THE African family of Madonna’s newly adopted child has demanded an invitation to her multi-million-pound mansions to check on his welfare and living conditions, write Steven Swinford and Christopher Thompson.

Pofera Banda, the baby’s uncle, expressed concern that the singer was “taking advantage” of his family. He said they wanted to come to England to see the baby’s new home.

His criticism came after Madonna was granted a controversial adoption order for David, a 13-month old boy from a Malawi orphanage, on Thursday. He may fly to Britain to begin his new life this week.

His uncle said: “What I want to know is that if this child is taken, as we’ve been told, when will our child be visiting us? When will we visit him? How much contact will there be between us and him?

“We want to find out the benefit of the adoption to this family. We have seen other parents who have had their children adopted still living in poverty. They have not seen their children, all they see is pictures. We don’t want that to happen to this family.

“If the child is going with Madonna we want our brother Yohame (the baby’s father) to go and see where he is staying. If that is not going to happen then as a family we are saying the child should not go. People have taken advantage of my brother because he has little education. I am saying this because in our family I am the only one who can read and write.”

David’s mother died days after giving birth to him in a mud hut 13 months ago. His father took the boy to an orphanage because he couldn’t afford to buy him milk.

He said that when he met the singer he told her: “I want you to keep this boy, raise him, educate him — but you have to know he is my son and he is a Malawian.”

But there is increasing concern about the legality of the adoption. Eye of the Child, Malawi’s main children’s rights group, will tomorrow apply for an injunction to delay the adoption order. It is illegal for foreign nationals to adopt a Malawian child, but Madonna has been granted an interim order and special waiver to help her circumvent the law.

A spokesman for Madonna, who was back in Britain and believed to be celebrating the 10th birthday of her daughter Lourdes, was unavailable for comment yesterday.

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