Matt- Madonna's adoption

Hey Everyone, Enjoying reading about what is shakin' with all. I am still workin' with kids and enjoying the mountains.

Here is an article about Madonna and her adoption. It is long but has a pretty good message.

Stay well, Matt

A million reasons not to adopt David

STEPHEN JARDINE http://news.scotsman.com

"Madonna is sending out the message that the only hope for a child in Africa is to be rescued from the place"

ON my desk is a photograph of a boy called Jack Kajombo. I met him two years ago on a trip to Malawi and keep his picture as a constant reminder not to forget all the poor and disadvantaged in the world's ninth poorest country. He is my conscience.

Following another visit this year, I've become a trustee of a charity building a new school in Malawi and this Christmas I'll be involved in a massive fundraising drive to transform the main maternity hospital. But suddenly that's not enough. Thanks to Madonna, I'm left wondering why I didn't pluck Jack out of poverty and offer him a new life of plenty here in Edinburgh.

Then I remember all the other kids I met. The girl who walked 10km to school every day. The boy who ate only half his food so he could take the rest home for his hungry baby brother.

Malawi's problems are vast and despite what Madonna seems to think, there are no quick fixes or easy answers. Since my first visit with First Minister Jack McConnell two years ago, Malawi's international profile has been transformed from the country always overlooked to the post-G8 cause célèbre. When Sir Tom Hunter decided to invest $100 million in a joint initiative with Bill Clinton to tackle African poverty, the Scottish connection made Malawi the obvious choice. And a subsequent conversation with Clinton seems to be what sparked Madonna's initial interest in the country.

Sadly, her subsequent actions have been seriously misguided. What Malawi needs is an infrastructure to allow education and health improvements leading to trade and the end of dependency on the west. That will take a long time and a huge amount of money but some people are working in that direction. Madonna could have chosen to join them, quietly transforming Malawi and life for millions of children. Sir Tom Hunter is using the business models that made him rich to change the way small communities operate in Malawi and to ensure they have a sustainable future. Sir Tom Farmer funds orphan feeding stations in the country but does it quietly and carefully. It was never going to be like that with the Material Girl.

Six weeks ago I got a phone call from Los Angeles. On the line was the head of Madonna's Raising Malawi charity which is linked to her strange Kabbala religion. During the conversation it became clear she would be making a documentary about her African adventure and that is when alarm bells started ringing. In this country adoption is carefully regulated and cloaked in secrecy to protect all concerned. In contrast the past week has been like a shopping expedition for a new handbag, with cameras poised every step of the way. According to charities based in Malawi, normal legal procedures were circumvented to allow the child out of the country in record time. They are now challenging the legality of the process on the basis of the precedent it sets.

By her actions Madonna is sending out the message that the only hope for a child in Africa is to be rescued from the place. Like the old colonials who brought African children home as souvenirs, the adoption reveals huge ignorance of the problems. Yes, she is setting up a care centre for orphans in Malawi but at the same time she is choosing one child to be whisked away from it all. It had to be a boy, apparently. But what were the criteria? How can you choose one hungry parentless child from another? Far better to adopt the approach of other charities who sponsor families to look after their own children in their home setting but with proper support. She could have provided the resources for the father and a thousand others to raise their own child properly but of course that doesn't make such good worldwide headlines. As the boss of one local charity put it: "The court seems to have allowed the adoption on the basis of Madonna's wealth, but being a good parent is not about money, it is about having heart, it's about love". That was little in evidence as 13-month-old David Banda was hustled through Heathrow cloaked by a nanny and surrounded by bodyguards but with his new mother sadly absent.

Imagine if we all took Madonna's approach. Forget the Pop Princess, in a country where 40 per cent of the population live on less than a dollar a day, in comparison all Scots are fabulously rich. So should we all be adopting kids from Malawi - is that really the way to make poverty history? The truth is the children of Malawi aren't the problem, they are the solution. With proper support only they can provide the country with a sustainable future. Otherwise it's one child down, 999,999 to go.