Madonna to adopt second Malawi child

Published on Thursday 26 March 2009 18:36

MADONNA has filed papers in advance of adopting a second child from Malawi, officials confirmed yesterday.

It is thought the 50-year-old singer and actress will travel to the region at the weekend, with a possible court hearing as soon as Monday.

Madonna's spokeswoman, Liz Rosenberg, declined to comment, but officials in the US and Malawi have said an adoption bid is under way.

An official at the Malawian welfare department said adoption documents had been filed by the singer.

The southern African nation is one of the world's most impoverished. Ravaged by Aids, its population has a life expectancy of 44. It has an infant mortality rate of close to 90 per 1,000 live births. Madonna has established ties with the country over the past few years, setting up the Raising Malawi charity to raise the profile of the plight of its people.

But she could be courting controversy by returning to the country to adopt. Her earlier adoption of a boy from Malawi raised questions about whether rules had been broken due to the country's then policy of not allowing foreign adoptions.

Madonna and the British film director Guy Ritchie, who was then her husband, took David Banda to their London home in 2006 when he was 13 months old.

At the time the singer said it was her wish to "open up our home and help one child escape an extreme life of hardship, poverty and, in many cases, death". She said it was not a decision she had taken lightly.