LILONGWE, Malawi, Oct. 16, 2006

Madonna To Reunite With Child Soon

Amid Talk Of Special Treatment From Advocacy Groups, Rep Says Singer Hopes To See Boy In A Few Days

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    Madonna and her husband, film director Guy Ritchie, received custody of a motherless 1-year-old boy from Malawi on Oct. 12, 2006, but left the country a day later without the boy.  (AP Photo/Shavawn Rissman)

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(CBS/AP)  Madonna's agent says the singer hopes to reunite in the coming days with the boy from Malawi she hopes to adopt.

Spokeswoman Liz Rosenberg won't say where or when Madonna and her husband, Guy Ritchie, will reunite with the 1-year-old boy, David Banda. She does say that Madonna is doing her best "not to make it a public circus."

Rosenberg says the couple will have temporary custody of David for 18 months. The courts of Malawi will then evaluate them.

The 1-year-old boy left Malawi on Monday, flying on a chartered plane to South Africa and then on a regularly scheduled plane to London. He was accompanied by two Britons and two Americans, one of whom listed her occupation as nanny.

Meanwhile, human rights groups have asked Malawi's courts to review Madonna's request for adoption. They're concerned the country bent the rules because Madonna gave the country a lot of money.

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 U.S. Embassy would not comment, saying visa issues were private.

Human rights groups want Malawi's courts to review a ruling allowing Madonna to adopt the child from this impoverished, AIDS-stricken southern African country, saying they want to ensure child protection regulations were not swept aside to benefit a pop star who has been generous to the country.

The Malawi High Court granted preliminary custody 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.

Justin Dzonzi, a lawyer for a coalition of human rights and child advocacy organizations, said his group had filed documents Monday asking a judge to review the adoption.

Continued



©MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Add a Comment
by agnim October 16, 2006 2:54 PM PDT
When will these mindless, lost and cuckoo and cruel celebrities go and get a life!

If they really wanted to help, then would send money and other useful resources, rather than kidnapping the children from their indigenous culture to *** up their identity later in life.

Another thing the mad madonnas jive jolies of the western world can do is to lean on their governments to cease robbing the developing world blind, return stolen wealth, and so allow the people within their own culture.

Those know well how to take care of themselves. They have been doing so for hundreds of thousands of years, long before there were people call Europeans on the planet invaded to rob, rape, pillage and destroy their cultural bases.
Now they return like 'white angels' to save the natives? Who the hell is deceived by such devilishness?
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by global_chick October 16, 2006 3:37 PM PDT
What a crock. Just because she's a celebrity she gets to flout the laws?? What about the rest of us who have to cut through a year and a half to two years of red tape and bureaucracy with no guarantees? Disgusting.
Reply to this comment
by hermit22 October 16, 2006 3:57 PM PDT
Why doesn't tightwad Madonna send the REAL father some money to raise his own son?

She should send money and keep her mouth shut.
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