[MamaS]

Originally Posted by cborsa7

It doesn't matter how famous anyone thinks she is, truth is, she's not making the "A" list gossip.... a lot of famous Oscar toting people don't get chased by papparazzi.

Well, maybe it is a generation thing. People who define fame by who is on E!, Chelsea Lately and People Magazine would think she is not famous. People who read the Times, and watch Oscar-winning and BAFTA-winning productions know her.

I am sure that if she had called in the papparazzi and said "Look at me, I adopted a black child soldier, brought him to England and put him in an exclusive white private school" that she would have gotten plenty of publicity. What I admire is that a person whose career is so public did something private.

[cborsa7]

The laws of a country are not celebrity gossip. Madonna adopted a child she "fell in love with" by surpassing the laws of the country with massive financial donations.

Jensboys- I'm wasn't aware of a law Madonna didn't follow. Could you share what that was?


MamaS- I don't dispute Emma Thompson is famous.
I may not know her, but I am sure many people do. My point is she is not someone that is press hounded for her every move, so she can't be fairly compared to those who are. If she was, this story would have had a different sell to it and certainly wouldn't have been private. It's funny, some of these celebrities have went to very crazy measures to make their children private and yet they get criticized for doing so.
I think her adoption was a great story. I just happen to think it would have been a better non tabloid article if the author would have left out the bashing of other celebrities, it was unnecessary and took away from the beauty of it.

[Jensboys]

Originally Posted by cborsa7

Jensboys- I'm wasn't aware of a law Madonna didn't follow. Could you share what that was?


[.

Malawi also does not approve adoptions for single or divorced parents.

Regulations stipulate only that prospective parents undergo an 18- to 24-month assessment period in Malawi,

Madonna said recently “We were basically creating the laws as we went. There’s over a million orphans in Malawi, and in my opinion the laws need to change because these children need to be rescued.”

The leading child advocacy group in Malawi, Eye of the Child, said they are to seek an injunction on behalf of approximately 60 non-government organizations to stop the permanent adoption going ahead, claiming the government have not followed the law in allowing David’s (temporary) adoption to be processed so quickly.

Under Malawian law, prospective parents have to be residents of the country and have lived there for two years before adopting a child:

Malawian government officials claims the restriction was sidestepped to allow the “unique chance” to give David a new life

Madonna's lawyer Alan Chinula tells Usmagazine.com he is confident that the judge will allow the singer, 50, to adopt 4-year-old girl Chifundo "Mercy" James at Friday's hearing.

"I am not sleeping sleepless nights over this," Chinula tells Us. "I don't see any law in Malawi that can stop this adoption."

Several non-governmental organizations have called the Human Rights Consultative Committee, slamming Madonna's adoption attempt because the groups feel the child should be taken care of by her own family.

The organizations also accuse the singer of using her wealth and celebrity status to bend Malawi's adoption laws. (The singer, who adopted David Banda in 2006, has not followed regulations that stipulate that prospective parents must undergo an 18- to 24-month assessment period in Malawi before adopting.)

But Chinula tells Us that law is over 50 years old and "archaic."

"Laws must be dynamic," he says. "They must move with current trends."

My final point being that the adoption of Mercy and David was facilitated by "bending" and making laws "dynamic" as facilitated by Madonna's fame and fortune so that the children could have the "unique experience" of being raised by a famous mother. She is NOT an adoptive parent whose choice I would ever emulate.

[cborsa7]

Jensboys-
No offense, I wouldn't want to emulate anyone myself, but most of that is not true and looks like it was just taken from the media.
That was my point, you can't always believe what you read. You have to have the facts to speak as if you are in the know. I don't think anyone is but those involved.
If your interested, you can actually see what is law on the uscis.gov website under Malawi and the US embassy Malawi website.

[mom.mama.mommy]

Even if done for selfish reasons, I think Madonna's children are in better places than they were prior to adoption. She's not my choice of mother-of-the-year, but I really doubt she's doing majority of child raising, most likely has a very qualified nanny, which again is better situation than many orphans in third world countries get,

And the fact that the laws are so outrageous in some countries was also brought to light with her adoptions. You see photos of starving children, and you know that you either would like nothing more than to adopt a baby who possibly could starve to death, yet legally the country declares you unfit (not married long enough, too many children already, etc etc).

It does make people that don't know as much about adoption and international adoption laws stop and think "wow, that's kind of crazy."