For quiet some time, Madonna had been seriously considering adopting a second child and now she’s already in Malawi, the African country to complete the proceedings. The singer who has had an earlier adoption of David Banda, 3, is back to the country’s capital, Lilongwe to appear before the High Court judge and take Mercy James home, once the plan is through. In order to certify her adoption, the court has appointed an overseer who has to make an assessment of Madonna’s eligibility as a parent and produce two reports on the same before the judge. A similar procedure was carried out in the case of David’s adoption and two positive reports supporting the suitability of ex-husband Guy Ritchie and Madonna as parents had been prepared. But this time it could be tough owing to the break-up of Madonna and Guy Ritchie.

The Associated Press Agency has reported that Mercy James is the child of an unmarried 18-year old woman who died two days after giving birth to Mercy. Oppositions have already been raised over Madonna’s plans. David Nutt, spokesman for the Save the Children charity, wants Madonna to reconsider her decision. However, Steven Whitehead of the charity Oasis, appreciates Madonna’s move saying foreign adoption is a good idea. He said: “There are a number of children for whom inter-country adoption represents their only chance of having a family, and the human convention on the right of the child gives every child the right to a family.

“And it’s much better for them be in a family, wherever it may happen to be, than be in institutional care. The damaging effect of institutional care on children is so well recognised that, you know, it’s just not an issue of debate.”

One of the reasons why Madonna is earnest in her effort to adopt Mercy James is that she wants David to have a sibling from his own country. The 50-year old star was accompanied by her 12-year old daughter, Lourdes; both arrived at the Kamuzu International Airport on Sunday.