It is sickening to everyone coming out of the woodwork to protect the little boy from being adopted by Madonna. (See this post here.) I’m pleased to see the dad of the little boy dishing it back and at the human rights groups who’ve banded together to try and stop the adoption:

The father of the 13-month-old boy Madonna wants to make part of her family criticized human rights groups who have challenged how the adoption is being handled and said his child should stay with the pop star.

Yohane Banda told The Associated Press on Wednesday he had entrusted his son to a Malawian orphanage after his wife died of childbirth complications, saying he was too poor to raise him alone. Now, he says, Madonna has given the boy a chance to have a family.

“Where were these people when David was struggling in the orphanage? These so-called human rights groups should leave my baby alone,” he said. “As father I have OKed this, I have no problem. The village has no problem. Who are they to cause trouble? Please let them stop.”

The only people (pretty much in the world) who have a problem with the adoptions are the human rights groups who hate to be passed up by a big donor like Madonna. The fact that she dealt with the authorities directly and donated the $3m to them is at the heart of this issue. The charities no doubt feel like they’ve been toiling in the mud for the past ten years trying to help these kids and they’ll be damned if someone else is going to get the credit–particularly an international pop star.

Yes, it is true that “Malawian regulations require prospective parents to stay with a child in Malawi for 18 to 24 months for assessment before the adoption is formalized.” Since it was the government of Malawi that passed these regulations (which one can imagine have pretty much eliminated foreign adoption) then why is it immoral for the government and its high court to make an exception when they believe it is in the best interests of the child? The director of Child Welfare Services in Malawi’s Ministry of Gender, Child Welfare and Community Services, has called their laws “archaic” and is supportive of Madonna’s actions.

It appears that the only people with a problem are The Human Rights Consultative Committee–a hypocritical group if there was ever one. If they want to eliminate the archaic law then that’s what they should be attacking–and not the adoption. What are they going to say to this kid if their lawsuit succeeds? “Good for you, we kept you out of the clutches of that wealthy woman who loves you so that you could rot here with us, at least until you are 37 at which point you will almost certainly be dead.”

Of course now that the media storm has started, the loons are out in force. Look at this:

Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D’Alema compared Madonna’s taking custody of David to a “kidnapping.”

Except this “kidnapping” had the permission of the high court, the father, the head of child welfare services, the child’s village, and numerous other people. Oh yeah, Madonna also donated $3m to help the kids left behind. Kidnappers do that all of the time. I think it’s safe to say that Massimo is still upset over Madonna’s crucifixion stage show and not anything to do with the adoption. Either that or he’s just an idiot.

tags: madonna malawi

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 19th, 2006 at 11:07 pm by Insider and is filed under Big Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.