Madonna Hopes To Pave The Way For More Malawian Adoptions 5/22/08

Madonna hopes her long and drawn out battle to adopt Malawian toddler David Banda will make it easier for others to follow in her footsteps. The pop superstar is still waiting for a final hearing - due later this month (May08) - that is expected to end a 20 month long process to make two-year-old David her legal son.

Speaking at the Cannes Film Festival in France, the singer has compared the "painful struggle" to adopt David to natural child birth. She says, "Hopefully, after we get through this adoption, it will be easier for people to adopt children. It was painful, and it was a big struggle, and I didn't understand it. "But, in the end, I rationalized that, when a woman has a child and goes through natural childbirth, she suffers an enormous amount.

"So I sort of went through my own kind of birthing pains with dealing with the press on my front doorstep, accusing me of kidnapping or whatever you want to call it."

Madonna also hopes her efforts will pave the way for future adoptions from the African nation, adding, "This adoption essentially was the beginning of the creation of adoption laws in Malawi. I am the template or the role model so to speak for future adoptions."