MADONNA appeared in a Malawi court today where she was told she would have to wait until Friday to learn if the adoption would be approved.
Dressed in a black skirt and high heels, and accompanied by her 12-year-old daughter Lourdes, the singer was ushered in a back door at the high court building in the capital of Lilongwe.
After an hour-long private hearing, the case was adjourned for four
The luxury lodge where the singer has stayed in the past has been fully booked and casual visitors dismissed.
Children's charity Save the Children has pleaded the singer to think again although the family of the toddler she is seeking to remove from the impoverished African republic is now said to be supporting the adoption.
The 50-year-old star has filed papers in Malawi setting out her intention to adopt a four-year-old orphan called Mercy James, who she hopes to take back to the US if a Malawi court approves the plan.
Madonna already has an adopted son from Malawi.
Questions were asked after she and then-husband Guy Ritchie took David Banda to their London home in 2006 while the child was 13 months old, and her latest quest for a sister for David has led to renewed criticism.
Mercy's grandmother Lucy Chekechiwa, 61, initially hit out at the star, saying: "It is stealing. I won't let her go."
Chekechiwa claimed it had been agreed the child would go to her when she turned six.
Mercy's father is believed to be alive but no other details were available from a welfare official and people close to the case who today said the girl's relatives have now consented to the adoption.
Madonna and the girl's uncle are expected to appear in court today to sign adoption papers.
Austin Msowoya, legal researcher with Malawi's Law Commission, played down concerns saying the best interests of the child needed to be taken into account - whether this was staying in an orphanage in Malawi or getting "an education with Madonna".
"When you look at these two options, then perhaps it becomes in the best interests of the child to allow the adoption if the parents and the guardians consent to it," he said.
Meanwhile, Save the Children said orphans should be cared for by extended family in their home country and suggested international adoption can make matters worse.
Spokesman Dominic Nutt said: "The best place for a child is in his or her family in their home community.
"Most children in orphanages have one parent still living, or have an extended family that can care for them in the absence of their parents."
According to Save the Children, international adoption should only be considered if the child is a genuine orphan, and if all other alternatives in their own country have been genuinely exhausted.
"International adoption can actually exacerbate the problem it hopes to solve," said Mr Nutt. "The very existence of orphanages encourages poor parents to abandon children in the hope that they will have a better life."
Nutt also said international adoption can mean big business in some countries, with "unscrupulous" adoption agencies profiting from the sale of children.
He said: "We urge any celebrity to set an example, to follow internationally agreed procedures designed to protect the child, and to ensure that the child in question has no other options in their home community."
Madonna's spokeswoman Liz Rosenberg, who has not commented on the adoption reports, said the star would not respond to Save the Children.
Reports that Madonna wants to adopt a girl from Malawi have been circulating for some time but the first official hint came from the star herself last week.
In an interview in Malawi's leading daily newspaper, The Nation, the singer said she was considering another adoption but would only do it if she had "the support of the Malawian people and government".
If the adoption goes through, Madonna would become a single mother of four. She also has an eight-year-old son, Rocco, with former husband Guy Ritchie and a 12-year-old daughter, Lourdes, from a previous relationship.
The southern African nation of Malawi is one of the world's most impoverished.
Ravaged by Aids, the population have a life expectancy of just 44 years. It has an infant mortality rate of close to 90 per 1,000 live births, according to 2009 estimates.
Madonna has established ties with the country over the past few years, setting up the Raising Malawi charity to raise the profile of the plight its people.
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