Madonna's Adoption Appeal Set For May 4

Madonna's appeal of a court ruling denying her request to adopt a 3-year-old girl from Malawi will be heard next month, a court official said Monday.

The pop star is not required to be present for the appeal, which may last two weeks.

Joseph Chigona, Registrar of the High Court and the Supreme Court of Appeal, said the case will come before three judges from the Supreme Court of Appeal on May 4.

"As with all court cases involving infants, this one will be in chambers, not in an open court," Chigona said.

Madonna has said she still wants to adopt Chifundo "Mercy" James. The singer has already adopted a son, David, from Malawi, a poor country in southern Africa.

Malawi requires prospective parents to live in the country for 18 to 24 months while child welfare authorities assess their suitability - a rule that was not applied when Madonna was allowed to take David to London in 2006.

Madonna's Malawian lawyer, Alan Chinula, said he was hopeful the appeal would succeed.

"We believe the lower court judge erred by basing her judgment on an archaic law of over 50 years ago," he said.

The judge in the lower court said Madonna's previous adoption was the only case in which the residency requirement had been waived, and said she was concerned that doing so again could set a precedent that could jeopardize children.

The judge said she was not questioning Madonna's intentions, and praised the work the singer's charity has done to feed, educate and provide medical care for Malawi's orphans.

Madonna recently told a newspaper in Malawi that she wants to educate Mercy and empower her to help people in Malawi.

"I want to provide Mercy with a home, a loving family environment and the best education and health care possible," she said in an e-mailed response to questions from the Nation. "And it's my hope that she, like David, will one day return to Malawi and help the people of their country."





By Raphael Tenthani

[maejolene]

May 4, '09

Dear Editors:

The father of that little African girl Mercy, Madonna is trying to steal from her dad,

deserves to be heard pertinent to this matter. He otherwise becomes one more

biological father who's ignored, the same as we natural mothers are, and deprived of

opportunities to tell his side of the story in his adoption-related matter concerning his

child.

Madonna is a baby thief. She stole that little boy David from Africa as a way to remedy

her failing marraige I said, during that instance, and now look. In other words Madonna's

marraige DID fail, and since then she's been running all over the world with three kids in

tow depriving them of a stable home life etc., for no other reason than because she

wants publicity.

This woman who's now at least 50 or older should be finished raising kids by now. That

she wants to keep raising children into her older age should send a bad message to

family relationship experts about Madonna's twisted intentions. She's NOT interested in

those children in other words only herself.

As a natural mother who's only child from my only pregnancy was ripped away from me

and adopted out against my wishes because I was similar to Mercy's father--which is

that I was vulnerable like him because I had no money and no help from my family--I can

tell you it's WRONG to deny this natural father his rights to his child. Such is among

other reasons that simply because the adopting individuals like Madonna say they'll be

open about the adoption the fact remains they can close the adoption any time they want

and the biological parent has no legal avenue in which to seek remedy.

Then the fight can continue for years. My battle for instance with "social worker" Colleen

Burnham, lawyer David McConkie, and government official Orrin Hatch all of Children's

Aid Society of Utah--who are the three who stole my son away from me--still fight me to

stop me from knowing my son who now is well into adulthood. My point herein is that

even though there's no reason to stop a natural parent such as myself from reuiniting

with her/his adoption-lost child the fact remains that people like Colleen Burnham, David

McConkie, and Orrin Hatch don't use common sense judgment to make their decisions

hence so they essentially let the biological paretns' suffering continue. The same will

happen in the case of Madonna stealing Mercy away from her father.

Thanks, for your time.

Sincerely,
Kathy Caudle
Natural Mother
Salt Lake City, UT