Madonna's million dollar baby: Singer wins court appeal to adopt Mercy after donating £12m to Malawi  

So in the end she got her way, as she always does.
But it seems the adoption of Malawian orphan Mercy James did not come cheap.
Madonna is reported to have donated £12million to the African state to fund orphan aid projects
One international welfare agency worker told the Daily Mirror: 'It smacks of bribery. How can they refuse her requests when she gives Malawi so much?'
The money has been spent to fund six orphanages as well as paying for shoes, clothes, books and mosquito nets.
It has taken nearly three years, but yesterday Madonna was finally free to take Mercy for a new life in America.
The supreme court in Blantyre overturned a previous ruling that had rejected the singer's petition to adopt the four-year-old girl.
'I am ecstatic,' Madonna said on hearing the news at her home in New York. 'My family and I look forward to sharing our lives with her.'
She expressed thanks to the supreme court's three judges, headed by Chief Justice Lovemore Munlo.
Earlier he had told the packed courthouse: 'Madonna has shown that she is bold and compassionate enough to come forward to adopt Chifundo Mercy James.'
He said there were two options for Mercy: 'To stay at the orphanage without the love of family and live with the possibility of destitution, or be with Madonna where she is assured of love. Every child has the right to love and be loved.'
He said Madonna was 'an intelligent, articulate and outgoing individual of strong character. She is also a determined, independent and hardworking person of compassion from a God-fearing family.
'Since the early age of six when her mother died, she took on the maternal role to her younger siblings, assuming responsibility of house cleaning, cooking and babysitting.'
Malawi's high court had turned down the singer's application in April because she was not resident in Malawi.
But Mr Munlo said this was a 'narrow interpretation based on old laws', adding: 'The matter of residence should be determined at the time of application of the adoption. In this case, Madonna was in Malawi not by chance but by design. She specifically came here for the purpose of this application for adoption.
'And on that day she had already adopted another infant known as David Banda from Malawi. She has plans to travel to Malawi frequently with her adopted children in order to instill in them a cultural pride and knowledge of their country of origin.'
He added that Madonna would easily be able to care for the youngster, concluding that the singer - who is worth some £250million - was 'financially stable'.
Despite Madonna's avowed love for the child, she was unable to make it to Malawi for the hearing and was represented by her lawyer, Alan Chinula.
After the hearing, he said he would arrange for a passport for Mercy, which could take several days, and was awaiting word from Madonna on travel plans for the little girl.
She will join three-year-old David Banda, who Madonna adopted two years ago, at their main home in New York.
Like David, Mercy will exchange the orphanage for opulence. It has been reported that Madonna has just splashed out £25million on a Georgian-style townhouse in the Upper East Side. The 26-room property is said to have 13 bedrooms and 14 bathrooms. Instead of being raised in the Christian faith practised by her Malawian family, Mercy will be instructed in Kabbalah, the mystical faith followed by Madonna.
While she was delighted with yesterday's news, it will not have been welcomed by Mercy's grandmother, Lucy Chekechiwa, who has been unwavering in her resistance to the adoption.
Madonna came across Mercy at an orphanage during her first visit to Malawi in 2006 with her then husband, Guy Ritchie.
She decided Mercy was 'the one', but her grandmother refused to let her go.
So the singer instead returned home with David Banda, whom it proved easier to extricate from his father Yohane.
Lucy's daughter, Mwandida, was Mercy's mother. She became pregnant aged 14 - the father was an older student at their school - and died from complications of childbirth days after Mercy was born.
Mercy's father, James Kambewa, claims he was told that Mercy too had died and only learned the truth after being tracked down by journalists in April. He now says he wants his daughter back.
In an emotional appeal, he told the Mail: 'She is my daughter, she is my blood, she needs parental love.
'She is not an orphan. She lost one parent, yes, but I am still alive and so she is not an orphan. Madonna has millions of dollars but that doesn't make her a good mum. Parental love is more than money.'
Vowing to fight to get his daughter back, he said: 'I will win somehow.'
Last night, adoption charities reacted angrily to the news of the adoption ruling, saying international laws had been breached.
EveryChild, the international children's charity, said it was 'extremely concerned' that the Malawian courts ruled in favour of Madonna.
A spokesman said: 'Malawi has still not ratified the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption which raises grave concerns about the adoption process and appeal.'
Anna Feuchtwang, chief executive of EveryChild, said: 'The court's decision to allow Madonna to adopt Mercy is disappointing and worrying on a number of levels.
'High-profile adoptions such as this send out the wrong message. It is a shame that so much emphasis has been placed on a celebrity, rather than the real issue of the work being done in Malawi to support vulnerable families to stay together.'