanage because Daddy Warbucks is too rich, too single, and possibly in too much of a midlife crisis to adopt her.
And remember, it's not ascertained until the end of the show that Annie is in fact a true orphan — her parents could still be alive.
Well if it's OK for richie rich Daddy Warbucks to become an "adoptive" dad, then why are media and other Big Mouths in a fury that megarich Madonna is about to "steal" another African child from an orphanage? So what that she's rich and is touring the Malawian orphanage in a $2,800 Chanel sweatsuit? At least she's there and she's spent a portion of her fortune making improvements to that orphanage. Are her critics raising money to improve the lives of the one million Malawian orphans or lining up to adopt them themselves? There's certainly plenty of children desperate for parents in the small African country — one in five of its children are, in fact, orphans.
If Madonna can give an opportunity to even one of these poverty-stricken children, 
why should her wardrobe matter? Has anyone priced out Angelina Jolie's outfits when she went to Vietnam, Ethiopia or Cambodia - the home countries of HER three adopted children? When Angelina dresses for red carpet events, she routinely wears Ralph Lauren, Versace and Max Azria. Should this disqualify her from adopting in the future? Should all wealthy people with designer-laden wardrobes be excluded from adopting? Should Oprah forget her dream of educating poor South African girls because she likes to carry an Hermes purse?
The child that Madonna is adopting is reportedly named Mercy and she is 4 years old. I remember hearing that when Madonna adopted David Banda as an infant — he's now a healthy-looking 3-year-old — she had also wanted to adopt a little girl named Mercy. So she's had Mercy in her sight for two years, and never forgot about her. She's hardly returned to Malwai to "shop" for a child. If anything, she's refused to forget about an orphan that, like Annie, desperately needed a home to call her own.
According to press reports, Mercy's 18-year old mother died when she was just five days old, her dad is MIA and she has a 61 year-old grandmother Lucy Chekechiwa who has accused Madonna of stealing her granddaughter. Mind you: Mercy lives in the same orphanage where Madonna discovered David Banda. She does not live with her grandmother.
Now, I am sympathetic to the feelings of Mercy's grandmother who doesn't want to lose all ties with her granddaughter. But put this in an American perspective. There are hundreds of thousands of children in this country who are ineligible for adoption because a parent or grandparent who can't care for them has refused to release them for adoption. Instead, these children and teenagers are caught in the foster care system for years, and can be shuttled from foster home to foster home to group home, until they are 18.
The result: They never have the opportunity to have their own loving, 
stable home with an adoptive family of their own. Instead, when they are 18 they are thrown out like unwanted animals to fend for themselves in the streets. Rosie O'Donnell just filmed a movie called "America" for Lifetime about this harsh reality.
Now imagine being Mercy. She has a chance to escape a place where one in five children doesn't live past the age of five, the average life expectancy is 48, and the average household income is $160 a year. How powerless would you feel if a bunch of muckety mucks that you've never met are trying to ruin your chance for a better life?
Wouldn't you want to be special to someone? Have a mom? Have someone to kiss your boo boos? Have a big sister and two brothers? Have a cozy bed? Go to school? Be able to see a doctor when you're sick? Have enough to eat? Go to college? Be able to have a profession that you love when you grow up?
Would you really want to be denied these things because your potential mom was rich and wore a $2,800 Chanel sweatsuit? Madonna with her Kabbalah and fitness obsession may not be everyone's cup of tea but by all reports she is a loving mother. Lourdes and Rocco have been photographed playing happily with local kids in Central Park numerous times. They look like completely normal, happy children. Pictures of David Banda show that he's grown into a healthy, smiling three year-old. There's no evidence that the children of rock stars grow up any more or less dysfunctional than other children, at least as long as they aren't featured in a reality show, Ozzy Osbourne- style.
So have mercy on Madonna Bigbucks and Mercy. If you're not prepared to go to Africa and adopt a needy child, then don't diss someone who is, even if she is a material girl.
For more on Madonna's adoption, follow Bonnie at Twitter at twitter.com/bonniefuller.
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You go Bonnie!
I wonder how many of the people commenting here have adopted, either internationally or domestically? I've done both. It takes a very special brand of parenting to raise an adopted toddler who has been in institutional care. It's not something you do for publicity or to be trendy. It's ignorant and deeply cynical to think so. As for Madonna circumventing rules: How many of you know how long she's been waiting or what she's had to do in order to make this adoption happen? You assume she broke rules, but you don't know. I think the more important question is why is it so difficult in Malawi and so many other countries for a child to find a permanent family? Are culture and religion more important than a permanent, loving family? I'm sure a three-year-old wouldn't think so.
If Madonna really wanted to make a difference in Mercy's life she would anonymously provide an education and home in which she could live with her Grandmother or relatives. To equate Madonna adopting Mercy with Oprah providing a place to live and an education to several hundred girls is not logical. If all of the celebrities out there who are adopting children all over the world really cared about them, they would donate a large portion of their considerable fortunes, anonymously, and try to provide a framework and place for them where they can grow and flourish in their own countries. What about all the other children in Mercy's orphanage? Maybe she should adopt them all.
Adoption is intended to find home for ORPHANS, and children who have no family to provide safe care. 88.7% of children in orphanages worldwide are NOT orphans and are not eligible for adoption.
International adoption ignores the 100,000 plus children in US foster care who COULD be adopted - and a similar number in UK – and encourages corrupt baby brokers who steal and kidnap infants to meet a demand.
When anyone - movie star or not - spends $20-40k to adopt a child, they deprive a family from within that nation of adopting. Taking children one at a time does nothing to ameliorate the poverty of their families, village or nation, and has even been called cultural genocide.
Huffington Post 10/16/06 by Karen Finley after Madonna's first adoption: “Imagine if Madonna’s father could not have supported his children after the death of the mother? And a wealthy African family appeared in Detroit with entourage and took away little five-year-old Ciccone to adopt? Americans, white Americans would go nuts….This Malawi child is leaving his heritage, his people, his language, his family. Yes, he is poor. But now he is also impoverished.…Sounds like colonialism to me….The image of a white, powerful, rich woman and her entourage landing in Africa and selecting a black boy brings America’s history of slavery and the middle passage to mind.”
Mirah Riben, author of "The Stork Market: America's Multi-Billion Dollar Unregulated Adoption industry"
http://www.AdvocatePublications.com
Bonnie,
I agree with you. I am hardly a Madonna fan- you couldn't pay me to attend one of her movies or concerts. However, I don't get this Madonna-bashing in regards to her wanting to adopt this child. There is definitely a double standard in how her adoption efforts are seen by the media and public, when compared to other rich celebs, like Jolie.
There is no double-standard. Angie goes in the front-door and Madonna goes in the back. Angie APPLIES for adoption in the country she is adopting from, passes all the homesceening and background checks first THEN she goes to meet a child, or group of children, the authorities select for placement in adoptive homes. She completes the legal process before she takes the child home. When she returns to the US with a child she has completed all the legal adoption requirements in the child's home country and that child is a U.S. citizen.
Anjelina jolie daughter Zahara's mother is still alive. Anjelina Jolie never went back to the countries she adopted her children from. She did not bring her children to visit their homelands. Double standards indeed. At least MAdonna is commited to one country and not just by adopting kids from there but improving life in Malawi. If you don't know do the research before talking because you obviously don't know what you are talking about. Do you know what a Millenium village is ?
Look up Madonna Sex Book online, then talk to me after. Go to her concert and watch what she wears and how she slithers all over the backup singers, staging kisses with the young girls...
That's just a smidge. Anyone who doesn't understand why its not a good idea either does
not know the level of crude Madonna truly is, or has not thought it through.
The Daddy Warbucks-Little Orphan Annie thing is an artifact from how we used to do things in this country. At the time, children, even children of parents who wanted to keep them but could not afford to, were often abandoned to orphanages where we now know they were abused and neglected. Many children were adopted by "parents" who were looking for farm hands and maids, not children to complete a mythical nuclear family. It was the rare child who went to a wealthy family where there was love.
The premise of this article is it is the income level of a person that determines their "parent-worthiness". So rich people should be able to adopt the children of poor people whenever they want, and no requirement but income disparity should apply?
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I agree, she's not "stealing" a baby.
She's BUYING one.
Gosh, I think EVEN in Malawi there is a WAITING PERIOD to adopt. Strange how that doesn't seem to affect Mr Madonna. He just pops in to the drive thru and there ya go.
New baby.
I guess a child from England or America might be too much of a hassle for Madonna.
She might have to answer some PERSONAL QUESTIONS before they let her impress herself on a human being.
Money doesn't TALK, it screams obscenities.
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It appears you are letting your personal bias against Madonna cloud your reading comprehension. She has waited to adopt Mercy since 2006. Long enough for ya?
I agree. Only thanks to her fame and wealth was she able to slide this through. Anyone else would have been rejected.
Ohh you must be on the Malawi Supreme Court. Do tell.....
WRONG WRONG WRONG
She waited 18 months to adopt young David. A social worker visted her home every 4 to 6 weeks. Lots of personal questions and evaluations and lots of finger-printing. She could not buy her way out of the normal adoption procedures. And she didn't. She may be a celebrity but facts do matter! And now little David has a mother and a father (who can parent) and a brother and a sister. And soon to have another sister.
GOOD GOOD GOOD
Why can't she adopt a kid that is like, alone in the world? What's this with adopting kids with families when so many children haven't got a family at all? Or like my adopted cousin, whose parents locked her outside overnight - in Siberia? I mean, that is a kid who needs to be adopted.
Or like a child whose father is MIA, whose grandmother won't take care of her, or a dad who drops you off in an orphanage and then goes and gets another family while you are literally dying there? You mean like that?????????????????????
expanse, go back to the Madonna fan board. Whenever Madge gets exposed,
her fans are instructed where to go to help her look good. It's always pulling strings under the radar to insure success, isn't it Madonna.
You are a total dreamer if you think Madonna is going to kiss anyone's boo-boos.
The relative disregard for these children, their families and by extension poor and particularly poor African children throughout the continent is disturbing.
I am certain Ms Ciccone has intentions of providing a comfortable lifestyle for this child. But these children have something that cannot be simply ignored-actual family and extended family in Malawi. If this were a child in Ukraine, Belarus, or Ireland for that matter who'd lost both parents in bloody convicts that have occurred through the years would your attitudes be so cut and dry about removing the child from existing extended family?
For generations Americans and others have assumed that the lives of poor African children are best enhanced by taking the child from their culture and replacing it with wealth and the value system of our western culture. This has had devastating effects through the years on those removed from the culture, on the respective countries and the entire continent of Africa.
Africa has been looted for generations, often under the guise of saving the poor soulless people that have no culture or history to speak of. Africa's people(particularly her children) must be encouraged to remain and stay connected to Africa and the great possibility that Africa represents
I wish Ms Ciccone would continue to follow the example of Oprah Winfrey, Spike Lee and Bill Cosby who have answered the request of Nelson Mandela by helping the people of Africa by contributing time, and resources to improve the infrastructure and education throughout the continent.
Well said, thank you.
A certain Liz Hunt, writing in the Telegraph, calls Madonna “self-obsessed, ball-breaking, humourless control freak”. She calls Madonna's body “fatless” and “sinewy”, her face “pointy” and “feline”. To other critics Madonna's latest Malawi adoption bid is “orphan-shopping”.
The trouble with all this Madonna-bashing is... Madonna is a rich white woman adopting a poor black African child. Opponents of mixed-race unions and families will always invent seemily plausible arguments to mask their racial biases. Save The Children UK suggests that children should be kept in the care of their extended families or within their communities. What nonsense! The extended, solid, African family of yesterday is dead.
In Malawi: 14 percent of adults are infected with HIV; more than half of the 1 million children who have lost parents have been orphaned by AIDS; one in five children is an orphan; one in five children doesn't live past the age of five; the average life expectancy is 48 and the average household income is $160 a year. Almost twelve million African children are orphaned by AIDS today.
Would you think twice if you had half the opportunity to pluck a child out of this desperate situation and give them a stable home and solid foundation for the future? Frankly, Madonna doesn't deserve this abuse. Through her charitable work with the Raising Malawi organization, she gives back to Malawi a lot more than the average Western adopter gives. She puts Malawi in the global public eye.
Bravo for your defence of Madonna. The snitty small minded carping at Madonna is just a symptom of the fear the "powers-that-be" have of strong women who are successful on their own terms and refuse to kiss ass.
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NO. It's not.
Let's see what did Oprah say....oh, yeah, that Americans and Europeons children "expect too much".
It's alot easier to impress someone from the Thrid World with crumbs off your gown than someone who can PERCEIVE what your "celebrity" actually means.
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My my my... how cynical and bitter.
What have YOU done for your fellow man today? Or any day??
Thank you for this article. Madonna has waited to adopt Mercy for a long time. She has gone through the process this time so there can be no ambiguity.
Madonna has not only donated millions to Malawi( and built a school that houses 4,000 to give them food, medicine and an education) but she was also way out in front on the AIDS crisis. She put her reputation on the line for AIDS awareness when it wasn't popular. It cost her a chunk of her fanbase.
She also is the celebrity who gave the most to the Sept 11 and Tsunami Fund.
That, along with her legendary cancer donations, are laudable. I admire her for all of this. She is tough, smart, and fearless. She knows she is doing the right thing and is not backing down even from withering criticism. She knows she is saving a life and that is what counts.
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Money talks in the Third World, doesn't it?
THIS time she actually had to sit in a room for A DAY.
Why don't you research what THE LAW is in Malawi regarding adoptions? You'd see that, like "first world" countries, there is a substansial waiting period.
I WONDER how she gets around that? Hm?
Money doesn't talk, it screams.
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You mean, like waiting since 2006 to adopt Mercy, which is what she did? How long should she wait? Until the girl's funeral? Well?????
Thank you Bonnie Fuller
If the child was wanted by her grandmother, she would not be in an orphanage.
Madonna seems to have done a good job raising her children and I can't think of any good reason why she should be blocked from adopting another child. The child will be better off. Madonna's family will be richer (in the way it counts) for doing it and the money that Madonna will likely continue to give to the orphanage will help countless numbers of other children.
In all fairness I say, thank you Madonna, for wanting to adopt and love someone elses child. I would like to see some of the rich black celebrities do that. As a african american myself it always puzzles me why our own color won't do more adopting. We should be the first one's tryin to adopt because even a poor black american is well off compared to the people in Darfur, Malawi, etc... It is what it is.
True that.
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