Madonna expected in Malawi soon for second adoption

Madonna has filed papers in advance of adopting a second child from the impoverished African republic of Malawi, officials confirmed today.Reports suggest that the 50-year-old singer will travel to the region over the weekend, with a possible court hearing as soon as Monday.Madonna's spokeswoman, Liz Rosenberg, declined to comment, but officials in both the US and Malawi have said that an adoption attempt was under way. An official at the Malawian welfare department told AP that 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 have a life expectancy of just 44 years. It has an infant mortality rate of close to 90 per 1,000 live births, according to 2009 estimates. Madonna has established ties with the country over the past few years, setting up the Raising Malawi charity.But Madonna could be courting controversy by returning to the country to adopt, as her earlier adoption of a boy from Malawi raised questions over whether rules had been broken due to the country's then policy of not allowing foreign adoptions. Madonna and then-husband Guy Ritchie took David Banda to their London home in 2006 while the child 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 added that it was not a decision that she had taken lightly.
But some children's charities and human rights groups aired concern over the "quickie" adoption. It was suggested that the singer had used her celebrity to bypass normal procedures.The controversy deepened after the child's father, Yohane Banda, said that he would not have agreed to the adoption if he had known it meant that he would be giving up his son "for good". The adoption was finalised in 2008.In an interview publicised last week with the Malawian newspaper the Nation, Madonna said she was considering adopting from the country again.But she added that she would do so only with "the support of the Malawian people and government."