It’s a difficult question for the Black Country nurse to answer.

But double standards is one that springs to her mind.

Mrs Gladstone has something in common with the multi-millionaire singer. The intensive care nurse may not have Madonna’s fame or riches but she also wants to provide a loving and stable home for a child from poverty-stricken Malawi.

Four-year-old Erykka Mambala has been formally adopted by her aunt and uncle Charity and Michael Gladstone.

The couple and their three children, Michael, 14, Danielle, nine and eight-year-old Michelle are looking forward to welcoming Erykka to their family home in Bentley near Walsall.

However, a pledge that 33-year-old Mrs Gladstone made her late sister just before she died – that she would raise Erykka as her own daughter – is currently being delayed by red-tape and Britain’s adoption laws.

Disbelief

While Madonna managed to whisk her new son to Britain from Malawi, Mrs Gladstone has been told she has to go through a lengthy adoption process – and cannot bring Erykka to Britain until it is complete.

It really is a tale of two adoptions.

In the past week Madonna’s intended adoption of David Banda has caused a stir across the world.

And the row shows no sign of dying down – with David’s father today claiming he didn’t realise the move would mean losing custody of his son.

The Gladstone family watched in disbelief as the boy arrived in Britain, after the singer seemed to use her celebrity status to sidestep local law.

They were incensed as they switched on their TV to see Madonna’s nanny carry baby David through Heathrow Airport.

In contrast their own adoption process is being delayed by bureaucracy. Before being given clearance to bring a child adopted abroad into this country, prospective parents must now be vetted with the aid of home study visits as well as undergoing an adoptive parenting course.

This can cost up to £5,000 and can take up to a year to complete.

It’s not that the Gladstones are against celebrity adoptions.

“It’s good that Madonna can help this little boy,” says Mrs Gladstone.

But what makes her so frustrated is the fact that the superstar was able to breeze into Malawi, pick up her child and fly him to Britain, while she and her husband – a Malawi-born couple who are now naturalised Britons – face an agonising wait to do the same thing for a close relative.

When Mrs Gladstone’s younger sister Maureen Mambala realised she was dying – having contracted HIV from her husband who had already died at 35 – she sent a heart-rending email to her sister, urging her to care for Erykka when she died.

Since Erykka’s grandmother had also died and none of her other relatives were sufficiently competent to take the girl, Mrs Gladstone promised to do as her sister asked.

When she travelled to Malawi in July for her sister’s funeral she began taking the steps to adopt Erykka and bring her back to Britain.

“I went through the courts in Malawi and formally adopted Erykka, given the desperate situation” says Mrs Gladstone.

“I applied to the British Embassy to get a visa so she could travel back with me. Yet my application was rejected because I was told I needed a Home Study by my local social services as it is a mandatory requirement.

“I couldn’t believe I was not able to bring her home. It was in her best interests to come with me but I had to leave her in Malawi while we undergo the Home Study programme.”

Vetted

“But I have a stable home with children of my own and I believe this process could be done with Erykka in our care,” says Mrs Gladstone, who is now contacting Walsall MP Bruce George in the hope he can help her plight.

She cannot return to fetch Erykka until the couple have been vetted by the local adoption team.

“Police and health checks will be carried out and we will be interviewed in our home. We also have to go on a parenting course,” she said.

“The cost of all this is around £5,000, although the adoption team in Walsall has suggested ways this may be reduced to £3,500. Meanwhile Erykka is desperate and traumatised.

“But Madonna has her son in this country. Does one regulation apply to the rich and famous and another to normal hard-working families?”

“It really seems there is one law for the rich and then another for the rest of us,” said Mrs Gladstone.

“It’s double standards.”

Meanwhile Erykka is becoming more and more withdrawn by the day. A great-aunt is caring for her but she is struggling to cope herself.

The fees for her upkeep are paid for by Mr and Mrs Gladstone, who send money every month to their relatives.

“Erykka was always such a bubbly girl. But she has been through such traumatic times.

“We so much want to be able to bring her home to her family here.

“Madonna is currently bonding with her new child and we want to bond with ours.

“We may not have the fame or the riches of Madonna, but have love.”