Madonna adopts Malawian twins

US pop star, Madonna, is today scheduled to fly out of the country with her newly adopted twin girls.

This follows a successful adoption order granted to the singer by the High Court in Lilongwe yesterday.

This means Madonna, who silently arrived in Lilongwe on Monday night, is the mother of the twins aged four, almost two weeks after she applied for a third adoption in Malawi.

Judiciary spokesperson Mlenga Mvula yesterday confirmed that Madonna’s application has been granted.

“Madonna [has been] granted an order to proceed with the adoption of the children. She came to the court together with her lawyer,” he said.

But when asked to disclose the identity of the children, Mvula said:

“I can’t disclose. Under Children Care, Protection and Justice Act, we are not allowed to disclose. Not even the district [where they come from].”

However, UK’s The Daily Mail last week reported that the twins are Stella and Esther.

Sources at Kamuzu International Airport told The Nation that Madge arrived on Monday around 22 hours on a chartered plane accompanied by two personal bodyguards.

She is scheduled to fly out today together with her two new children.

Last week, the Ministry of Gender, Children, Disability and Social Welfare completed assessing the pop star’s adoption bid.

The ministry’s spokesperson Lucy Bandazi said the assessment, whose recommendations were presented to the court, are a key aspect in the adoption process in Malawi.

“The ministry assesses both the child and the petitioner. The ministry then makes a recommendation [based on expert recommendation from a social worker] to the courts on whether to proceed with the adoption, provide an interim order or provide guardianship,” she said.

Madonna first came to Malawi in 2006 when she adopted a then one-year-old David Banda at an orphanage in Mchinji.

She returned in the country in 2009 and adopted her second Malawian child, Mercy Chifundo James, in 2009, at another orphanage.  n