Madonna Discusses Difficult Journey To Adopt Daughter Mercy

(Radio.com) Madonna was present at the opening ceremony of Malawi's first-ever pediatric surgery and intensive care center on Tuesday (July 11). The facility was been named The Mercy James Institute for Pediatric Surgery and Intensive Care, after her 11-year-old daughter, Mercy.

The superstar discussed the struggles she had adopting Mercy and the importance of following dreams regardless of the obstacles involved, reports People. Madonna said she met Mercy shortly after she adopted her son David Banda in 2006. Mercy, who was living in a different orphanage, was suffering from malaria and Madonna promised to look after her.

'I was granted permission to adopt David first," Madonna told the audience at the Queen Central Hospital. "And some time later, I filed a petition to adopt Mercy. But this time, the judge who was presiding said no. I was recently divorced, and she informed me, as a divorced woman, I was not fit to raise children and that Mercy James was better off growing up in an orphanage." Read more here.