Madonna visited an orphanage in Malawi with her children yesterday ahead of a judge's ruling to decide if she can adopt a four-year-old girl from the country.

The pop star held her adopted son David Banda by the hand as she headed into the childcare centre in Lilongwe, Malawi, along with daughter Lourdes and son with Guy Ritchie, Rocco.

The singer - who adopted David from the African nation - has been told her application to adopt Mercy James from an orphanage and take her back to the U.S has been adjourned until the end of the week.

Madonna spent an hour in court yesterday outlining her case for adopting the girl, whose 18-year-old mother died five days after giving birth to her.

The child's family insists they are only agreeing to the proceedings if Mercy returns to her native country once she completes her education.

Mercy's uncle Peter Baneti says, "My mother, my brother and I all said no three times to the orphanage, which was pressing us on Madonna’s behalf."

"Now we have been persuaded that Mercy can have a better, healthier life somewhere else in the world with this rich white woman."

"I feel that we need more advice but everything is going so fast. They have taken Mercy from the orphanage and she is already in Lilongwe waiting for this new mother to arrive."

"We were told there is an important meeting where we must sign papers on Monday, and now we hear it is a court hearing in front of a judge. We have no experience of this sort of thing. We are not sure if we should be saying goodbye to Mercy like this."

See Madonna in Malawi below