The father of Madonna's adopted son has claimed he never agreed to give up his baby.

Malawian crop-worker Yohane Banda, father of 13-month-old baby David, has said he only agreed to let the singer raise the child on his behalf until he was old enough to return to his family.

Yohane is quoted by Britain's Daily Mail newspaper as saying: "Had they told us that Madonna wanted to adopt my son and make him her own son, we would not have agreed to that.

"It would have been better for him to continue staying at the orphanage because I see no reason why my child should be given away forever when I can feed him."

Mr Banda's apparent U-turn comes as a legal battle is about to be launched by a human rights campaign group who believe Madonna sidestepped Malawian adoption procedures.

Madonna, 48, met baby David while she was visiting Malawi earlier this month and last week she was granted foster care, with a view to adopting the child.

David's father took the 13-month-old baby to an orphanage after his mother died because he felt he could not look after him properly.

Madonna and her director husband Guy - who already have a son together, six-year-old Rocco - will now raise David as their own.

Madonna also has a ten-year-old daughter Lourdes from her relationship with personal trainer Carlos Leon.


DailyMail

Meanwhile, Madonna has insisted she will take baby David to visit Malawi when he is a grown-up and will let him decide where he wants to live.

Her comments were made through her spokeswoman though she herself remained tight-lipped about her planned adoption of the 13-month-old African boy. The popstar will also appear on Oprah Winfrey's US chat show this week to defend her decision.

Seems like he wants some money.

WTF?:-/

I was just going to say that hisugar.  He smells money.  I’m sure after being raised by Madonna and her major money that the boy is going to want to live with his natural family and work his ass off to survive. Right.  Daddy dearest knows what he doing.

Or, maybe they weren’t honest with him.  However, if she has to take him back I’m sure she’ll find someone else to adopt since she’s just looking for attention.

She will let him decide what he wants to do when he is grown up? Here you have the choice, David: you go back to misery in Africa with a family you don’t even know, or you stay in American luxury with people that you know very well.
Hmm… Of course that choice is a real choice…

Maybe the father does feel like he was conned. Maybe in the midst of all the confusion that was going on he really did not understand what he was being asked to do. I mean no offense to the father in saying this, but it is obvious that Madonna and her people knew they were not dealing with an educated man. It would have been easy for him to get confused. If he starts demanding money I will admit I am wrong, but until then I think he really feels like he was duped into giving his son up permanently when he thought it was going to be a temporary situation, like the orphanage. I feel sorry for this man. He lost his wife to Malaria and he was trying to ensure his son was taken care of and then this rich celebrity swoops in and takes him. Not to mention she gets to bypass the adoption laws of that country…. I think Madonna is a royal b*tch and a publicity whore for doing this. Although the child will have a lavish life he needs to know and see his father. Of course, this is just my opinion.

i kinda of agree with you wtjo but on the other hand if that father wants his son to be happy,to have education and everyting else he might ever need,then he should let it go no matter how hard it is on him - it’s for the child’s sake.

That’s true, but i beleive that the father was confused and he may not have understood taht his child would be taken away form him. If i was in his position i would let my child go knowning that he would have a better chance in life.I beleive that’s the reason why the father had given up his child in the frist place.

I don’t think he understood. He is can’t read or write (according to the article). Plus, in earlier articles, it said he rode his bike miles and miles to see his baby so he would know his father. He also said in the interviews that he looked forward to when the baby came back to his country. (I said ... DUH?). My biggest problem is the fact that she didn’t have to follow the adoption procedures and reside in the country. It is human trafficking basically. Plus, she’s just a celeb looking for publicity. I think she’s a
C**T. (and I never use that word lightly).

Perhaps a true orphan might have been a better choice?????

I completely agree with you chatnoir. So true. Madonna just wants publicity. She could care less about anyone but herself. If she really cared about those people then she would have paid to keep the father with david. And gave money to that village. These stars just make me sick. They would do more good in setting up their own charity to make she where the money goes to help these as fishlips would call them, refugees.

Both of them are in it for themselves, and no one is really giving a crap about that baby.

I think it is possible that they could’ve left out some details to the man about the adoption, but if all it takes is a little support for him to feed his own family, then i would’ve gave him the money to school david in the future and money to feed and support him, not take him to another damn country. But oh well.

The poor kid is being treated and fought over like chattel.  I hate Madge with a vengence that is reserved for those who harm children ~ it may not be physical harm, but it sure is going to be psychological.

The boy’s father probably didn’t understand. The mean per capita income in Malawi is less than $1 per day, and the child mortality is 89%. He loves the kid enough to take him to an orphanage.

I have to question her criteria on picking this specific child? Even an idiot can see that by definition the child isn’t an orphan. Were the true parentless, unwanted children not as cute, young or deserving?? There are a million orphans to pick from. She should have seen something like this coming. I agree with chatnoir, this was really a shady process and a lot of money changed hands. Malawi is known for governmental corruption and restrictions on economic freedom and they saw here coming too. NO matter what the outcome is Madonna, the great humanitarian, just had her publicity stunt blow up in her face.

The kid’s in an orphange - you know what that means, right?

that man is illiterate…in places like that ppl have kids to help out even though they can’t really feed or educate them.  if he didn’t want someone to adopt his kid he shouldn’t have put it in an orphanage. 

someday he will realize he gave his kid the best gift ever by getting him out.  when he is old enough he may visit and see where he came from and do more good for the country…or he can forget where he came from and be a spoiled playboy lol