An "ecstatic" Madonna has won her battle to adopt a young girl from Malawi after the country's highest court ruled that the three-year-old could become part of the US singer's family.

"In our view, Chifundo James is better taken care of by being adopted by foreign parents who will give her love and affection," said Supreme Court chief justice Lovemore Munro on Friday.

During the 90-minute court session, the judge said Madonna was financially stable and could care for Chifundo, whose name translates as Mercy.

"We therefore grant adoption," he added.

Madonna's lawyer, Alan Chinula, said the singer would not personally fetch the child but would send her staff.

"She might leave any time next week. Madonna will not come to collect (Chifundo) but she will travel with her officials," he said.

Chinula said he was going to prepare the child's travel documents to join her new family.

The 50-year-old singer was not in the country to hear the verdict, although she had attended the initial application in April, which was blocked by a lower court on the grounds that she had failed to meet an 18-month residency requirement.

"I am extremely grateful for the Supreme Court's ruling on my application to adopt Mercy James. I am ecstatic. My family and I look forward to sharing our lives with her," Madonna said through her spokeswoman, Liz Rosenberg.

Normally anyone seeking to adopt in Malawi must live in the country for at least 18 months - a requirement waived in 2006 in the case of her first Malawian child, David Banda.

According to the judge, the court had taken the child's best interests as its paramount consideration.

The application met fierce criticism from child-welfare groups and rights activists, who were opposed to the singer's efforts to take another child away from the country.

They argued that international adoption should be viewed as a last resort, even though Malawi is home to an estimated 560,000 children who have lost at least one parent to AIDS.

Maxwell Matewere, director of Eye of the Child, one of the organisations that made presentations in court, said: "We respect the decision of the top court and for providing direction in inter-country adoption."

Matewere said his organisation would now work with the government to review the nation's adoption laws.

Malawi has no law specifically on international adoption, leaving judges to decide each petition case by case.

Kondanani orphanage, the place where Madonna first saw Mercy, welcomed the court ruling.

"It's good news. It's good for Malawi," said Cherie Marten, one of the workers at the orphanage, 30km from Blantyre.

Malawi is one of the world's poorest nations, with more than half its population of 12 million living on less than $US1 ($A1.22) a day. The singer has a personal fortune estimated at several hundred million dollars.

In April, the recently-divorced singer flew into the country to file for the adoption of Mercy, who was placed at an orphanage following the death of her mother.

A 24-year-old man believed to be her father, James Kambewa, has opposed the adoption, saying he was capable of looking after the child.

But the court said the identity of the girl's biological father was not known.

The biological father of Madonna's son David has supported the first adoption, saying he was "happy" about the prospect of his child growing up together with another Malawian.

Madonna has set up a charity, Raising Malawi, which provides support for orphans and vulnerable children, and has built a multi-purpose community centre at Mphandula village, 50 km from Lilongwe, which looks after more than 8,000 orphans from scores of villages in the area.

AFP