I know I never would have guessed that Malawi would deny Madonna the opportunity to adopt one of their young nationals, but it appears that is exactly what happened. Madonna was denied the opportunity to bring four-year-old Mercy James into her family by the country’s High Court on Friday.

This news will definitely reassure all those who picketed against this adoption. Many said that Madonna was wielding her riches as a way to bypass the country’s adoption laws (there was much to-do about the singer’s first adoption from the country as well).

According to the court register Ken Manda (and Reuters), Madonna was rejected as a potential parent for the child because she is not a resident of Malawi. In the ruling Judge Esimie Chombo looked down on celebrity adoptions, telling the court they could result in child trafficking.

Madonna’s lawyer reported that the singer will be filing an appeal on Friday.

Just why Madonna is so set on adopting another child from Malawi, that has at least one parent somewhere, is beyond me.

It would seem that there are probably many children in the world who do not have family members to take them to court to sign adoption papers – and that those children are more in need of actually being adopted.