Madonna’s Planned Second Adoption and Her Status as Single Mother
News reports indicate that Madonna is planning to adopt a second child in Malawi. One of the obstacles she faces appears to be her single status. Though more than likely Madonna will prevail in her adoption, this is a prime example of the obtacles faced by gay and lesbians as they consider international adoption as a means of building their families. Malawi is a country with over 1 million orphaned children with nearly a quarter of the population infected by HIV-AIDS – this is an emergency situation for the million plus orphans yet policies prevail such as this that prevent single parents from being eligible to adopt. Without exception, lesbian and gay parents are not eligible to adopt from foreign countries in which the laws or policies simply deny the possibility. Many countries require single applicants to sign affidavits that they are heterosexual. The vast majority of countries will not allow single men to adopt whatsoever. For this reason, many gay and lesbian men and women are choosing to consider surrogacy as an option. Surrogacy arrangements in the United States are very costly often in excess of $100,000; however, international surrogacy options exist in countries such as India and most recently, Guatemala, in which the costs are less than half the costs of surrogacy in the United States.
Tags: africa adoption, international adoption, madonna second adoption, malawi adoption