Group tries to delay Madonna adoption

UPI NewsTrack

An 11th-hour effort has been launched to block Madonna's planned adoption of a boy from an African orphanage in the African country of Malawi.

The Malawi human rights group Eye of the Child is demanding that the adoption of the 1-year-old child be held up until the boy is granted formal legal rights.

At the moment children have no rights under Malawi law, Executive Director Maxwell Madewere told The Times of London Saturday. Today it is a celebrity adopting a child. Tomorrow it may be a trafficker seeking to adopt.

Malawi law bans the adoption of children by foreigners. However, the U.S. singer was granted a special waiver by the government.

Madewere said it would be appropriate for the government to pass a law legalizing international adoptions and formalizing the legal rights of the adopted children.

The Times said Madonna returned to Britain without young David Banda. The Malawi government pledged to allow David to leave as soon as possible.