Madonna and the Malawi orphans
June 23rd, 2009
There has been so much in the newspapers lately about Madonna adopting from Malawi. I am not an expert in adoption and cannot claim to understand the complexities both legally and ethically of adopting from another country and culture. But I do wonder whether it’s okay to take a child away from the culture it is deeply rooted in and whisk them away to a completely different environment. I honestly don’t know.
Maybe naively I have always considered adoption as a very viable option if I had not been able to have my own children. I do think that I could love a child as my own irrelevant of whether it is genetically related to me and my husband or not. There seem to be so many children in the world without a family who need a home and a loving environment.
But, in the case of Madonna, is this a mother honestly trying to give a little girl a home and love and support, or is she a celebrity used to getting whatever she wants and not thinking of the impact her decisions have on the life of this little girl?
Would love to hear what you guys think…
- Emilie
Entry Filed under: Cultural, Interesting Articles, Parenting
5 Comments Add your own
1. Madonna and the Malawi orphans | Adoption and Orphans Information | June 23rd, 2009 at 5:35 pm
[...] Excerpt from: Madonna and the Malawi orphans [...]
2. Stella | June 23rd, 2009 at 6:56 pm
There is an expose of the Malawi case and the promotional
snippet I just spotted on television shows the adoptee’s several relatives (inlcluding a Grandma!) sayng they were forced to sign the child’s rights away.
All the UK fund-raising charities are against the adoption and were before reports, out yesterday, that a nanny was being used (!?). African websites were dubbing the adoptiong parent literally, “a white witch” .
You will know the American attitude better than me, email a British television company called CHANNEL 4 for a way, maybe, of getting a copy of the expose.
For why inter-country adoption fails please see halfway down the link here >
http://about-orphans.blogspot.com
Cheers.
3. Courtney | June 24th, 2009 at 11:53 am
I just have a difficult time taking Madonna seriously!
4. Steph | June 24th, 2009 at 8:19 pm
My husband and I considered international adoption prior to going the egg donor route to have our son. It became very clear to us that there was a thin line between adopting a child and child trafficking. We decided we didn’t want to be part of that. The reason we declined domestic adoption here in the States was that there are a lot of strings attached and potential legal perils. Our hearts had been broken too many times trying to have a little one on our own, so this wasn’t a risk we wanted to take.
Getting to Madonna, yes in her mind she is saving this child but in my mind she is exploiting the child. Sure the child will live a far better material life with the Material Girl but is that enough reason to take a child from her home? I don’t know.
5. Justyn | July 1st, 2009 at 5:00 am
I do not know the Madonna case from adam so no comment there but I will comment on adoption. There are currently more than 3 million orphans in the country we are living in (Kenya). My husband works at a hospital where babies are DAILY abandoned. There is little to no hope for most of them. Kenya makes international adoption VERY difficult.
Every case is different and should be taken as such. Child abuse in all its forms is serious business but in the month I have been here several children have died who would have lived if they could have been adopted. My husband and I have four children of our own but would adopt a child or two to join our family in heartbeat if it were less of a legal quagmire here.
This case is one case. It is not a reflection of international adoption or of what the experience of most orphaned and vulnerable children are experiencing. It saddens me that this case will keep many children from loving families because of the stain it puts on providing a home and a loving family to an orphan.
I have been in orphan homes here. This is not “Annie” or a Francis Hogson Burnett novel. Many of the places where orphaned, abandoned and vulnerable children live would horrify even the most world hardened eye. I only hope this case and this one woman does not cause a backlash that will cause more children to live without families.
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