Lilongwe: Pop diva Madonna is all set to adopt a second child from Malawi in Africa according to reports. The Malawi welfare department confirmed the reports of her filing for adoption papers on Thursday. And this time speculations are rife that it is going to be a four-year-old girl named Mercy James.
Madonna's bid to adopt the child will be examined by a court in the southern African country next week, officials said on Friday.
The baby would be a sister for Madonna's three children including David, whose adoption by the US pop star aroused controversy, and comes from the same orphanage.
''Her name is Mercy James from Mchinji Home of Hope orphanage. She has no father and mother, they both died... We finished the assessment on Thursday in readiness for the courts next week,'' an official at the ministry of Gender and Child Development said.
Court clerks confirmed the name of the child and said that Madonna or her associates were expected to appear in court next Monday for the adoption proceedings.
She is expected to arrive in Malawi over the weekend, officials said. Some Malawians opposed David's adoption, accusing the government of skirting laws that ban non-residents from adopting children in Malawi, which has been badly hit by an AIDS epidemic.
Mavuto Bamusi, national coordinator for the 60-member Human Rights Consultative Committee, told Reuters that this adoption would also violate the country's laws.
''As far as we are concerned, nothing has changed in terms of adoption laws in the country,'' he said.
The local Nation newspaper this month quoted Madonna, 50, as saying that Malawian friends had told her David needed a brother or sister and that she would consider adopting another child, but only with the support of the Malawian people.
David's life with the global pop star is worlds away from his village of Lipunga, where his relatives eat maize meal as a staple food and meals are cooked on open fires. His father, Yohane Banda, said that he may see his son next week.
Madonna, who was divorced last year from British film director Guy Ritchie, is one of the most successful singers of all time, with album sales of more than 200 million.
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