From the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child.

“[…] inter-country adoption may be considered as an alternative means of child’s care, if the child cannot be placed in a foster or an adoptive family or cannot in any suitable manner be cared for in the child’s country of origin”

I think it is heartbreaking that we (as the Western world) first rob and exploit these countries and then, when these countries produce thousands of children that they can’t provided for, we choose to adopt them and in the worst case essentially rob them from their parents.

As Madonna has proven, it’s perfectly possible to help the people of Malawi also without adopting.

From the point of view of the child, the change is probably for the good, but adopting children is not a working solution for the long-term. You should vote for better presidents and congressmen who care and understand. And so should be people of Malawi.

My wife and I adopted 3 children who were actually my wife’s nieces and nephew. They were in the California social system, and we live in TX.

It took almost a year before both states bureaucratic paperwork approved us and allowed us to have them, and that is with my wife and I both having steady jobs and no issues that would keep us from adopting.

Then once we had the kids we still had to undergo checks routinely from both California and Texas social care to make sure we were doing right by the kids.

Then the adoption itself was a year and a half after we had the children living with us due to delays on both states part and total lack of communication between the states. I was more educated in adoption law and social care than the people we dealt with by the time we had it all done.

I realize there are kids with problems in Africa, but how about all the British or American kids Madonna could have adopted and brought out of abusive foster homes and state run care where the left hand never seems to know what the right hand is doing?

My take on it is that she basically bought an African baby as a status symbol, which is totally ridiculous.

And who adopts a kid and then sends them out of the country without you, rich or no? That is just nuts, I feel so bad for that poor boy. Not to mention she left her own kids behind with ‘caretakers’. That just screams out mommy material to me.

Once my wife and I are more stable financially (she is in school to be a nurse right now), then we will adopt more kids, as we know that we can provide a difference for some of them.

We should be wary of getting to a point where rich people can pick up children as easily as duty free. I don’t see how Madonna could have taken the time to clear any other tests so we seem to be approving adoption solely on the basis of wealth not suitability?