Madonna's adoption ruling delayed

Some child advocacy groups say the 50-year-old pop star's plans to adopt a young Malawian girl have been fast-tracked because of Madonna's money and status. One accused her of acting like a rich "bully".

After spending about an hour in court on Monday, Madonna swapped her high heels and formal skirt for camouflage trousers and big black boots for an outing into the hot, lush Malawian countryside.

Three kids touring with star

Holding the hand of three-year-old David, whose adoption from Malawi was finalised last year, the singer walked around the compound of the Mphandula child care centre, about 50 km  from the capital.

Madonna also was accompanied by her 12-year-old daughter Lourdes and eight-year-old son Rocco - who sported a mohawk haircut for his first visit to Malawi.

The centre, which provides primary schooling and other child care to about 4,000 children, boasts neatly cut lawn, swings and slides, and freshly painted classrooms.

This was the first time the star had seen the day care centre completed. On her last visit in 2007, construction had just started. Asked by reporters how she liked the progress made, Madonna gave a thumbs up.

In one room, Madonna tried her hand at basket-weaving under the watchful eye of a few local woman. David was given a cow-skin guitar as a gift, and he pretended to strum the strings.

Adoption plan criticised

Meanwhile, a coalition of non-governmental organisations held a press conference in the capital, Lilongwe, criticising the pop star's latest adoption application.

"We feel Madonna is behaving like a bully," said Undule Mwakusungula, chairman of the Human Rights Consultative Committee. "She has the money and the status to use her profile to manipulate, to fast-track the process."

Madonna's spokeswoman, Liz Rosenberg, in New York did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

The girl Madonna is hoping to adopt is about four years old, according to a Malawian welfare official and another person involved in the proceedings who both confirmed an adoption application was under way. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the case is considered sensitive.

Child's mother died

Monday's court roll listed only the child's name - Chifundo James, which means "Mercy" in a local language. Her uncle, John Ngalande, has said she was turning four soon.

The girl's 18-year-old mother was unmarried and died soon after she was born, the uncle said. Her father is believed to be alive but has little contact with his daughter, he said.

The coalition's Mwakusungula told reporters adoption should be the last resort and that children need to be taken care of by their own family.

"Mercy James is a child who has her extended close family members alive and we urge Madonna to assist the child from right here," the coalition said.

Court case

Mabvuto Bamusi, the coalition's national co-ordinator, said they were asking the court to uphold the country's laws and to "fully" assess Madonna's second adoption bid.

"Celebrities adopting children are merely taking advantages of weaknesses in our country," he said.

Malawian law is fuzzy on foreign adoptions. Regulations stipulate only that prospective parents undergo an 18- to 24-month assessment period in Malawi, a rule bent when Madonna was allowed to take David to London.

David's adoption was a trying process for the singer, who has said the storm of criticism hurt.

The boy's mother died when he was a month old. His father has said he believed he could not care for David alone, and that placing the boy in an orphanage was the best way to ensure his survival.

Earlier on Monday, David spent 2 hours with his biological father at an exclusive lodge where the pop star is staying.

Madonna 'provides advantages'

"I was very happy to see him," the father, Yohane Banda, told AP, adding David did not recognise him. "He asked me who I was."

Standing outside the courthouse with a number of other curious onlookers, E Ngulinga said he understood the criticism directed at the pop star but that it was hard to deny a child the kind of opportunities offered by Madonna.

"That baby is going to have the advantages of going to school and of becoming someone," he said. "Here it is very difficult."

Ngulinga said he hoped the girl and David would return when they were older to help Malawi, an impoverished country where 14 per cent of adults are infected with the virus that causes AIDS. The UN estimates that half of the 1 million Malawian children who have lost one or both parents have been orphaned by AIDS.

Madonna first travelled to Malawi in 2006 while filming a documentary on the devastating poverty and AIDS crisis. Her Raising Malawi organisation, founded in 2006, raises funds to provide food, shelter, education and health care for children.