DOS Notice: U.S. Department of State Continues to Recommend Against Adopting from Nepal

Nepal

December 31, 2012

Notice: U.S. Department of State Continues to Recommend Against Adopting from Nepal

The Nepali Ministry of Women and Child Social Welfare (MWCSW) informed the U.S. Embassy in Kathmandu that as of December 2012, there are seven U.S. adoption service providers authorized to facilitate adoptions in Nepal at this time, and another ten U.S. adoption service providers whose authorization is pending payment of a $5000 fee to the Nepal Child Right Fund.  According to the MWCSW, the authorization of all adoption service providers, including those currently authorized and those with pending authorization requests, expires on December 31, 2012.  The MWCSW is currently soliciting new or renewed accreditation by international adoption service providers for dossiers submitted during a two-year period beginning on January 1, 2013.

Before embarking on an adoption in Nepal, prospective adoptive parents are strongly urged to confirm with the MWCSW that their adoption service provider is authorized to facilitate adoptions in Nepal.  Contact information for the MWCSW may be found on the Country Information Sheet for Nepal.  A copy of the MWCSW’s current list of Nepali authorized foreign adoption service providers may be obtained by writing to the U.S. Embassy at adoptionsnepal@state.gov.

By way of background, on August 6, 2010, the U. S. Department of State and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) suspended processing of new adoption cases from Nepal involving children claimed to have been found abandoned because documents presented in support of the abandonment of these children in Nepal were unreliable.  Cases involving relinquishment by known birth parent(s) were not affected by the suspension.  In December 2011, the Government of Nepal informed the U.S. Department of State that there may be a small number of children who will be found eligible for intercountry adoption by the Government of Nepal as relinquishment cases.  The U.S. Department of State continues to strongly recommend that prospective adoptive parents refrain from adopting children from Nepal due to grave concerns about the reliability of Nepal’s adoption system and credible reports that children have been stolen from birth parents, who did not intend to irrevocably relinquish parental rights as required by INA 101(b)(1)(F).  We also strongly urge adoption service providers not to accept new applications for adoption from Nepal.

The U.S. Embassy in Kathmandu continues to encourage the Government of Nepal to work with the international community, including the Hague Permanent Bureau, to implement the Hague Adoption Convention and reform its adoption process to protect children and families.

We will continue to keep you updated through adoption.state.gov as additional information is received.  This link will also provide additional information and past adoption notices and alerts on the detailed concerns found in Nepal adoptions.  Please refer to USCIS.gov for Special Instructions for How and When to File Adoption Petitions on Behalf of Nepali Children.

http://adoption.state.gov/country_information/country_specific_alerts_notices.php?alert_notice_type=notices&alert_notice_file=nepal_5

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

Salleri teacher in seven year wait for salary (The Himalayan Times)

Salleri teacher in seven year wait for salary

The Himalayan Times

2012-07-22

SOLUKHUMBU: A teacher at Balmandir located in the district headquarters, Salleri, has not got her salary after the end of monarchy in the country.

The teacher, Sunita Kayastha, has not got her salary since 2062 BS. The Balmandir was established in 2039 BS.

Denied salary for the past seven years, she has now been visiting the Department of Education and Central Office of Nepal Children's Organization (NCO) asking for salary.

The District Education Office (DAO) had given recognition of Primary level to the Balmandir in 2045 BS. After that, the DAO had provided one teacher in quota and day meal was provided to one teacher and students by the NCO, but the teacher could not get salary and students could not get the day meal for all these seven years.

Teacher Kayastha said that she worked with the assurances of getting salaries but was not successful so far.

She added that the DAO has been providing Rs. 1,800 per month under EDC class.

According to the District Education Officer, Devendra Raj Khanal, the DAO did not provide the salary as the Balmandir is under the Nepal Children's Organization. There are 21 students in the Balmandir.

© 2012 The Himalayan Times

http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/fullNews.php?headline=Salleri+teacher+in+seven+year+wait+for+salary&NewsID=340506




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USCIS Revised Country Information for Nepal

USCIS has published an updated version of its country information for Nepal. According to USCIS, "These revisions do not present any significant updates on adoptions in Nepal . Rather, they consolidate existing information and explain the current process for adopting children from Nepal. As this information is intended to help the public, please feel free to share this information."

  

The revised text of the country information section on Nepal is as follows:

The U.S. Government is currently adjudicating intercountry adoption petitions filed on behalf of Nepali children who have been relinquished by a known birth parent(s) whose identity and relationship can be confirmed.  The U.S. Government is not adjudicating adoption petitions filed for Nepali children who are described as having been abandoned.  On August 6, 2010, the U. S. Department of State and U. S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) suspended processing of new adoption cases from Nepal involving children claimed to have been found abandoned because documents presented in support of the abandonment of children in Nepal have proven unreliable. 
USCIS and the U.S. Department of State continue to strongly recommend that prospective adoptive parents refrain from adopting children from Nepal due to grave concerns about the reliability of Nepal’s adoption system.  We also strongly urge adoption service providers not to accept new applications for adoption from Nepal.
The U.S. Government continues to encourage the Government of Nepal to work with the international community, including the Permanent Bureau of the Hague Conference on Private International Law, to implement the Hague Adoption Convention and reform its adoption process to protect children and families. 
There are special filing instructions in place for adoption petitions under the orphan system involving Nepali orphans.  For more information, please see the page called “Special Instructions for How and When to File Adoption Petitions on Behalf of Nepali Children.

USCIS and Department of State Roles
USCIS is responsible for the adjudication of the Form I-600, Petition to Classify Orphan as an Immediate Relative.  In overseas locations where USCIS does not have an office, such as Nepal, USCIS has delegated limited authority to Department of State consular officers at U.S. embassies and consulates to accept in-country filings of Forms I-600 in certain circumstances and to approve petitions that are clearly approvable.  Form I-600 petitions found by the consular officers to be “not clearly approvable” are then forwarded to the USCIS office overseas with jurisdiction over that location for adjudication.  The USCIS office in New Delhi, India, has jurisdiction over petitions filed with the U.S. Embassy in Kathmandu, Nepal.

Recent History
On August 6, 2010, the Department of State and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services jointly decided to suspend adjudication of new adoption petitions and related visa issuances for children who purportedly were abandoned in Nepal.  
In early August 2010, a joint assessment team from the U.S. Department of State and USCIS travelled to Nepal and performed a detailed analysis of the evidence being presented to document the abandonment of children in Nepal.  The team found that information presented in support of orphan petitions included vague and self-contradictory testimony and documents.  Local officials were often uncooperative or appeared to purposefully mislead or deter investigations.  The U.S. Government committed to complete the processing of the 65 cases where U.S. families had received an official referral of a Nepali child before the announcement of the suspension (these cases are referred to as “pipeline” cases).
On January 5, 2011, Nepal’s Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare announced that children found by the police and considered abandoned will not be available for intercountry adoption until further notice.
In January 2012, Nepal’s Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare announced on its website that there may be children who could be considered eligible for intercountry adoption by the Government of Nepal as relinquishment cases (meaning that the children had become orphans by virtue of having been relinquished by their birth parent(s)).  Due to the concerns regarding the reliability of Nepal's adoption system, any future relinquishment cases received by the U.S. Embassy in Kathmandu will require thorough investigations, which may include birth parent interviews and DNA testing.  USCIS cannot estimate the time any investigations may take to complete.  Prospective adoptive parents should be aware that investigations may require significant time and would likely result in an increased financial burden. 
http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.eb1d4c2a3e5b9ac89243c6a7543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=ecab18a1f8b73210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD&vgnextchannel=ecab18a1f8b73210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD


Ethics, Transparency, Support
~ What All Adoptions Deserve.
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Where healthy babies are bought illegally, disabled are slighted (Kantipur)

Where healthy babies are bought illegally, disabled are slighted


Kathmandu Post


Roshan Sedhai


KATHMANDU, JUN 12 -


Laxmi Maharjan (name changed) of Kalimati paid an undisclosed amount of cash for a male child three years back when she and her husband “bought” him from a capital-based hospital. The seemingly well-off couple in their mid thirties, who had been long wishing to adopt a baby, paid around Rs 30,000 to a hospital staff for the baby.


Kanchi Rai (name changed), wife of a Hanumandhoka-based porter, who already had four children, agreed to hand over her new born baby to a prospective parent through a middleman from an orphanage for Rs 50,000. The handover of the baby, otherwise to be sent to an orphanage, is recorded nowhere.


However, a disabled baby, who was abandoned at the Kanti Children Hospital in August 2011, had to wait for months before the hospital staff requested an NGO to take the child. The hospital never traced the whereabouts of the parents. These are few examples of how the “unregulated” child adoption system in Nepal has been giving rise to some serious anomalies. In the absence of a proper legal framework, healthy newborn babies are being traded illegally, while the disabled ones are being ignored. A duty officer at Kanti Hospital told the Post that they have serious problems finding NGOs or some foster home for the disabled children. “While we have difficulties seeking homes for disabled babies, we have problems managing a huge number of prospective parents who are ready to do anything for a healthy baby,” the duty officer said, seeking anonymity.


“Twelve disabled babies were abandoned last year alone. They remained in the hospital for over two months and were later handed over to the Bramahastani Samaj,” the officer said.


Police records show that in an average, 20-30 disabled babies are abandoned yearly in different hospitals in Kathmandu.


Existing laws do not make it binding for NGO-run orphanages or any other foster homes to adopt disabled babies.Police records show that in an average, 20-30 disabled babies are abandoned yearly in different hospitals in Kathmandu.


Existing laws do not make it binding for NGO-run orphanages or any other foster homes to adopt disabled babies. The state-run children’s home—Bal Mandir—does not adopt disabled children. “We have no provision to adopt disabled babies,” said Assistant director of Bal Mandir, Balkrishna Dangol. The orphanage received just seven children below five this year. Sources said healthy babies are being secretly handed over to willing parents and most dealings do not reach the police. Some hospitals in the Capital openly hand over the kids to prospective parents in the presence of the police, while some others do it covertly. “This has led to a slump in the flow of babies in orphanages and unclear statistics on adoption of abandoned children,” Dangol said. Head of the Thapathali Maternity Hospital Dr Shila Berma said her hospital does not keep prospective parents’ list, but hands over all abandoned babies to Bal Mandir. The hospital receives a maximum of 6-7 abandoned infants a year.Informed internal sources told the Post that the number of infants abandoned in hospitals are high. They said many babies are handed over by hospital staff based on their personal relationship. Many prospective parents also visit the hospitals, strike deals with  staffers and take away the babies.  Administrative head of Teaching Hospital Chandra Rai said prospective parents in the “adoption list” are given the babies in the presence of the police. Legal Officer at the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare, Sher Jung Karki, said the anomalies can be checked if provisions on domestic adoption in the Muluki Ain (civil code) are implemented. “The law allows domestic adoption but unless the procedure is made transparent, the anomalies cannot be checked,” he said.


The fate of the abandoned children


•    ‘Unregulated’ child adoption system in Nepal giving rise to serious anomalies


•    Hospitals say they have serious problems finding NGOs or foster homes for disabled children who are abandoned


•    Existing laws do not make it binding for NGO-run orphanages or any other foster homes to adopt disabled babies


•    Ministry official says anomalies can be checked if provisions on domestic adoption in the civil code is strictly implemented



Posted on: 2012-06-12 08:24 




http://www.ekantipur.com/2012/06/12/fullnews/where-healthy-babies-are-bought-illegally-disabled-are-slighted/355429.html







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

Cashing in on Nepal’s youth (RT television)

Cashing in on Nepal’s youth (RT television)

Video:

http://rt.com/news/orphanage-child-trafficking-nepal-761/

Published: 03 March, 2012

Child trafficking is rife in Nepal, with many unregistered orphanages in the capital, Kathmandu, housing thousands of trafficked children. The thriving market for illegal adoption has turned the practice into a highly lucrative business.

Widespread corruption and a high demand from the West for adoptive children are fuelling the growing trade.Now it has emerged that 80 per cent of children put up for adoption already had parents.

Child rights organizations estimate that there are currently around 15,000 children living in orphanages in Kathmandu. The numbers are very difficult to keep track of given that many of the capital’s orphanages are unregistered and as such, not regulated by the government.

Child-traffickers will often travel to far-flung rural areas of Nepal where they prey on poor families, drawing them in with promises of a better life and education for their children. Traffickers can reportedly buy a child for as little as $15 and then turn a profit selling them to one of Kathmandu’s 500 children’s homes.

An orphaned child can then fetch up to $25,000 if sold on to families from abroad.

Conditions in the capital’s orphanages are abysmal with widespread reports of abuse and children being forced into work.

Chinmohan Chaudhary, a Nepalese boy who had lived in one of the orphanages, told RT’s Priya Sridar that the homes would be given rations for the children but the caretakers would take half the food for themselves while giving the kids only a small portion.

“They would also get drunk and would beat us,” he added.

The Nepalese government currently has a freeze on child adoption to Western countries due to rampant cases of abuse, fake documents and false statements.

Ramesh Bhomi from Nepal’s Children Organization says the government ban has only tackled part of the problem.

Ramesh is the owner of 11 legal orphanages across the country which had previously received revenue of $5,000 for every child that was adopted from abroad which went towards the running of the organization.

“It has been difficult for us to run the homes after the suspension of international adoption because we still have to provide for the daily necessities of every child in the home and take care of their medical bills too,” he said.

In the absence of revenue from foreign adoption, Nepalese orphanages have found another revenue stream. Volunteers, tricked through Internet scams into donating money to fake orphanages, are providing a new cash flow fuelling child-trafficking.

The Nepalese government has done relatively little to curtail the trade in children. At the moment, there is no policy that effectively regulates children’s homes in Nepal. Moreover, the state does not provide funding to orphanages, forcing them to make ends meet however they can.


Ethics, Transparency, Support
~ What All Adoptions Deserve.
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Child care centres running illegally (The Himalayan Times)

Child care centres running illegally

The Himalayan Times

2012-01-29

SURENDRA KAFLE

NEPALGUNJ: All the child protection centres established here to give shelter to neglected children have not met minimum standards.

“District Children Welfare Committee Banke has found that the child centres were set up without meeting the set criteria,” said Child Welfare Officer Shova Shah.

There are 14 children homes in Banke. Among them, seven are permanent, four temporary, two for the visually impaired and one in the process of registration.

More than 150 children are getting shelter in the homes.

Social Development Promotion Centre, Tanwipriya Women and Children Relief Centre, Maya Sadan, Orphanage Madras Gausiya Jyabul Islam, Nawajiwan Centre, Mangal Prasad Higher Secondary School, Shelter House, CIWIN Helpline, Children Rehabilitation Help Centre and Apostal Children Home are among the child protection centres being operated in the district.

Mangal Prasad Higher Secondary School and Tribhuwan Higher Secondary School are providing shelter to visually impaired kids.

As per the survey conducted by the welfare committee, CIWIN Helpline is in B category, whereas others have been categorised C and D, said Shah.

“None of the children homes are running satisfactorily,” she added. She also informed that necessary action will be taken against the homes running illegally.

She said, “Orphans should be kept with their paternal relatives like uncle, grandparents or with maternal kin. Children homes are the last option.”

Shah informed that the United Nations also proposed to discourage children homes as they are being misused.

http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/fullNews.php?headline=Child+care+centres+running+illegally&NewsID=318410

Ethics, Transparency, Support
~ What All Adoptions Deserve.
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Govt extends deadline for inter-country adoptions (The Himalayan Times)

Govt extends deadline for inter-country adoptions

The Himalayan Times

2012-02-25

KATHMANDU: The Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare has extended the deadline for applications from foreigners to adopt Nepali children after it received only a handful of requests.

Foreign parents who want to adopt Nepali children now have two more months to file their application, which was due by mid-February for this year.

“We extended the deadline after we received only around four applications from Indian and Japanese nationals,” said Sher Jung Karki, member-secretary at the Inter Country Adoption Management Committee of the ministry.

Before the system of applying to the government for adopting Nepali children came into effect, interested couples would approach orphanages directly and select children. They would pay huge sums to the orphanages to take away the children of their choice. But now couples can only choose the gender and age of children.

The application has to come through embassies, diplomatic missions and international adoption agencies concerned, said the ministry. Couples seeking to adopt a Nepali child also need to submit documents showing that their government has granted permission to adopt the children.

Karki said the number of foreign nationals, who want to adopt Nepali children, has fallen after the Permanent Bureau of The Hague Conference on Private International Law raised questions over documents of children up for adoption. He said the ministry did not receive a single application for the adoption in 2011 due to pending applications from 2009/10.

The European countries’ baning of adoption of Nepali children after ‘extensive cases of abuse, fake documents and false statements’ has also driven interest in Nepali children down. Italian, French and Spanish nationals were enthusiastic about raising a child from Nepal before the ban. The ministry received around 500 such applications each year from those countries and the US.

Karki informed that the US launched a probe into 65 cases of adoption for a year, but did not find irregularities.

HIMALAYAN NEWS SERVICE

http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/fullNews.php?headline=Govt+extends+deadline+for++inter-country+adoptions&NewsID=322004

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Great expectations gone awry (Republica)

Great expectations gone awry

Republica:

http://myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action=news_details&news_id=41086


KALENDRA SEJUWAL

SURKHET, Jan 25: Twenty two children brought to the capital from several villages of Surkhet and Kalikot with the lure of top class education for negligible charges have been rescued by their parents after they found out that the kids were kept as captives in poor conditions at the school.

The parents said they suspected that their children would have been sold had they not intervened on time.

"We were told that our children would be admitted to a branch school of Budhanilkantha school where they could study till the higher level for just Rs 40,000,” said Dhanbahadur Khadka of Sipkhana, Kalikot.

“The children sounded as if they were under some distress when we called them. We then visited the school to see if everything was all right and the truth came to surface,” he added. According to him, the parents were not allowed to go inside the school at first. “But we forced our way in and found that the children were crammed in a single room that was dark and very small.”

Khadka had handed over his son to his relative Netra Bahadur on November 19 along with the demanded amount of Rs 40,000 which he had borrowed against a very high interest. The children were rescued from the school on January 11 under Khadka's initiation.

According to the parents, the school principal Dayalaxmi Shrestha was the mastermind of the plot. With the help of Prem Saud, Netrabahadur, Birendra Dhami and Mahesh, all of them residents of Kalikot district, Shrestha was able to gather the children at the school situated in Siddhartha Banasthali area and went by the name of MBS High School.

In the month of November alone, 84 children from Seuna, Sikhana, Mumra, Mehalmudi and other villages, were brought to the school.

The children who have returned home with their parents painted a hellish picture of the life inside the school. “We were never given fresh and enough food,” said nine years old Charitra Sahakari. “We took care of all their household chores. We were made to work like slaves,” added 10-year-old Rasila Yogi.

The children were found to be in a very poor health condition. “Many of them suffer from dysentery and diarrhea,” said Khadka.

On the other hand, the government has kept quiet despite being aware of the ongoing situation at the school. According to Khadka, the children were rescued with the help of an education officer Suresh Shahi.

“Shahi had asked the principal Shrestha to produce legal documents of the school which she could not,” Khadka said, adding, “however, no action has been taken against her yet.”


Published on 2012-01-25


Ethics, Transparency, Support
~ What All Adoptions Deserve.
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DOS Adoption Notice - Nepal Relinquishment Cases

Nepal

January 19, 2012

Notice: U.S. Department of State Continues to Recommend Against Adopting from Nepal

On August 6, 2010, the U. S. Department of State and United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) suspended processing of new adoption cases from Nepal involving children claimed to have been found abandoned, because documents presented in support of the abandonment of these children in Nepal were unreliable. Cases involving relinquishment by known birth parent(s) were not affected by the suspension.

Recently, the Government of Nepal informed the U.S. Department of State that there may be a small number of children who will be found eligible for intercountry adoption by the Government of Nepal as relinquishment cases in 2012. The U.S. Department of State continues to strongly recommend that prospective adoptive parents refrain from adopting children from Nepal due to grave concerns about the reliability of Nepal’s adoption system and credible reports that children have been stolen from birth parents, who did not intend to irrevocably relinquish parental rights as required by INA 101(b)(1)(F). We also strongly urge adoption service providers not to accept new applications for adoption from Nepal.

Due to the concerns regarding reliability of Nepal's adoption system, any future relinquishment cases received by the Embassy in Kathmandu will require complex investigations which may include birth parent interviews and DNA testing. Although we have not yet received these cases, and cannot estimate the amount of time for any investigation, we caution that they may require significant time and expenses that would likely raise the overall costs for prospective adoptive parents.

The U.S. Embassy in Kathmandu continues to encourage the Government of Nepal to work with the international community, including the Hague Permanent Bureau, to implement the Hague Adoption Convention and reform its adoption process to protect children and families.

We will continue to keep you updated through adoption.state.gov as additional information is received. This link will also provide additional information and past adoption notices and alerts on the detailed concerns found in Nepal adoptions.

http://adoption.state.gov/country_information/country_specific_alerts_notices.php?alert_notice_type=notices&alert_notice_file=nepal_4

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