MEDIA: Chicago woman gets OK to bring Nepali daughter home

Chicago woman gets OK to bring Nepali daughter home

http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2010/10/candice-warltier-nepal-chicago-kathmandu-adoption.html

October 28, 2010

Excerpt:

When Candice Warltier landed in Katmandu almost three months ago, she only expected to be there a short time as she tied up loose ends on the process to adopt a chubby-cheeked 1-year-old named Antara.

As it turned out, the Chicago woman stayed much longer, held up by an investigation by the U.S. State Department, which had recently changed its policy toward adoptions from Nepal.

But today U.S. embassy officials in Katmandu gave her the happy news. The investigation was done, and they could return home to Chicago.

"My daughter and I are coming home," she said in an interview from her apartment in Katmandu.

Ethics, Transparency, Support
~ What All Adoptions Deserve.
http://www.pear-now.org/

MOWCSW Grants Additional 60 Days to Pipeline Families

On October 21, 2010, Secretary Shrestha of the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare (MOWCSW) provided Ambassador Scott DeLisi with written confirmation that the Ministry is granting 60 day extensions (for a total of 120 days) to prospective adoptive parents in the Nepal pipeline for whom the Embassy had sent a letter requesting an extension. The Embassy will provide each family affected by this decision with both a copy of the Nepali version of the Secretary’s letter and an English translation. Additionally, the Ministry has agreed to consider further extensions, and the Embassy will request further extensions as needed.

This announcement was forwarded to waiting families by email from the US DOS Office of Children's Issues on October 22, 2010 and announced by Senator Amy Klobuchar on October 21, 2010.

http://klobuchar.senate.gov/newsreleases_detail.cfm?id=328364&


Ethics, Transparency, Support
~ What All Adoptions Deserve.
http://www.pear-now.org/

Govt to form body to regulate adoption (The Himalayan Times)

Govt to form body to regulate adoption

Move comes after irregularity charges

Santosh Pokharel

2010-10-23

KATHMANDU: As an effort to regulate the inter-country child adoption, the government is going to set up an independent body to handle the adoption related issues by amending the existing law in Nepal.

The decision comes at a time when the countries regularly adopting orphans from Nepal halted inter-country child adoption indefinitely citing irregularities, especially use of falsified documents. Amid growing allegations of child trafficking and falsification of documents, the USA, on August 6, had indefinitely suspended child adoption programme also from Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Britain.

“We have forwarded a proposal to this effect to the Cabinet for the approval seeking an independent body,” said Mahendra Shrestha, secretary at the Ministry of Women Children and Social Welfare. “In line with the Hague Convention on Adoption, an independent regulating body is mandatory to deal with the issues related to child adoption.”

With a new amendment in the law, the government will strictly rein in the Children Homes that provide children for adoption. After the amendment, only those homes or orphanages operating for more than five years will be eligible to provide children for adoption. “The amendment to the existing law is to control the possibility of the child trafficking in the name of protection,” added Shrestha.

According to a ministry source, the new body will have the authority to probe the documents.

In the meantime, American Ambassador to Nepal Scott H DeLisi, in a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Sujata Koirala, today urged the government to ratify the law and implement the Hague Convention on Adoption, which was meant to protect the rights of the children and the families involved in inter-country adoption.

Following the report by the Hague Conference on Private International Law in February, which had accused Nepal’s adoption system of widespread abuse, many western countries have been pointing finger at the adoption scene in Nepal.

After finding some fraud cases of fake civil documents — such as the children’s birth certificates were changed or fabricated — the US embassy in Kathmandu is learnt to have conducted investigations on its own.

Children homes reportedly collect US$ 5,000 from each child on the completion of the adoption, whereas the prospective parents should pay US$ 3,000 as revenue to the government of Nepal. “We will leave no stone unturned to send the genuine orphans for adoption,” said Shrestha.

The Himalayan Times:

http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/fullNews.php?headline=Govt+to+form+body+to+regulate+adoption+&NewsID=262779


Ethics, Transparency, Support
~ What All Adoptions Deserve.
http://www.pear-now.org/

DOS Notice Concerning Upcoming Embassy Holiday Closures

Notice Concerning Upcoming Embassy Closures
Wednesday, October 6, 2010 9:59 PM
From:"Lincoln, Ruth A"
To: "Lincoln, Ruth A"

Dear Prospective adoptive parents and adoption service providers with Nepal programs,

The following notice is sent as a reminder about the upcoming holidays in Nepal, and the dates on which the U.S. Embassy in Kathmandu will be closed. This notice will also be posted on our website, at http://adoption.state.gov .

Upcoming Embassy Closures

October 6, 2010

The U.S. Embassy in Kathmandu will be closed on the following days:

October 8 - Ghatasthapana
October 11 - Columbus Day
October 14-18 - Dashain
November 5 - Tihar

The Embassy’s Consular Section will be open on October 12 and 13 and will continue to work on pending adoption cases and respond to public inquiries. The Consular Section will make every effort to investigate cases, to the extent possible, during the festival period, but Government of Nepal offices and business will be closed for many days between October 8 and November 7, as Nepalis typically travel home to their villages. The actual days off will vary, so it is difficult to predict when individual Government of Nepal offices will be open.

In case of an emergency, American citizens in Nepal may contact the Embassys after-hours hotline at: 977-1-400-7266 and 977-1-400-7269.

Inquiries concerning adoptions cases may be directed to AdoptionsNepal@state.gov (for cases being processed by the U.S. Embassy) or to cis.ndi@dhs.gov (for cases that have been sent to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office in New Delhi). Inquiries may also be directed to the Office of Children’s Issues at AskCI@state.gov or to USCIS’s National Benefits Center at NBC.adoptions@dhs.gov .

Please continue to monitor http://adoption.state.gov for updated information on adoptions in Nepal.


Ruth Lincoln
Adoption Division
Office of Children's Issues
U.S. Department o f State
Washington D.C.
Tel: (202) 736-4995

Ethics, Transparency, Support
~ What All Adoptions Deserve.
http://www.pear-now.org/