After all the controversy, custody and adoption battles, Madonna could finally welcome her adoptive daughter Mercy this weekend in London, according to the Independent UK. The three-year old girl from Malawi has hit the headlines earlier this year when she was chosen by the pop diva for adoption, only to be turned down by a Malawi court in April on the grounds that according to the country’s adoption laws, an adoptive parent must have lived in Malawi for at least a year. However, the singer didn’t give up and appealed, which resulted in the original ruling being overturned on June 12. Mercy’s mother, a teenager, died at childbirth. Her father filed an objection to the adoption but has also withdrawn his case.

Mercy’s case opened up again the controversy about celebrities adopting children from impoverished countries. Inter-country adoption has become popular in recent years and some social scientists believe this is actually counterproductive and that celebrities like Madonna and Angelina Jolie and their well-publicized adoptions are clouding the issue.

Some of the objections brought forward by the critics are:

• It gives false hopes to people, sometimes leading parents to deliberately abandon their children in orphanages in the hopes that some rich celebrity would pick her/him out to enjoy a life of comfort.

• Children are uprooted and cannot grow up in familiar cultural and religious surroundings.

However, adoption advocates, especially those who have adopted children from other countries defend their choice: they can’t help every child in this world but at least they could help one or two escape poverty and disease. Surely, this is a worthy cause.

So what do you think? Are you for or against inter-country adoption? Celebrity adoption?

It’s unlikely that anyone will be surprised if Angeline Jolie and Brad Pitt decide to make their family a little bigger. They now have six children; three adopted and three biological. According to recent reports Jolie may be considering adopting a child from India.

She met the cast of the hit film Slumdog Millionaire and was reportedly asked by one of them why she hadn’t adopted a child from India. She was quoted as saying, “Well, I’ll let you into a little secret, we will soon.” Britain’s Sunday Express revealed that Pitt and Jolie visited the Priya Darshini Orphanage in India in 2006. The report stated that they were busy at the time and were unable to go through with the adoption then.

This news comes hot on the heels of reports that singer Madonna is looking to adopt another child. I can only wonder if this may be the beginning of a trend. Given the efforts being made by many organizations to encourage adoption this would be a good thing. However, like all such issues there are pros and cons.

It is surprising though the level of scrutiny that seems to accompany such adoptions. Yes, they are celebs, but surely such a private matter should be treated a little differently. Some celebrities who have gone the adoption route include Tom Cruise, Calista Flockhart, Hugh Jackman Rosie O’Donnell and Lionel Richie. Some have suggested that celebs who adopt use it as a means of remaining in the spotlight.

If these reports turn out to be true, many people must be wondering if Pitt and Jolie will continue to expand their family. I am supportive of the idea of giving these children the chance to be raised with a loving family. I can’t help but wonder, as I am sure many others are, whether they will adopt from somewhere in the US at some point. If anyone needs a reminder, they have Shiloh who is two, and the twins Vivienne and Knox who are now seven months old. Maddox is seven, Pax is four and Zahara is three.

I wish this couple luck with any future family plans. Anyone who has to raise one child knows how tough it can be let alone six. But children are a blessing and once they can be properly cared for and loved, I guess maybe eight isn’t enough for some of us.

There are countless stories on the web about celebrities who have chosen to adopt for one reason or another. Former couple, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, X-Men star Hugh Jackman and Basic Instinct’s Sharon Stone are just a few of the celebrities who have gone this route. But we don’t hear much about the celebs who were themselves adopted.

According to a recent story online, some big celebrity names have offered their own stories of being adopted into loving homes. Faith Hill, Jamie Foxx and Keyisha Cole recently finished their parts in a CBS special “A Home for the Holidays.” While they were backstage they talked about what it was like for them to have been adopted and how they dealt with it.

The show offered information on adoption, as well as entertainment. Many fans of actor Jamie Foxx may not be aware that he was adopted. I know I wasn’t. He said, “I was lucky, I was adopted at 7 months, but the lady who adopted me also adopted my mother, so I had a relationship with my biological parents, also.” That’s a pretty unusual twist. At any rate that family ended up producing a successful performer and an Oscar winner at that.

According to soul singer, Keyshia Cole her mother had a drug problem. “she didn’t get a little bit better until I became ‘Keyshia Cole the Celebrity.’ Maybe it was a good way for her to see herself – that your daughter has become so much and she’s become so big,” Cole said.

Faith Hill also shared her personal story. She was adopted as an infant but as she grew older she had to deal with children using the adoption tag as an insult. “When kids would call one another names, they’d say, ‘You act like you’re adopted.’” Hill said. Showing the same spunk she would later demonstrate in her career, Hill would respond, “Well, I am adopted. So what do you think about that?”

Hopefully the special will encourage those who are able, to open their doors to children who have no home or family. Or maybe they could contribute in some other way. I don’t know how much an adoption stigma still exists, but it’s good that children who were adopted into families managed to carve out such successful careers for themselves. It may serve as a reminder to adopted children everywhere that no matter what your background is, dreams can still come true.