Madonna urged not to adopt Malawian girl

LONDON, March 29 (UPI) -- Pop singer Madonna should end her plans to adopt a young Malawian girl and let the child remain with her extended family, a British charity says.

Save the Children spokesman Dominic Nutt said in a news release 3-year-old Mercy James would be best served to stay with family members as opposed to be adopted by the "Material Girl" singer, CNN reported Sunday.

"The best place for a child is in his or her family in their home community," Nutt said. "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."

Madonna, 50, already has one adopted Malawian child, David Banda, and two children of her own. The singer is divorced from British director Guy Ritchie.

Nutt said foreign adoptions should only take place when the child in question has no available family members, CNN said.

"International adoption can actually exacerbate the problem it hopes to solve," Nutt said. "The very existence of orphanages encourages poor parents to abandon children in the hope that they will have a better life."