State sees no loopholes in adoption (Kathmandu Post)

State sees no loopholes in adoption (Kathmandu Post)

KATHMANDU FEB 06 -

The government and representatives of organisations working for children have said that the survey report, which claims to have found loopholes in the adoption process, is far from truth.

They have urged the Hague Conference on Private International Law, which prepared the report, to substantiate its claims.

Among others, the report states that falsified reports are presented for facilitating the adoption of children from Nepal.

“The report was prepared with a view to tarnishing the country’s image. It is far from truth,” said Prachanda Raj Pradhan of the Child NGO Federation, Nepal.

The report follows a Terre des homes’ study report, which claims that more than 60 percent of children in orphanages had parents, who could take care of them.

“With new rules and regulations in place, there’s no room for malpractice in the adoption process,” said Dharma Raj Shrestha, member-secretary of the Central Child Welfare Board.

Nepal reopened the overseas adoption process in May 2008 after introducing new regulations. As per the new rules, theMinistry of Women, Children and Social Welfare takes a final call on adoptions.

Foreigners can adopt only those orphans or children, who are relinquished by parents through due procedures. Prospective parents have to pay US$ 3,000 to the government and $5,000 to foster homes before adopting a child.

Twenty out of 534 applicants got a nod for adoption in 2009, said an official at the ministry. The prospective parents are from Italy, the US, France, Canada and the UK. Paperwork for 39 applications is complete.

Amid claims of flaws in inter-country adoptions, Minister of State for Women, Children and Social Welfare Ram Bachan Yadav pledged to take action against anyone found involved in malpractices.

He asked the organisations to work in the best interest of the children. No communication could be established with Terre de homes office in Kathmandu for comment.

http://www.kantipuronline.com/the-kathmandu-post/2010/02/06/top-stories/State-sees-no-loopholes-in-adoption/4856/


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

Nepal, de nuevo cuestionada por irregularidades en las adopciones (ABC.es)

Nepal, again questioned about irregularities in adoptions - (article in Spanish, please use Google Translator or other online translators to read the full text in your language).

05-02-2010

(NEPAL) SOCIEDAD-SALUD,SOCIEDAD

Nepal, de nuevo cuestionada por irregularidades en las adopciones

El informe fue elaborado por una misión de la Conferencia de La Haya de Derecho Internacional Privado, una institución internacional que busca homologar la legislación en materias que afectan a varios Estados y que ha recomendado una nueva suspensión de las adopciones en Nepal.

Según la Conferencia, cuya misión visitó Nepal en noviembre de 2009, niños entregados para adopción internacional fueron arrancados de sus familias para llevarlos a la capital, Katmandú, con el pretexto de darles educación.

También se han registrado casos de niños declarados huérfanos con documentos falsos, según datos del informe filtrados a la prensa.

La Conferencia, pues, concluyó que Nepal no ha conseguido detener el tráfico de niños que llevó en 2007 a la suspensión de las adopciones durante un año y medio.

Tras la inspección de La Haya en Nepal, un grupo de países como Alemania, España, EEUU, Italia, Canadá y el Reino Unido ya presentó a las autoridades nepalíes una nota verbal expresándole preocupaciones semejantes y demandando mayores garantías en los procesos de adopción, dijo a Efe una fuente diplomática española.

"Las acusaciones (de la Conferencia) son infundadas" y la ley se está respetando, respondió a Efe un alto cargo nepalí encargado de supervisar las solicitudes internacionales.

"Si hay algún caso en el que se detecten negligencias, estamos preparados para procesar" a los responsables, aseguró a Efe Sher Jung Karki, abogado del Ministerio de la Mujer y la Infancia.

El Gobierno nepalí ha firmado la Convención de La Haya que regula las adopciones pero sigue pendiente la ratificación parlamentaria, que implicaría cambios en la legislación actual.

A falta de una prometida nueva ley y pese a las recomendaciones en contra de la Unicef, en 2008 el Gobierno aprobó un nuevo procedimiento que llevó a reanudar las adopciones en enero de 2009.

En virtud de ese procedimiento, las adopciones se tramitan a través de 58 agencias autorizadas (cinco de ellas españolas), a un coste fijo de 8.000 dólares, y de niños provenientes de 38 orfanatos registrados a tal efecto.

El informe de La Haya cuestiona el cumplimiento de estas nuevas reglas, bajo las cuales se presentaron en 2009 un total de 534 solicitudes (57 de ellas, españolas), que resultaron en la adopción de 20 niños por parte de parejas en Italia, EEUU, Francia, Canadá y el Reino Unido.

Otros 39 expedientes están cerrados y los niños serán entregados en breve, según datos oficiales recabados por Efe. Ninguno será para padres españoles, aunque en la pasada década España fue uno de los principales destinos de niños nepalíes adoptados.

Además de huérfanos, el nuevo procedimiento de adopciones permite la entrega de niños cuyos padres hayan "renunciado" a la potestad ante una autoridad distrital.

Se trata de casos de parejas que, además de haber sido esterilizadas, demuestren que carecen de medios para mantener al niño, de progenitores muertos o muy enfermos, o de madres que se han fugado abandonando al menor.

Aunque la decisión final sobre una adopción corresponde al Ministerio central, para evitar la corrupción registrada anteriormente en las Administraciones locales, una de las fuentes consultadas por Efe admitió que no pueden "comprobar cada documento" que éstas les entregan.

"Las nuevas reglas (de 2008) no ofrecen salvaguardas adecuadas y están muy por debajo de los mínimos estándares requeridos" para una adopción transparente, dijo a Efe el representante en Nepal de la ONG suiza Terres des Hommes, Joseph Aguettant.

Según explicó, "hay investigaciones en marcha sobre falsificación de documentos, en particular en un orfanato que fue acusado repetidamente de traficar con niños pero al que aún se permite operar".

Terres des Hommes preparó junto al Unicef el informe que, en agosto de 2008, desaconsejaba al Gobierno reanudar los procesos de adopción internacional hasta que Nepal hubiera ratificado la Convención de La Haya y aprobado una nueva ley nacional.

En aquel momento, el Unicef cifró en 15.000 los niños acogidos en orfanatos en el país, que hasta finales de 2006 sufrió una década de guerra entre el Gobierno y la guerrilla maoísta, y constató que la mayoría de ellos sí tenían familia. EFE

http://www.abc.es/agencias/noticia.asp?noticia=262847#

Google translate:

http://translate.google.com/?hl=en&tab=wT#

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

Experts urge Nepal to ban international adoptions (AFP)

Experts urge Nepal to ban international adoptions

(AFP) – 9 hours ago

KATHMANDU — Legal experts have called for international adoption of Nepalese children to be suspended after an investigation uncovered widespread abuse of the system.

A team of adoption law experts who visited Nepal in November found documents were routinely falsified and children's homes were largely unregulated, with the interests of the child often not considered at all.

In a draft report seen by AFP on Thursday, they urged authorities in Nepal to suspend international adoptions so that new legislation to prevent such abuses could be put in place.

"A new law for inter-country adoption is needed. It should be integrated with a comprehensive law on child protection measures and national solutions for children without parental care," said the report, from intergovernmental organisation The Hague Conference on Private International Law.

"To undertake the necessary reform of the inter-country adoption system, a temporary suspension of adoptions will be necessary."

Nepal first suspended international adoption in 2007 after reports that foreigners were paying up to $20,000 to adopt children, most of whom were not genuine orphans.

Child welfare campaigners say some were effectively trafficked out of the country by unscrupulous orphanages that falsified documents and lied to parents about where their children were being taken.

The government introduced new rules in 2008 and international adoptions restarted last year, but campaigners say abuses of the system continue.

"There are many stories of parents from remote locations in Nepal who still do not understand what happened to their child," said Joseph Aguettant of child rights group Terre Des Hommes.

"They thought they were sending their children to be educated, but they have ended up being adopted and taken abroad."

Terre des Hommes has repeatedly called for Nepal to review the new terms introduced in 2008, and Aguettant said international adoptions should now be suspended "until a proper legal framework is in place."

AFP.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5h0SkIj_KSakRLtTAAzI9Q7u2hm3A


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

Case study: Nepali boy adopted in France (BBC)

The charity says 60% of children in Nepal orphanages have parents

Case study: Nepali boy adopted in France

Joseph Aguettant, Nepal's country director for Terre des hommes charity, has documented 68 cases of children who have been adopted abroad even though they have parents who can look after them in Nepal.

He tells the story of one Nepalese family divided by an adoption into an overseas family.

The case involved a poor construction worker in Kathmandu who had two children - a boy and a girl.

When his wife left him for another man, this worker found it hard to look after the children.

Although he sent them to a local school, he was unable to pay the fees and the school threatened to evict the children.

Then he was approached by an orphanage - known in the local area as the "foreign orphanage" because of the large number of foreigners who visited it.

This orphanage negotiated to take in these children, in exchange for paying their school fees.

The father agreed to this. He was later told that a foreign woman was interested in his son, though didn't pay much attention to this at the time.

His son then disappeared.

Terre des hommes became involved in this case when a woman contacted them from France to say she was worried about the status of the Nepalese orphan she had adopted.

She said that as soon as this boy began speaking French, he started asking about his mother and father, and told her he was worried about who was going to look after his little sister.

The charity was able to trace this boy's father - the construction worker in Kathmandu.

Eventually, the French adoptive mother returned to Kathmandu so her son could meet his real family again.

The child is now legally French and remains adopted in France.

However, the French mother keeps in touch with his biological family and pays for his sister to be educated.

Story from BBC NEWS

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8498005.stm
Published: 2010/02/04 12:01:26 GMT

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

MEDIA: Nepal 'should suspend' adoptions (BBC)

Nepal 'should suspend' adoptions

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8497473.stm

The adoption of children from Nepal should be suspended, the international body that governs adoption between countries has recommended.

An investigation found children from remote areas were falsely declared to be orphans and put up for adoption without their parents knowledge.

A draft report by The Hague Conference on Private International Law urges Nepal to take steps to prevent abuses.

Nepal temporarily suspended international adoptions in 2007.

It introduced new rules in 2008 and international adoptions were resumed.

Documents faked

But the report from the Hague Conference says that that abuses are still rife. Its investigation found that documents which declared children as orphans were often faked.

Children who were put up for overseas adoption had been taken from their families to care homes in the capital, Kathmandu, under the pretext of receiving education.

The probe found evidence of "false statements" about the child's origin, age and status; lack of transparency and accountability for the money coming into Nepal from international adoptions; and an absence of a policy on such adoptions.

It said Nepal had failed to prevent the abduction, sale and traffic of children and recommended the government suspend international adoptions to allow new laws and procedures to be implemented.

The report follows a probe by Unicef, and other NGOs. The Swiss-funded charity, Terre des hommes, said it found that more than 60% of children in orphanages had parents who could take care of them.

"The Hague report makes a very strong finding which is that there is evidence of abuse in terms of paperwork. Paperwork is created to declare the child an orphan whereas the child...could be supported in the family," Terre des Hommes Nepal country director, Joseph Aguettant, told the BBC's Joanna Jolly in Kathmandu.

Unicef and Terre des hommes have previously reported that it was common for children to be abducted, trafficked and, in effect, sold.

Nepal's adopted children mainly go to Spain, France, Germany, Italy and the US.

The BBC's Joanna Jolly says that the report has been welcomed by those working in child protection in Nepal who say the proper safeguards need to be in place before children are offered for international adoption.

BBC NEWS:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8497473.stm

Published: 2010/02/04 09:53:36 GMT

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

UPDATE #2 Adoption from Nepal

Shortly after publishing the Update today, PEAR received the following notice from the Nepal Ministry of Women Children and Social Welfare.

Date : 4 Feburary, 2010

Government of Nepal

Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare

Investigation, Recommendation and Monitoring Committee

Notice

This is to inform all the concerned Embassies/ Diplomatic Missions/Adoption Agencies and Adoptive Parents to take the following notes:

1. For the year 2010, application should be submitted from 15 April, 2010 to 15 July, 2010.
2. Application should be submitted enclosing therewith a checklist of 5 major documents such as Guarantee Letter, Consent Letter, Home Study Report, Medical Report and Character Certificate.
3. Application without valid and complete documents shall not be entertained.
4. Application exceeding the quota shall not be entertained.
5. If it is found that the Agency has, upon receiving allocated quota, submitted an application for further quota, the Ministry shall take necessary action against such Agency.

************

Stay tuned for further developments....


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

UPDATE on Nepal Adoptions

PEAR has been informed by prospective adoptive parents that the Nepal government is not accepting new applications for adoption at this time. This information has been confirmed by some adoption service providers, but not by any US officials. From what we understand, this is not a closure of adoptions from Nepal. According to our sources, the Nepal government will begin accepting new dossiers once the backlog of 2009 cases have been cleared. At this point, only about 60 of the reported 500+ dossiers have been processed to completed adoptions or referrals.

PEAR is respectfully requesting that adoption service providers approved to assist in adoptions in Nepal cease recruiting families for 2010 until a majority of the families currently waiting have been matched with children. We also respectfully request that the US Embassy in Nepal and the DOS officially look into this issue and publish an Adoption Notice reflecting the current situation in Nepal.


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