Madonna Adopts 2nd Child From Malawi

David Banda has a new sister thanks to the Malawi Supreme Court, who awarded Madonna her adoption request on Friday. The decision overturns a lower court ruling that denied the adoption of 3-year-old Chifundo "Mercy" James because the controversial pop icon hadn't lived in Malawi for the necessary amount of time – 18 months. Madonna's 2006 adoption of David Banda, who is now 4, received heavy criticism due to the fact that she was allowed to bypass Malawi laws that ban non-residents from adopting children. This factored prominently in the original ruling of the lower court this time around. However, the Chief Justice of the Malawi Supreme Court, Lovemore Munlo said that residency shouldn't have been, and was not as much of a consideration as the attention and compassion Madonna has shown for Malawi orphans.

While the Malawi government supports the adoptions, certain groups like The Eye on Child oppose it because of the perceived potential for child trafficking, which is still a major problem in certain parts of the world.However, the dominating issue in Malawi remains the AIDS epidemic, which has contributed to over one million children being orphaned in the South African nation. Part of the reasoning for allowing Mercy James' adoption is because of the work Madonna does for these children, including establishing a charity, Raising Malawi.

While Madonna makes plans to bring Mercy home and into her family, her lawyer is arranging for Mercy's passport, which could take several days. Unlike her adoption of David, however, child welfare officials will not be visiting her home and evaluating her parenting, a process that took months last time. At the request of her lawyer, this time Madonna was granted a full adoption.