With reference to the Ward of Court issue mentioned above - I am not experienced in this case, and bow to those here who know far more than me, however, this point intrigued me.
I read up a bit about why people might go through the steps to have a child elected a Ward of Court with a renowned Child Welfare judge appointed her legal guardian...
This note appears to sum up the 'official' reasons why this was taken as a legal step - To enable information necessary to the case to be released to the judge/legal guardian, (who would have petitioned for this, rather than the parents seeming to be the ones who were asking, as it were):
http://www.gerrymccannsblogs.co.uk/7_july_08_address.pdf
I realise this is a law firm's letter, from Gerry's blog, but I also found similar info on, perhaps, more reliable sites, such as the BBC, and Child Welfare related sites...to back this up.
There is a lot of info out there on the internet, as we know, and such excellent work going on on this site, which I am so enjoying following, so if you want to look into the speculation, and lots of people's views, around this legal step, there is plenty available should you have time to research it, but there is too much for me to post here.
So, it appears relatively innocent, and had little to do with having Madeleine 'adopted' as such - I understand that she was the biological child of the McCann's, through IVF treatment...
And yet, as we know, there is little that could be described as 'innocent' in this sad case...