DoS Notice: No U.S. Adoption Service Providers Currently Authorized to Facilitate Adoptions in Nepal

July 17, 2013

The Nepali Ministry of Women and Child Social Welfare (MWCSW) informed the U.S. Embassy in Kathmandu that as of July 1, 2013, no U.S. adoption service providers (ASP) are authorized to facilitate adoptions in Nepal.  According to the MWCSW, the authorization of all adoption service providers expired on December 31, 2012.  The Ministry also informed the Department that no U.S. ASPs have submitted a new application or an application to renew their authorization for the two-year period beginning on January 1, 2013. 

While Nepal's adoption regulations (the Terms and Conditions and Process for Granting Approval for Adoption of Nepali Children by an Alien, 2008) permit Nepali authorized ASPs and foreign missions to submit dossiers on behalf of prospective adoptive parents, the U.S. Embassy in Kathmandu cannot execute "cover letters" or submit dossier documents to the Ministry of Women and Child Social Welfare (MWCSW) on behalf of prospective adoptive parents or otherwise serve as a de facto ASP for prospective adoptive parents. Therefore, it will not be possible for prospective adoptive parents to file an application to adopt a Nepali child until a U.S. ASP applies for and receives authorization to facilitate adoptions in Nepal in 2013-2014.

Prospective adoptive parents should also be aware that, 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 reported as 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.

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 provide updates 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_6

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

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/

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/

U.S. State Department -- Update on Adoptions in Nepal

Nepal -- U.S. State Department

April 22, 2011

Notice: Update on Adoptions in Nepal


Government of Nepal Announces Amendments to 2008 Terms and Conditions

On January 5, 2011, the Government of Nepal, Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare (MOWCSW) in its Notice No. 1 announced that children found by the police will not be available for intercountry adoption until further notice. This and other amendments to the Terms and Conditions of 2008 may be found at:

http://www.mowcsw.gov.np/inter-country-adoption-15-en.html


Nepal Forms New Government

On February 3, 2011, in the 17th round of voting, Nepali parliamentarians chose Jalala Nath Khanal as the new Prime Minister. On the same day, Parliament passed a resolution censuring Sarba Dev Ojha, the most recent Minister of Women, Children, and Social Welfare, for negligence, lack of responsiveness, and violation of the parliamentary Committee on Women, Children, and Social Welfare's rules. On March 12, 2011, Khadga Bahadur Bishwakarma was appointed as new Minister of Women, Children and Social Welfare. Bishwakarma previously held this same position from 2007-2009, during the Government of Nepal-imposed suspension of intercountry adoptions.


Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs Janice L. Jacobs' Visit to Nepal

Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs Janice L. Jacobs visited Nepal on February 16-17, 2011. During her visit, she met with officials in the Foreign Ministry, the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare and the Prime Minister's Office. They discussed the United States Government's concern with the lack of integrity and transparency in the adoption system in Nepal.

Assistant Secretary Jacobs encouraged 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.

Assistant Secretary Jacobs noted that recent changes to the adoption process in Nepal are inadequate to address concerns about the origin of the children being matched for intercountry adoption.

The U.S. suspension on new adoption cases involving abandoned children will remain in place until substantive progress is made on the issues raised by a February 2010 Hague Convention report.


Permanent Bureau meeting with Government of Nepal Adoption Officials in Rome

On March 29, a joint Department of State/U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services delegation attended meetings in Rome organized by The Hague Permanent Bureau (HPB) and the Italian Central Authority to discuss how to improve Nepal's intercountry adoption and child welfare system. Nepal sent representatives from the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare, and the Intercountry Adoption Management Committee. The two-day meeting involved representatives from 12 major receiving countries (Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States) as well as participants from UNICEF and Terre des Hommes Foundation.


Update on Adoption Case Processing

Since the August 6, 2010 announcement that the Department of State and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) were suspending processing of new adoption cases from Nepal that involve children who are claimed to have been found abandoned, sixty four families filed Form I-600 petitions with the U.S. Embassy in Kathmandu on behalf of their adoptive children. Of these, Embassy Kathmandu found six petitions approvable and sent 56 petitions to the USCIS office in New Delhi as "not clearly approvable." One case in which the Form I-600 was recently filed with Embassy Kathmandu is under investigation by the Consular Section. USCIS approved one case after an initial review, and sent 55 families Requests for Evidence (RFE) asking for additional information in their case. As of April 15, 2011, USCIS found those 54 petitions approvable after reviewing additional information submitted by the families. One petition remains pending. Embassy Kathmandu has issued 46 immigrant visas to the beneficiaries of those petitions; the remaining families are in the process of finalizing their adoptions and applying for their adopted child's immigrant visa.

http://adoption.state.gov/country_information/country_specific_alerts_notices.php?alert_notice_type=notices&alert_notice_file=nepal_3



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

DOS: Changes that Require an Amended Home Study Report

Changes that Require an Amended Home Study Report

February 3, 2011

We know that many of you have been waiting for months to reach resolution in your adoption cases. We want to remind you of a critical component to establishing eligibility for an immigrant visa on behalf of an adopted child. While expiration of the Form I-600A approval will have no impact on issuance of an immigrant visa, provided that you filed a Form I-600 petition with the U.S. Embassy in Kathmandu before the Form I-600A expiration date, the underlying information in your home study must still be accurate and reflect your current situation.

During the immigrant visa interview, the consular officer must ensure that the most recent home study on file is accurate and up-to-date. If significant changes have occurred, the officer must place the immigrant visa application on hold and refer the case to USCIS. The U.S. Embassy in Kathmandu has no authority over the adjudication of a significant change or amended Form I-600A approval.

Please confirm that all of the information in your current home study is accurate. If you need to pursue an update, we strongly urge you to do so as soon as possible.

Below is information on the policy and procedures regarding the home study requirement. This information has been taken directly from www.USCIS.gov.

Please e-mail adoptionsnepal@state.gov if you have questions. If you need to submit, or think that you need to submit, an amended home study, please contact USCIS directly at NBC.Adoptions@dhs.gov.

Orphan Home Study Guidelines

The following information is from the following USCIS webpage:

• Once a home study is submitted, it will not have to be updated unless there is a significant change (including but not limited to) residence, marital status, criminal history, financial resources, and/or the addition of one or more children, other dependents, or adult family members to the family prior to the orphan’s immigration into the United States.

Living Accommodations

The home study must include:

• A detailed description of the current living accommodations and if moving, the intended accommodations (if known).
• If the prospective parent(s) reside abroad, a description of the living accommodations where the child will reside in the United States (if known).
• An assessment of the suitability of accommodations.
• A determination of whether or not the space meets the applicable state requirements (if any).

Specific Approval of the Prospective Adoptive Parent(s) for Adoption

The home study must include:

• The home study preparer’s specific approval.
• A discussion of the reasons for approval.
• The number of orphans that may be adopted.
• If there are any specific restrictions such as nationality, age, or gender of the orphan.
• If the prospective adoptive parent(s) are approved for a handicapped or a special needs adoption.
• The original signature of the preparer/agency completing the recommendation.

Amendments

If at any time there have been any significant changes prior to the child’s arrival, additional information will be requested that includes but is not limited to the following:

• The prospective adoptive parent(s) current residence.
• The prospective adoptive parent(s) marital status.
• Any criminal history or abuse regarding the prospective adoptive parent(s).
• The prospective adoptive parent(s) current financial resources.
• Any Information regarding the addition of one or more children or other dependents.

Significant Changes

The following information is from the USCIS webpage

See also the USCIS Questions and Answers: Information for Pending Pipeline Adoption Cases in Nepal.

If a significant change occurs in your household, you must submit an amended home study that reflects the significant change to the USCIS National Benefits Center (NBC).

Significant changes include, but are not limited to, changes in the following:

• Residence of prospective adoptive parent(s)
• Marital status
• Criminal history, abuse history, or other derogatory information
• Financial resources
• Additional children, dependents, or adults residing in the household
• Characteristics of the child requested

Before approval of your Form I-600A, Application for Advance Processing of an Orphan Petition, or Form I-600, Petition to Classify Orphan as an Immediate Relative:

If the significant change occurs while your Form I-600A is pending (or your Form I-600, if you did not file a separate Form I-600A), you should submit your amended home study to the NBC. Include a cover letter indicating that the amended home study is being submitted to address the change.

Remember to sign your cover letter and be sure your home study preparer signs your amended home study.

After approval of your Form I-600A or Form I-600:

If the significant change (other than a change in marital status) occurs after approval of your Form I-600A, submit the amended home study to the NBC. Include a written request for an updated approval notice. If USCIS concludes that approval of the Form I-600A remains appropriate, you will receive an updated Form I-171H or Form I-797 approval notice that reflects any changes.

If you did not submit a separate Form I-600A, submit the amended home study and written request to the NBC. Remember to sign your cover letter and be sure your home study preparer signs your amended home study.

If the significant change that occurs after approval of the Form I-600A or Form I-600 is a change in marital status, you cannot submit a request for an updated approval notice. You must instead submit a new Form I-600A, with a new filing fee, along with the amended home study. If you are married, your spouse must also sign the new Form I-600A.

Amended Home Study

When submitting an amended home study it must include:

• A copy of the previously submitted home study
• A new fully completed home study addressing the change(s)

*Addendums are not acceptable.

http://adoption.state.gov/news/nepal_changes_homestudy_reporting.html#

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

USDOS: Response to Petition2Congress Nepal Adoption

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Bureau of Consular Affairs
Office of Children’s Issues
Response to Petition2Congress on Behalf of the American Families Pursuing Adoptions from Nepal

November 5, 2010

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The Department of State appreciates the interest of the American public and Members of Congress in the status of intercountry adoptions in Nepal and the concerns of U.S. citizens who are pursuing the adoption of a Nepali child.

The decision to suspend adoptions in Nepal of children “found abandoned" was taken jointly with the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) after extensive investigations in which U.S. Embassy staff observed pervasive problems with the reliability of documentation in Nepal’s adoption system. The level of these problems has made it difficult, if not impossible, to determine whether the children being placed for adoption have, in fact, been abandoned and could be considered orphans under U.S. law. The United States was the last country to suspend adoptions in Nepal.

Starting in February 2010, the Office of Children’s Issues began to warn prospective adoptive parents about potential problems they might encounter when attempting to complete an intercountry adoption in Nepal.

The publication of an independent technical analysis of Nepal’s adoption procedures by the Hague Conference on Private International Law’s Intercountry Technical Assistance Program (ICATAP) in February 2010 solidified our concerns. This report detailed a number of weaknesses in Nepal’s adoption system, including ongoing concern about the falsification of documents, improper financial gain, and lack of a child protection system.

In early August 2010, a joint assessment team from the 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 be attempting to purposefully mislead or deter investigations.

Embassy Kathmandu is working as quickly as possible to investigate the pending adoption cases. Embassy Kathmandu and USCIS are mindful of the effects that any delay might have on children. However, the unreliable documentation, vague information provided in the documents, and lack of cooperation by some parts of the Government of Nepal is slowing down investigations. Most of the pending cases for which the Embassy has completed investigations have been referred to USCIS New Delhi as “not clearly approvable.” USCIS conducts a review of the cases referred to it in order to make a final determination as to whether a petition is approvable or not. In many cases, USCIS asks for additional information from the petitioner before making a determination.

The U.S. government, in cooperation with other countries that are active in intercountry adoptions, has consistently over the past several years encouraged the Government of Nepal to ratify and implement the Hague Adoption Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (the Convention), to which Nepal is a signatory. We have also urged the Government of Nepal to implement the recommendations made by ICATAP. The Convention incorporates the best practices in intercountry adoption, which are intended to protect the rights of children and families.

U.S. Embassy officials first met with Nepali officials in early August to request an extension of the 60-day completion requirement when we announced the suspension of new adoption cases for children found abandoned. At that time, the Ministry gave the Embassy a verbal commitment to extend the deadline. After many meetings and official requests going up to the highest levels of the Government of Nepal, the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare agreed in writing to extend the 60-day timeline by an additional 60 days, for a total of 120 days. The Ministry also indicated that it would favorably consider additional requests for extensions.

The Department has been engaged with Congress. On October 5, 2010, U.S. Ambassador to Nepal Scott DeLisi personally briefed staffers from both Houses. Ambassador Susan Jacobs provided a similar update a week earlier to interested Senate staff. We will continue to work closely with Congress and with interested offices whose constituents are affected by the decision to suspend adoptions in Nepal.

Our Office of Children’s Issues is engaged in daily outreach to prospective adopting parents, adoption service providers, Congressional staffers, and adoption advocacy and stakeholder groups. The U.S. Embassy in Kathmandu is in frequent and direct contact with many of the prospective adopting parents and has made itself readily available to all of the prospective adoptive parents. This outreach includes conference calls, briefings, group emails, and updates on individual cases. Our officers respond promptly to letters, calls, and emails from staffers, Members of Congress, prospective adoptive parents and their advocates. We also post regular updates on adoptions in Nepal through our website, http://adoption.state.gov/.

http://adoption.state.gov/news/nepal_upcoming_embassy_closure.html

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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/

DOS: New Orphan Processing Procedures

USDOS:
New Orphan Processing Procedures for Cases not Subject to the Suspension in Nepal
August 30, 2010

Summary:

In an effort to protect the interests of U.S. prospective adoptive parents who are adopting from Nepal, the U.S. Embassy in Kathmandu is implementing new procedures to ensure that the adoptive child will be eligible to immigrate to the United States BEFORE the prospective adoptive parents travel to Nepal and complete the Nepali adoption process. The procedures in this announcement apply only to prospective adoptive parents who were officially matched with Nepali children prior to August 6, 2010, and whose Form I-600, Petition to Classify an Orphan as an Immediate Relative, has not yet been adjudicated. If prospective adoptive parents whose cases meet these qualifications choose to follow the procedures outlined below, the U.S. Embassy in Kathmandu will determine whether the children for whom they are petitioning meet the definition of orphan under U.S. law – one of the requirements for approval of the Form I-600 petition and visa issuance. End summary.

Background:

United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and the Department of State have encountered inconsistent and unreliable documentation regarding the reported abandonment of children for adoption in Nepal. These problems led the U.S. government to suspend processing of new orphan cases involving Nepali children claimed to have been abandoned, effective August 6. However, a number of cases were already underway as of that date and are now being processed to conclusion.

On August 27, 2010, the USCIS delegated authority to the U.S. Embassy in Kathmandu to approve any Form I-600, Petition to Classify an Orphan as an Immediate Relative, on behalf of a Nepali child residing in Nepal who is and whose case is exempt from the suspension of processing announced August 6, 2010. The exemption applies to cases in which the prospective adoptive parents: 1) received an official referral letter from the Government of Nepal’s Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare (MOWCSW) prior to August 6, 2010, informing them of a proposed match, or 2) who seek to adopt a Nepali child who has been relinquished by known parent(s) and whose identity and relationship can be confirmed.

Prospective adoptive parents involved in a case exempt from the suspension are strongly encouraged to file their completed Form I-600 petition with the U.S. Embassy Kathmandu prior to traveling to Nepal to finalize the adoption. The Embassy will then complete the required Form I-604 Determination of Child for Adoption (sometimes referred to as the “orphan investigation”) and inform the prospective adoptive parents of the results.

Procedures:

Prospective adoptive parents who wish to participate in this program should send their completed, signed Form I-600 petition and supporting documents (other than the adoption order), including a copy of the Government of Nepal’s official referral letter dated prior to August 6, 2010, if available, through their U.S. adoption service provider to their local agency representative in Nepal. Local agency representatives may deliver Form I-600 petitions and supporting documents to the Embassy’s American Citizen Services (ACS) Unit Monday through Friday between the hours of 1:30 and 4:00 p.m. They should tell the Embassy security guard that they are coming to deliver adoption documents. All Form I-600 petitions and supporting documents (other than the adoption order) should be delivered in person by local agency representatives. Prospective adoptive parents should not mail Form I-600 petitions or supporting documents directly to the U.S. Embassy in Kathmandu.

Upon delivery of the Form I-600 petition and supporting documents, the local agency representative will be given written confirmation from the Embassy that the documents have been received. A consular officer will perform a preliminary review of the case to ensure that the Form I-600 petition has been properly completed and signed (and includes the appropriate fee, if required) and that all of the required documents have been submitted to enable the Embassy to initiate the I-604 investigation. If the petition and supporting documents are in order, the case will be added to the list of cases pending an I-604 investigation.

The MOWCSW has informed the U.S. Embassy it is willing to grant extensions on the 60 day period between the date of the authorization to travel letter and finalizing the adoptions in Nepal, to give the Embassy time to complete the required I-604 investigation. Prospective adoptive parents who have received the MOWCSW’s travel authorization letter should include a copy with the documents that their local agency representative delivers to the ACS Unit. After the Embassy confirms that the prospective adoptive parents have received an official referral letter from the MOWCSW dated prior to August 6, 2010, the Embassy will request an extension of the 60 days in writing from the MOWCSW on behalf of the prospective adoptive parents. A copy of the Embassy’s letter requesting the extension will be provided to the prospective adoptive parents by email for their records. When the Embassy receives a response from the Ministry, the Embassy will share this response with the prospective adoptive parent.

If, after completing the Form I-604 investigation of the case, the Embassy finds that the evidence establishes that the beneficiary child is an orphan under U.S. immigration law, the prospective adoptive parents will be notified in writing that they may travel to Nepal to complete their adoption.

Upon completion of the adoption, the Embassy will be able to complete the adjudication of the Form I-600. Note that the I-604 Investigation results are not the only consideration in the I-600 adjudication.

If the Form I-600 Petition is approved, further documents (such as the child’s medical report, etc.) will be required at that time for the visa interview. These documents could affect the child’s eligibility to receive an IR-3 or IR-4 immigrant visa.

Notification from the U.S. Embassy in Kathmandu to travel and complete an adoption following these procedures should therefore not be construed as a guarantee that the Form I-600 petition will be approved or that the child will be issued an immigrant visa. After their adoption is finalized, the adoptive parents or their local agency representative should submit the original adoption order and the child’s Nepali passport to the Embassy and request an immigrant visa appointment. If Embassy Kathmandu determines that the Form I-600 petition is not clearly approvable, the prospective adoptive parents will be notified in writing that the Embassy has forwarded their Form I-600 petition and supporting documents to USCIS New Delhi for further review and action.

With the exception of those families already in Nepal at the time of this announcement, USCIS and the U.S. Embassy in Kathmandu will process the Form I-600 petitions in the order that they are filed, regardless of whether the petitioner is in Nepal. If a petitioner chooses to travel to Nepal to file the Form I-600 petition after the date of this announcement, the petitioner should anticipate a lengthy stay in Nepal while the U.S. Embassy in Kathmandu conducts the required investigation and while USCIS conducts any necessary review.

Domestically Filed Form I-600 Petitions for Children from Nepal:

Effective immediately, the USCIS National Benefits Center (NBC) will forward any pending Form I-600 petitions filed domestically on behalf of children from Nepal to the National Visa Center (NVC) and notify the petitioner(s) of the transfers. In addition, any Form I-600 petition received by the NBC after August 6, 2010 will be forwarded to the NVC. Once the NVC receives a Form I-600 petition from the NBC, it will scan the documents and forward the case to the U.S. Embassy in Kathmandu for processing.

http://adoption.state.gov/news/nepal_processing_procedures.html

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

PEAR Response to Suspension of Adoptions in Nepal

PEAR Response to the August 6, 2010 Suspension of Adoptions from Nepal to the US

On August 6th, PEAR participated in the conference call held by the USDOS and USCIS in which they jointly announced their decision to suspend processing cases of anonymously abandoned children in Nepal. PEAR is saddened by the necessity of a suspension in Nepal. We believe that the best place for a child to grow is in a loving home. For the legitimately abandoned orphans in Nepal, a suspension will mean the delay or a loss of a permanent home for these children.

Because it is so important for children who need homes to find homes, we believe that inter-country adoption can have a place in a country’s child welfare plans. However, we strongly believe that adoption needs to be in the best interests of the child – and therefore all steps must be taken to ensure that all children placed are truly in need of homes.

Unfortunately, Nepal has a long history of corruption in its inter-country adoption program. There are many documented cases of children placed in orphanages for temporary care being adopted internationally without their parent’s consent. In countries with limited social welfare systems, like Nepal, a temporary orphanage placement is often the only option available to a parent during a crisis. It should not, however, lead to the child being placed for adoption without the parent’s consent.

PEAR hoped when the new program opened in 2009 that would mean a fresh start for the Nepal inter-country adoption program and a reduction in the kind of corruption and ethical violations that had previously plagued many adoptions from Nepal and resulted in the May 2007 closure. Our hopes seem to have been misplaced.

The Reasons

According to the USDOS¹ and news reports², one of the children referred to the first three US families traveling to Nepal was a child whose parents were searching for her. This little girl, Karuna, was placed in the orphanage by her parents for temporary care. Her identity was changed; she was declared to be an abandoned child; a false police report was created; and she was referred for adoption to a US family. Meanwhile, the parent’s requests for her return were refused by the orphanage several times. The prospective adoptive family was in Nepal when Karuna was finally returned to her parents.

On June 22, 2010, eKantipur.com published an article about Smriti³, a girl whose mother placed her in an orphanage for temporary care. During a regular visit to the orphanage to see her daughter, the mother learned Smriti had been adopted by a family in Italy. Her abandonment documentation is alleged to have been falsified. On June 25, 2010, Italy suspended adoptions from Nepal⁴.

The USDOS reports that, in recent months, there have been more cases of allegedly “abandoned” children – whose families were actively searching for them – being referred for adoption with falsified abandonment documentation. Given the small number of adoptions cases reviewed, this is a shockingly high percentage.

When a child is truly abandoned and turned over to an orphanage as an unknown child, documents are generated. There will be reports of whoever found the child and where the child was found. There will be a police report of the finding and a newspaper report alerting the community of the lost child. Eventually, if the parents cannot be found, new identity documents will be created. The USCIS (and the prospective adoptive parents) need to be able to rely on the authenticity of these documents. These documents need to reflect the real situation of each legitimately abandoned child.

Due to the falsifications in some paperwork, the USCIS conducted field reports to investigate the documents submitted for abandoned children. Either they were unable to confirm how and where the child was found and/or they were prevented from speaking with Nepali officials named in the documentation. The documents submitted could not be relied upon to reflect the child’s true situation, and therefore the child could not meet the legal criteria for an orphan visa.

In other words, USDOS has reason to believe that the entire chain of paperwork for some alleged orphans in Nepal is fraudulent. Compounding the allegedly fraudulent documents is the refusal by Nepali officials to reasonably investigate claims concerning the legitimacy of documents or to cooperate with USDOS.

The Warning Signs

The USDOS has issued at least 7 Notices and Alerts about adoption in Nepal since June 2009. These increased in severity: from concern about the safeguards in the new adoption procedures; to warning Adoption Service Providers (ASPs) not to accept new clients; to advising prospective adoptive parents (PAPs) to change to a different country; and finally to the suspension. In the Appendix, PEAR has excerpted important text from these Notices and Alerts.

PEAR believes that whenever the USDOS issues a warning about adoption issues in a sending country, it should be read with the utmost scrutiny by PAPs, as these warnings are not issued unless there is a specific cause for concern. As USDOS does not usually archive its warnings, it may be difficult for PAPs to notice that the warnings have been changed or updated.

PAPs should also be aware that it is highly unusual for USDOS to issue so many warnings about one country's program within such a short period of time. For example, of 67 USDOS Notices and Alerts that PEAR has posted from 2008 to 2010, at least 7 have been for Nepal. It is very significant that over 10 percent of the USDOS alerts/notices have pertained to one newly opened program.

The Nepal Program 2009-2010 and Available Children

When the Nepal program reopened in 2009, there was a huge rush of ASPs to open programs there, as well as a rush of PAPs to submit dossiers in Nepal. Nepal licensed 63 ASPs in 2009, and an additional 19 in 2010. In an April 12th eKantipur article⁵, MoWCSW officials reported that there were 534 registered adoption applications, and only 520 children available for adoption. In addition, while 90 percent of the US applications requested a child under 18 months, most of the registered children were 3 years or older.

Similarly, a 2005 study⁶ on children’s homes in Nepal surveyed 335 children’s homes with 8,821 children under age 18. The author estimated 80% of all the children’s homes in Nepal were surveyed and that the data would be representative of the unsurveyed homes⁷. Seventy percent of the children were in regular contact with their families⁸. Only 1 percent of the children had no information about the parents⁹. Fifty-nine percent were 10 years or older and only 7 percent were under age 5¹⁰. Twenty percent of the 8,821 children were double orphans¹¹ who might qualify for adoption under Nepal’s laws, but presumably, the majority of these children were over age 10.

Clearly, there was a mismatch in the information provided to PAPs about the number and ages of children in Nepal available for adoption.

We believe that Nepal should not have licensed additional ASPs in 2010, given the lack of legally available children and completed adoptions for already licensed ASPs.

We also believe that responsible ASPs should not have promoted Nepal as a viable alternative for most families considering inter-country adoption once the current problems were officially brought to light in September 2009.

Unethical Adoptions and Wrongful Referrals, Past and Present

We encourage you to read the recent articles about Karuna’s reunion with her family, Smriti’s adoption, and the historical articles about Nirmala Thapa’s three children¹², Sunita Bhattarai’s son¹³, Mitra Bahadur Thapa and Rama Karki’s son¹⁴, and Padam Bahadur Shahi’s son¹⁵. These children and their parents were permanently separated by an unethical child placement system.

The Nepali closure in 2007 was brought about by the numerous reports of children adopted illegally, including the situations referenced above and of an allegedly abandoned 6-year-old girl who told embassy personnel that she was 8, had a family, and did not wish to be adopted¹⁶.

Children reported to be “abandoned” plunged after the May 2007 closure, as documented by both Nepali police Women and Children Service Centre (WCSC) data¹⁷ and Gorkhapatra newspaper publications¹⁸ of abandonments. This data supports the evidence that abandonments were falsified specifically to place children for inter-country adoption.

The ASPs and Their Member Organizations

We believe that ASPs and their member organizations played a role in creating the situation in Nepal by failing to properly present the Nepal adoption program to their clients, including the lack of children available in the age range most requested, the warnings issued by DOS, the limitations and known fraudulent paperwork of the Nepali system, and its history of corrupt practices. ASPs who continued to promote and recruit prospective adoptive parents for Nepal after the DOS issued warnings opposing this should be held accountable for the pain and financial loss these families are suffering.

• We encourage ASPs to take responsibility for their role in this situation by allowing PAPs to transfer to another program or offering full refunds.
  
• We encourage ASP member organizations to hold their members to higher ethical standards and to actively promote ethical adoptions.

We understand that the JCICS, an ASP member organization, is requesting full contact and personal information from affected PAPs and asking them to allow JCICS to advocate for them. While we fully support every PAP’s right to seek assistance, we question the role of the JCICS in attempting to clean up a problem that was encouraged by its member organizations. What did the JCICS do to encourage ethical behavior by ASPs and the Nepali officials in order to prevent the suspension, particularly in light of the repeated and increasingly severe warnings by USDOS beginning in June 2009?

Our Suggestions

• PEAR encourages PAPs who had hoped to adopt from Nepal to join together with other PAPs and explore avenues for promoting the reopening of Nepal under an ethical and transparent process that supports and respects the entire triad, not just the ASPs and their in-country facilitators, orphanages, and Nepali officials. We are willing to speak with any and all families and to assist them in exploring ethical avenues for assistance.
  
• We hope Nepali officials will cooperate with USCIS investigators, especially in the cases of children referred prior to the deadline.

• We advise families that while there is no suspension for legally relinquished children, this process is very difficult in Nepal and rarely happens. The USDOS reports that there have been no relinquished children submitted for adoption by US parents since the program re-opened in 2009¹⁹.

• We advise families who are officially matched with children, and who also choose to proceed with the adoption, to be patient and expect long delays while in Nepal and understand they may not be successful if they proceed.

We are certain that PAPs want to provide a home for a child who needs a one, and not for a child stolen, tricked, or coerced from another family.

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¹ USDOS, Nepal Adoption Notice, (Feb 17, 2010)

² Claire Cozens, Nepal's stolen children point to flawed system, (Agence France-Presse, Mar 1, 2010)

Om Astha Rai, Dalit couple foils adoption of offspring, (Republica, Feb 24, 2010)

Gopal Sharma, International adoption resumes for Nepalese children, (Reuters, Sep 10, 2009)

³ Pratima Baskota, Fake police document to adopt a girl, (eKantipur.com, Jun 22. 2010), English translation

⁴ Commission for International Adoptions, (Italy, Jun 25, 2010)

⁵ Baby dearth snags adoption, (eKantipur.com, Apr 12, 2010)

⁶ Rudramati Marg, Study of Children in Children's Homes in Nepal, (June 2005)

⁷ Ibid. page 41

⁸ Ibid. page 39

⁹ Ibid. page 50

¹⁰ Ibid. page 26

¹¹ Ibid. page 27

¹² IRIN, NEPAL: Concern rising over illegal adoptions, (Sep 2, 2008)

Lucia Mari Bueno, Un drama lejano: los niños vendidos de Nepal, (El Pais, Sep 17, 2004)

¹³ Alessandro Gilioli, Premiata Macelleria delle Indie, Chapter 24: Mercanti di Bambini, (Rizzoli, 2007)

Joseph Aguettant, Andrea Koller, Anand Tamang, Moni Shrestha, and Marlene Hofstetter, Adopting: the rights of the child, A study on intercountry adoption and its influence on child protection in Nepal, (UNICEF and Terre des homes Foundation, Aug 2008), Page 40

¹⁴ Bueno, Un drama lejano: los niños vendidos de Nepal, op. cit.

Razen Manandhar, Duped whammy: Torture Follows trickery, (The Himalaya Times, Sep 25, 2004), Also here page 6

¹⁵ Thomas Bell, On Sale, (Nepali Times, Issue 339, March 9, 2007)

Lekhnath Pant, Irregularities rife in adoptions, (Kathmandu Post, Mar 8, 2007)

¹⁶ Aguettant et al., Adopting: the rights of the child, op. cit., page 8

¹⁷ Ibid., page 20

¹⁸ Ibid.

¹⁹ USDOS, Nepal Adoption Suspension: Frequently Asked Questions, (Aug 6, 2010)

Appendix of USDOS Notices and Alerts

PEAR Response to the August 6, 2010 Suspension of Adoptions from Nepal to the US Full Statement in PDF format


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

USDOS Adoption Alert: Nepal and Pipeline Cases

August 13, 2010
Important Information Regarding Adoptions From Nepal

http://adoption.state.gov/news/nepalalerts.html
The Department of State and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) have decided to suspend processing of new adoption cases from Nepal that involve children who are claimed to have been found abandoned, because documents presented in support of the abandonment of these children in Nepal have been found to be unreliable and circumstances of alleged abandonment cannot be verified because of obstacle in the investigation of individual cases.

•Information for Nepal adoption pipeline cases - 8/13/10

•Joint Statement on Suspension of Processing for New Adoption Cases Based on Abandonment in Nepal - 8/6/10

•Frequently Asked Questions: Suspension of Adoptions of Abandoned Children in Nepal - 8/6/10

•Notice: Caution About Pursuing Adoption in Nepal - 5/26/10

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http://adoption.state.gov/news/nepal_pipeline_cases.html

Information for Pipeline Cases

August 13, 2010

We are sending this message to answer your questions about the status of the program that the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and the Department of State are currently setting up that will enable the U.S. Embassy in Kathmandu to complete the required I-604 Determination of Child for Adoption (sometimes referred to as the “orphan investigation”) in your case before you travel to Nepal to finalize your adoption.

As of this date, the program is not yet finalized. Every effort is being made to finalize and implement the program in the immediate future. The Office of Children’s Issues will inform you when the program is implemented and will post a notice on adoption.state.gov with information and instructions. Please continue to monitor http://www.adoption.state.gov for updated information.

At this time we do not recommend that prospective adoptive parents travel to Nepal to finalize their adoptions. We are concerned that problems identified in our public announcement will affect the processing of all adoption cases in Nepal. Prospective adoptive parents who do elect to travel to Nepal to finalize their adoptions should be prepared for an extended stay. If the I-600 petition is determined to be not clearly approvable, it will be forwarded to USCIS/New Delhi for further processing, per standard procedure.

We wish to caution prospective adoptive parents that even with a pre-approval program in place, it may take the U.S. government several months to process adoption cases to completion. Questions concerning adoptions in Nepal may be sent to either AskCI@state.gov or AdoptionsNepal@state.gov .

The Embassy is working with the Government of Nepal to see if the 60 day period in which prospective adoptive parents are required to travel to Nepal to finalize their adoption can be extended. We will provide more information as soon as it is available.

The best way to contact the Embassy is by email at AdoptionsNepal@state.gov . Please include your name, your child’s name, your adoption agency, and, if possible, the immigrant visa case number for your child’s case (this number begins with a year, followed by the letters KDU, followed by several more numbers) and can be found on any document sent to you by the National Visa Center).

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

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

USCIS -- Questions & Answers: U.S. Suspension

Questions & Answers: U.S. Suspends Processing New Nepal Adoption Cases Based on Abandonment Q. Why is the United States government suspending adoptions from Nepal? A. The Department of State and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) have decided to suspend processing of new adoption cases from Nepal that involve children who are claimed to have been found abandoned, because documents presented in support of the abandonment of these children in Nepal have been found to be unreliable and circumstances of alleged abandonment cannot be verified because of obstacles in the investigation of individual cases. Q: Adoptive parents have received immigrant visas for their Nepali children from the U.S. Embassy in Kathmandu as recently as a few weeks ago. What has changed since then? A. A review of recently processed cases established a disturbing pattern indicating that available documentation cannot be relied upon to make determinations that a child reported abandoned qualifies as an orphan under U.S. immigration law. Q: Does the suspension apply to all cases or only to cases in which a child was allegedly found abandoned? A. The suspension applies only to cases where a child is alleged to have been found abandoned. Q. When is the suspension going into effect? A. The suspension is effective as of August 6, 2010, for all new adoption cases involving children from Nepal who have been reported abandoned. Q. What is a “new” adoption case that will be covered by the suspension? A. The suspension applies to cases in which the Government of Nepal has not issued an official referral letter to prospective adoptive parents to propose a match with a specific child from Nepal who has been reported abandoned. If the Government of Nepal has issued the referral letter prior to August 6, 2010, the case will be considered in the pipeline of existing cases and will continue to be processed. If no such referral letter has been issued prior to August 6, 2010, the case will be suspended. Q. Based on what authority is the U.S. government suspending adoptions from Nepal? A. The Department of State has concluded that the documentation presented for children reported abandoned in Nepal is unreliable. Without reliable documentation, such children cannot meet the definition of orphan under U.S. immigration law. Based on this determination and obstacles in the investigation process the U.S. government has suspended the processing of new adoption cases that involve children who are reported abandoned. Q. What evidence does the U.S. government have to support the suspension? A. The Department of State’s ongoing interactions with the Government of Nepal and the review of numerous cases, including field visits to orphanages and police stations, led them to conclude that information regarding how children arrive at orphanages is consistently inadequate and that documents presented to establish that a child was found abandoned are unreliable. Investigations of abandonment cases have been hampered by the unavailability of officials involved in reports of abandonment, and police and orphanage officials’ refusals to allow consular officers access to police and orphanage records. Q. Has the U.S. government made any effort to address the problems with the Government of Nepal? A. The U.S. government, in cooperation with other countries that are active in intercountry adoptions, has consistently encouraged the Government of Nepal to ratify and implement the Hague Adoption Convention. Nepal is a signatory to the Convention. We have also urged the Government of Nepal to implement the recommendations made by the Hague Permanent Bureau Intercountry Technical Assistance Program (ICATAP) as a first step toward fulfilling its commitment as a signatory to the Convention. We believe that the Hague Adoption Convention incorporates the best practices in intercountry adoption, which are intended to protect the rights of the children and the families involved in intercountry adoption. Q: Will there be any exceptions to the suspension? A. No. Prospective adoptive parents who the Government of Nepal has matched with a child reported abandoned after August 6, 2010, will not receive a decision on a petition for that child. Q. Are there any cases in Nepal that do not involve children reported abandoned? A. Not at the present time. However, in the case of a relinquishment by known birth parent(s), the application would be processed under normal procedures. DNA evidence may be necessary to establish the relationship between the birth parent(s) and child. Q. When will adoptions from Nepal resume? A. We are unable to predict when adoptions involving children who are reported abandoned in Nepal will be able to resume. We encourage the Government of Nepal to implement sufficient protections to ensure the integrity of the intercountry adoption process. Q. What will happen to families who are already matched with a child from Nepal? A. The suspension applies to abandonment cases in which the prospective adoptive parents have not yet been matched with a child from Nepal. The Government of Nepal’s Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare issues an official “referral letter” to inform prospective adoptive parents of a proposed match. If the Government of Nepal has issued the official referral letter prior to August 6, 2010, the case will be processed to conclusion. In light of concerns regarding the validity of documents supporting abandonment cases in Nepal, the cases will be carefully investigated and only those in which there is sufficient credible evidence to conclude a child has been found abandoned will be approved. If consular officials at the U.S. Embassy in Kathmandu determine that a case is not clearly approvable, they are required to forward the Form I-600, Petition to Classify an Orphan as an Immediate Relative, to the USCIS office in New Delhi for review. USCIS and the Department of State will process each case individually, based on the evidence presented and the results of the investigation. If additional information is required to complete the processing of any particular case, USCIS will request additional evidence specific to the facts of that particular case, and the prospective adoptive parents will have an opportunity to respond. Q. How many cases are in the “pipeline”? A. Based on information provided by the Government of Nepal, we estimate that there are approximately 80 cases in which U.S. families have been matched with a child in Nepal, but in which the Form I-600 petition has not been adjudicated or a visa has not been issued. Q. Can a family that has begun the process of adopting in Nepal decide to adopt a child from a different country now? A. Yes. If prospective adoptive parents have already filed or received approval of a Form I-600A, Application for Advance Processing of an Orphan Petition, that specifies Nepal as the country from which they intend to adopt, they are permitted to request one no-fee change of country. If the prospective adoptive parents have already filed a Form I-600 on behalf of a Nepali child, they may withdraw the petition. Upon withdrawal of the petition, the prospective adoptive parents may request a change of country and file another Form I-600 petition on behalf of a different child, as long as their Form I-600A approval remains valid. Q. What are other countries that process adoptions of Nepali orphans doing? A. Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom have recently suspended adoptions in Nepal based on similar concerns. Last updated:08/06/2010

http://tinyurl.com/USCISNepalNotice

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