Madonna has reason to be on her best behavior.
A Malawian court-appointed official has said he will be visiting the Ritchie family in Britain next month to assess whether the pop star and her husband will make suitable parents for the 22-month-old boy they are seeking to adopt.
Earlier this month, social worker Penstone Kilembe said he had been barred from traveling to the U.K. in a decision he feared could derail Madonna's adoption of David Banda.
However, he told Reuters on Monday that Malawi's Minister of Women and Child Development Kate Kainja has since changed her mind, allowing him to travel as planned.
"There has been a change of mind by my government minister and she has allowed me to leave for the U.K. on Sept. 4 and I am expected to spend two weeks," Kilembe said.
After forbidding Kilembe to make the trip earlier this month, Kainja told a Malawian newspaper she felt he had "personalized the whole issue," and that other people could go in his place.
Her comments came amid reports that Kilembe had accepted a plane ticket and money from Madonna without permission from government officials.
Kilembe denied that he had asked the Material Mom to cover his traveling expenses, blaming the situation on a "misunderstanding."
"What we had with the minister was just a misunderstanding and that has been resolved. Madonna herself has been informed about the new proposed dates because she has been looking forward to this so that her adoption process is not hampered," he said.
Attorney Justin Dzonzi, who represented a coalition of 65 human-rights groups that challenged Madonna's adoption last fall, said he was glad the minister had reversed herself.
"This is welcome because the earlier decision was not only going to derail the adoption process but it also bordered on contempt of court," Dzonzi said.
In order for the adoption to be finalized, Kilembe is required to pay two visits to the Ritchies within 18 months, and then testify about his observations in Malawi's High Court.
Based on his testimony, the High Court is slated to either approve or deny the adoption sometime next year.
Madonna took David out of an orphanage last October, when he was 13 months old, touching off an international controversy over whether she had used her celebrity to skirt red tape in the process.
The singer has insisted she played by the rules, such as they existed.