Madonna is “ecstatic” after winning her battle to adopt Malawian toddler Mercy James — praising the country’s high court for ruling in her favor.
The Material Girl first attempted to adopt Mercy in April, but her bid was rejected on the grounds that prospective parents have to be resident in the country for 18 to 24 months.
But the star was given the green light by judges on Friday to legally adopt the 4-year-old after the rejection was overturned.
Madonna has issued a statement insisting that she is “extremely grateful” to the Malawian courts and is looking forward to bringing Mercy home to the United States. She says, “I am ecstatic. My family and I look forward to sharing our lives with her.”
Madonna’s lawyer Alan Chinula broke the happy news to the singer in a late-night phone call: “I was just through to New York and it is the early hours but Madonna has been awake waiting for news. She was ecstatic. I’m now waiting for instructions to start preparing for Mercy’s travel arrangements.”
And Malawi’s state’s chief justice, Lovemore Munlo, has praised the singer for her dedication to helping orphans in the country, insisting little Mercy, whose mother died when she was a baby, will have a much better life as Madonna’s daughter,
He says, “In our view, (Mercy) is better taken care of by being adopted by foreign parents who will give her love and affection. In this global village, a man can have more than one place at which he resides. The matter of residence should be determined at the time of application of the adoption. In this case, Madonna was in Malawi not by chance but by intention.”
The adoption news has also been welcomed by Mercy’s surviving family members, with her uncle, Peter Baneti, revealing, “We hope Mercy will be joining Madonna soon.”
The pop superstar previously adopted Malawian-born David Banda in 2006, amid criticisms she side-stepped the country’s adoption laws. She also has two biological children: Lourdes, 12, and Rocco, 8.
(c) 2009 WORLD ENTERTAINMENT NEWS NETWORK LTD. All global rights reserved. No unauthorized copying or re-distributing permitted.
