Pop star Madonna defended her decision to adopt a baby from Africa this evening, saying she wanted to help one child escape poverty.
Madonna
The pop star has been criticised by some adoption charities for seeking to adopt a baby from Malawi.
The singer said she and husband Guy Ritchie began the adoption process many months ago and had acted "according to the law like anyone else who adopts a child".
The couple chose 13-month-old Malawian boy David Banda after learning there were more than one million orphans in the impoverished country.
She said it was her wish "to open up our home and help one child escape an extreme life of hardship, poverty and in many cases death", adding: "This was not a decision or commitment that my family or I take lightly." The family will now take time "to experience the joy we feel to have David home".
The baby arrived in the UK today to start his new and privileged life, surrounded by a world of celebrity and luxury.
Aid organisations warned that adopting individual children from overseas was not the answer for the hundreds of thousands suffering from deprivation.
After landing at London's Heathrow airport today, David was taken to the singer's home near Marble Arch and kept away from the hordes of waiting photographers and reporters.
Madonna, 48, and Ritchie have secured a temporary 18-month custody order from the Malawi courts and hope to adopt him formally. It is thought the baby arrived in the UK with a US visa stamped in his new passport, sparking speculation that he would be adopted under US law.
Westminster Council, which covers the area where Madonna lives, said they "regularly" received applications from residents wishing to adopt from overseas.
But a spokesman could not confirm if they had received any such application from the singer. Adoption experts said the celebrity couple would have undergone rigorous checks before being given permission to adopt the boy.
But British adoption agencies and aid organisations warned that inter-country adoption should be seen as a "last resort". Anna Feuchtwang, from EveryChild, said: "Most evidence shows that children are better off in their own families and communities.
"In Malawi, where there are a million orphans, even if inter-country adoption was the best option, it is not going to be possible for all those children.
"Other solutions need to be found."
Malawi law requires that would-be parents live in the country for a year while social welfare officers investigate their ability to care for the child.
The court order waived such a stipulation but said David must be returned to Malawi if Madonna was seen to be treating him differently from her other children, Lourdes (9) and Rocco (5).