Reports suggest that Madonna is planning to adopt a young Malawian boy, and those reports have apparently been backed up by a government spokesperson there.
The singer has been in the country to inspect a $5million project that she has funded which provides support for Malawi's growing number of children orphaned by the spread of AIDS - the disease now affects 14.4 percent of the population, leading to the deaths of around 700,000 adults per year. Andrina Mchiela, principal secretary in Malawi's ministry of women and gender is quoted as saying: "All indications are that she is looking for a boy and she will have to go and look around. Madonna wants complete privacy on the adoption process... and we will need to respect that."
Mchiela also suggested that regulations may be relaxed in order to allow Madonna to speed up the adoption process. The rules generally require prospective parents to initially foster a child and be monitored for up to two years before the adoption procedure can be finalised. Mchiela: "The government might waive this condition depending on the situation because it is Malawi which will benefit, if it is for the betterment of the child". She added: "She asked us to identify boys only, which we have done after visiting four orphanages in Lilongwe."
Some reports indicate that the adoption has already gone ahead, whilst others claim that Madonna's people are denying that any such move is on the cards, and quote publicist Liz Rosenberg as saying: "I can confirm Madonna is in Malawi on a private visit. She is building an orphanage and child care centre and is involved in other initiatives geared toward helping children orphaned by AIDS through the Raising Malawi organization. She has not adopted a baby despite reports that she has."
In a recent interview with Time magazine, Madonna explained her rationale for getting involved in the Malawian project. The singer said: "Now that I have children and now that I have what I consider to be a better perspective on life, I have felt responsible for the children of the world. I've been doing bits and bobs about it and I suppose I was looking for a big, big project I could sink my teeth into".