The '4 Minutes' singer - who announced her split from director Guy Ritchie
last month - has been in negotiations with officials in Malawi for two years
to care for three-year-old Mercy James but has now reportedly been told she
will not be allowed to adopt the girl because they do not approve of
children being placed with single or recently divorced parents.
Penston Kilembe, Malawi's director of Child Welfare Services, told Grazia
magazine: "One fundamental condition in scrutinizing adoptions is the
connectedness of a family. We can't approve a child to go into a broken
family because the divorce could be the result of the behavior of the party
trying to adopt.
"Madonna should forget this one."
Madonna - who adopted another Malawian tot, David Banda, now three, in 2005
- became aware of Mercy's plight when she met her at an orphanage in 2006.
The child's family have been opposed to her adoption, insisting they want
her back "when she is no longer a baby".