LILONGWE, Malawi Human rights groups want Malawi's courts to review a ruling allowing Madonna to adopt a baby from this impoverished, AIDS-stricken southern African country, saying they want to ensure child protection regulations weren't being swept aside to benefit a pop star who has been generous to the country.
The baby, meanwhile, was taken aboard a charter plane headed out of Malawi Monday afternoon, according to an immigration official at the airport in the capital. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said 1-year-old David Banda carried a Malawian passport with a U.S. visa. The U.
S. Embassy would not comment, saying visa issues were private.
Justin Dzonzi, a lawyer for a coalition of human rights and child advocacy organizations challenging the adoption, said they were not troubled that David was leaving the country, likening the trip to a holiday.He said the adoption was not yet final, and that his group had filed documents Monday asking a judge to review how it was being carried out. It was not immediately clear whether a judge would allow the group's a hearing.
Boniface Mandere of Eye of the Child, a local child protection society involved in the challenge, told The Associated Press earlier Monday: "The court seems to have made a decision based on Madonna's wealth.But being a good parent is not about money, it is about caring, having heart, it's about love."
The Malawi High Court granted preliminary custody of a 1-year-old boy to Madonna and her film director husband Guy Ritchie on Thursday, even though the law requires would-be parents to live in the country for a year while social welfare officers investigate their ability to care for a child. Malawi law also does not allow for foreigners to adopt children, though neither are such adoptions banned outright. David did not leave with Madonna and Ritchie Friday because final legal arrangements were still being made, Madonna's spokeswoman said last week. Over the weekend, Malawian officials had said, the baby was being cared for in the meantime by members of Madonna's entourage who stayed behind. The Malawian immigration official said Monday that though he saw only a U.S. visa in the child's passport, he understood from those traveling with David that they were headed to England, where Madonna has a home, via South Africa. The official said David was accompanied by two Britons and two Americans, and that one of the Americans listed her occupation as nanny.
Madonna and Ritchie have a son, Rocco, 5, and the singer also has a daughter, Lourdes, 9. Mandere emphasized that his group is not against Madonna adopting a Malawian child.
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