Adoption ruling is due next week

Malawi’s high court said Monday it will rule next week on whether a coalition of human rights and child advocacy groups should help decide whether Madonna is fit to adopt a 13-month-old boy.

Justice Andrew Nyirenda said he will rule next Monday on whether to admit the 67-member coalition, which includes the state-run Malawi Human Rights Commission, as a party in the adoption proceedings. The coalition maintains the proceedings have been irregular.

Madonna says she has met all the country’s requirements for adopting the toddler, and David’s father, Yohane Banda, has said the human rights group’s lawsuit threatens his son’s future.

The singer and her husband, filmmaker Guy Ritchie, were granted interim custody of David. Malawi regulations stipulate an 18- to 24-month assessment period be spent in Malawi, but the couple were allowed to take David to their London home.

The chairman of the coalition said the group isn’t trying to block the adoption but wanted to be a party to the process to make sure Malawian laws were respected.