Madonna speaks about adoption, children while promoting documentary

The controversy surrounding the adoption, not yet finalized, of 2 ½-year-old David Banda proved quite painful for Madonna — pain the 49-year-old yesterday likened to that experienced in childbirth.  During a press conference in Cannes to promote her new documentary I Am Because We Are, which chronicles the plight of children in David’s home country of Malawi, Madonna expressed resentment over the media’s handling of David’s story.

It was painful and it was a big struggle and I didn’t understand it.  But in the end, I rationalized that when a woman has a child and goes through natural childbirth, she suffers an enormous amount…So I sort of went through my own kind of birthing pains with dealing with the press on my front doorstep accusing me of kidnapping or whatever you want to call it.

Madonna dismissed suggestions that David’s father was not supportive of the adoption, saying the two had met and Yohane Banda "absolutely agreed" that David should live in London with Madonna, her husband Guy Ritchie and their children Lourdes, 11 and Rocco, 7.  She also rejected the notion that the adoption was controversial; Instead, she says, it was simply complicated by Malawi’s outdated adoption laws.

There is just a lot of bureaucracy and administration and papers that have to be gone through.  [David's] adoption was the beginning of the creation of adoption law in Malawi.  I’m the template, a role model for the future…I went to Malawi thinking I was going to save children’s lives and make a big difference in their lives, and hopefully I have.  The surprise to me was how much they changed me.

Sources:  AP, The Australian; Photo by Splash News

Do you have any experience with international adoption?  Will you see Madonna’s film?   

Comments

I’m sorry that she had to go through so much turmoil to adopt her son. However, I’m not sure why she doesn’t think the adoption was controversial. She clearly went against the country’s established adoption rules from everything I’ve read, but she says that rules didn’t exist? Doesn’t make sense to me. I’m not going to argue whether the rules were right or wrong and I am a believer in international adoption (my husband and I plan to adopt from abroad in a few years), but the rules did exist.

- MB on May 23rd, 2008

People act like David was better off being left in the orphanage because of rules. Rules, at times, are made to be broken. I’m sorry Madonna is catching so much negative judgment for wanting to save a child.

- Renee on May 23rd, 2008

Totally agree with you, Renee. I don’t get why people want to criticize Madonna about adopting David.

She took a child who was in a bad situation and brought him love and support. Yes, there are other countries with better adoption policies but when she saw that little boy, she wanted to help him and adopt him.

- Stephany on May 23rd, 2008

I don’t think the issue is whether the baby boy was better off as an orphan in a third world country or not. No one can argue with that. However, as a person who has lived in several third world countries and was born in one, I believe that laws that seem dumb or inconvenient to other richer countries and to better known cultures exist for a reason in certain places, and is not up to other people to decide when it’s okay to interfere and break them.
As some ladies said in other posts about David Banda and Madonna, some rules are outdated and should be reformed, but people can’t just pick up a flag for a cause unknown to them and preach endlessly when dealing with someone else’s country. There are many ways to help and defend children in need; creating awareness about international adoption would be a way to start changing things, wisely and for the benefit of many. Having an adoption finalized (as I’m sure it will and it should now that David has a new home) in a place where it wasn’t expected to happen and where it might not be understood in the terms Madonna does its extreme. If someone tried to adopt a child outside of the laws and regulations of the USA, Canada or countries in the European Union it would be kidnapping and arrogance.
True, the little boy was in immense need before Madonna took him in, but Malawi as any other country in the world (I’ve been and worked in Malawi) has hard working and concerned citizens mixed with imbeciles and bureaucrats, who want to do best for their own people in their own terms. Let people sort things out and if they ask for help give it to them with due respect for their own identity, don’t storm in helping in ways that are not acceptable or welcomed.

P.S. please don’t take offense. I speak as a world citizen and as adoptive mother who did everything by the book even when all I wanted was to take my baby and run to the hills with her.

- Eva on May 24th, 2008

Eva -totally agree with you!

- Sanja on May 26th, 2008