Pop star Madonna has been urged by Save the Children to reconsider her plans to adopt another Malawian child.

Officials have indicated she will arrive in Malawi this weekend in an attempt to adopt a four-year-old orphan called Mercy James.

The charity said orphans should be cared for by their extended family and taking them abroad was "not a solution". Madonna took then 13-month-old David Banda to Britain from Malawi in 2006.

The Reuters news agency reported that it was told Mercy James has "no father and mother, they both died", and an assessment had been completed last Thursday.

Save the Children spokes­man Dominic Nutt told BBC Newshour: "For the most part so-called orphans in poor countries tend to have family still available to them, if not actually a parent still living. It is vital, we say, that children should not be taken abroad to be looked after."