Madonna could sidestep British adoption laws by taking a Malawian baby to the US, it was claimed today.

The American singer, 48, brought a 13-month-old boy, David Banda, into the UK this morning on a flight from South Africa after gaining an interim adoption order from a court in Malawi.

But adoption experts quickly drew attention to the the complex procedures required under British law to adopt a child from another country.

The rules require potential adoptive parents to apply to their local authority and submit to an inspection by social workers before the matter is passed on to the Department for Education and Skills. Civil servants must then notify the embassy of the relevant country and issue a certificate of eligibility all before can seek permission to bring their adoptive child into the country.

David Holmes, chief executive of of the British Association for Adoption and Fostering, said that the British procedure typically took two years before a potential parent could hope to be given the go-ahead to adopt a child from abroad.

"Madonna will have had to follow rigorous assessment just like other parents hoping to adopt," he said.

"She would have to go through exactly the same process as domestic adoption and there would be a very thorough assessment by social workers."

But Jeremy Abraham, head of private client and family law at Russell Jones and Walker, said: "The whole thing seemed quite disorganised, which does raise the question of whether Madonna went through the full process required under British law before adopting a child from abroad.

"It is quite possible that the child has entered the UK with Madonna saying that she was just passing through on the way through to the States to get this adoption done.

"That would certainly be easier than going through all the hoops of British law."

US law is different for each state but New York has a fast track system in place which allows the rapid adoption of children when their natural parents have already signed away all their legal rights.

David’s father, Yohane Banda, handed him over to an orphanage to be cared for when he became ill at five weeks old.

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