The recent backlash against famed pop musician and actress Madonna in her attempt to adopt a little girl from Malawi highlights a growing social tension and cultural criticism in transnational adoptions. In that case, the celebrity was criticized for using her status to skirt the country's stricter adoption criteria, which includes a yearlong residency requirement. Madonna's public life perhaps offers an unfair advantage to critics, who can trace her lifestyle and travels through the Internet, Twitter, and newspapers. To them, international residency requirements are a farce, especially when celebrities can circumvent such routine protocols by exploiting the financial weaknesses of governments. By donating funds to the state or establishing charities in those countries, celebrities can seemingly expedite the adoption process in ways that middle-class people, who wait years, cannot.

Clearly, with photos emerging of Madonna and her newest lover in South America and the United States, she has not been spending much personal or professional time in Malawi. But should that matter, so long as a child is relieved from poverty?