Madonna gains custody of Malawi boy -- Is this legal?

Does anybody care about Madonna anymore, or for that matter, the world's children?

Madonna and her husband (name unknown (not really)) "adopted" a Malawi boy recently. But, according to Malawi law,

Malawi law does not allow for inter-country adoptions, and generally requires people who want to adopt to spend 18 months being evaluated by Malawian child welfare workers.

I guess every rule or law has exceptions, especially if your new mom is richer than the Queen of England.

What's even more astonishing to me is that the child has a father (yet the boy lived in an orphanage!) who, by all news accounts, is able-bodied and capable of caring for the child. He is very poor, as is most everybody in Africa.

Couldn't Madonna have given the boy's family some money instead?