The Children has slammed Madonna and urged her to reconsider her plans to adopt Mercy James.

Are the adopted children of celebrities transported to a happier life? The debate goes on...

Save The Children has slammed Madonna and urged her to reconsider her plans to adopt Mercy James. Spokesperson Dominic Nutt said that taking children away from their native countries was not a solution. "The thing to do is to support the community, to support local agencies and charities who can look after the child so that the child is at least cared for in their community," he told the BBC. “You cannot literally take every poor child who may only have one parent living, or no parent living, across the world and transport them all into Kensington in London.” Nutt also noted that international adoptions are feeding a mafioso ‘adoption insustry’. This wider issue goes beyond the celebrity adoption phenomenon, of course, but with many countries toughening their stance on international adoptions, celebrities could face far tougher procedures in the future.

7 Celebrities Who Have Adopted

Sheryl Crow
Born on April 29, 2007, Wyatt went home with Crow the following day. It was a closed domestic adoption done through an agency, although Crow has said she will help him find his birth family, should he ever want to. Wyatt is Sheryl's father's middle name, and Steven was chosen to honor her brother and her manager (both named Steven).

Julie Andrews
Our favorite singing fraulein from The Sound of Music was the governess that all kids dreamed of having. But Julie Andrews is an awesome mom in real life, too. Already mom to daughter Emma from her first marriage, Andrews became one of the first celebrities to adopt internationally. In 1974, she and her second husband Blake Edwards welcomed two Vietnamese girls, Amy and Joanna, to their family.

Madonna
In 2006, Madge traveled to Malawi to help build an orphanage. She adopted David, then one-year-old, to join Madonna's son Rocco and daughter Lourdes in London. The Material Girl faced fire when rumors came out that David's father may not have understood what he was agreeing to. He has since spoken up to defend the adoption.

Lionel Richie
You probably know Nicole Richie is a mom, but did you know that she was adopted? In 1984, Lionel and then-wife Brenda informally adopted three-year-old Nicole from one of his backstage assistants. Although they raised Nicole as their own, the adoption was only formalized in 1990.

Meg Ryan
When Ryan adopted her 14-month-old daughter from China in January 2006, the little girl was named Charlotte. But after they got to know each other, Ryan changed Charlotte's name to Daisy to better suit her personality. Daisy's big brother is Jack Henry, Ryan's son with ex-husband Dennis Quaid.

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt
Our favorite modern day big Baker family à la Cheaper by the Dozen, the Jolie-Pitts have made international adoption hip. Their mini-U.N. clan includes Maddox from Cambodia, Zahara from Ethiopia, and Pax from Vietnam. Jolie has also given birth to Shiloh Nouvel, born in Namibia, and twins Knox Leon and Vivienne Marcheline, born in France.