Left in limbo: Nepalese adoptions halted (PBS)

Left in limbo: Nepalese adoptions halted (PBS)

On Mother’s Day weekend, adoptive parents on the verge of bringing home a child find themselves caught between two governments.

By Habiba Nosheen and Lisa Desai

May 6, 2011

The U.S. State Department has suspended adoption of abandoned Nepalese children, citing numerous examples of unreliable and possibly fraudulent documents.

For Dee Dee Milton and 70 other American families who were in the midst of finalizing adoptions from Nepal, the new U.S. policy left them in limbo. The onus was now on those families to prove that the child they wanted to adopt is a legitimate orphan.

Need to Know traveled to Nepal to meet American adoptive parents who are fighting to bring their adopted children home, as well as Nepalese biological parents whose children were put up for adoption without their consent.

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/video/video-left-in-limbo-nepalese-adoptions-halted/9158/


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

Government amends adoption procedures (The Himalayan Times)

Government amends adoption procedures

2010-12-20

The Himalayan Times

KATHMANDU: Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare (MoWCSW) has amended some provisions in the inter-country adoption Act-2008 in an effort to regulate child adoptions.

The decision comes after countries that regularly adopted orphans from Nepal halted inter-country child adoption indefinitely citing irregularities, especially use of falsified documents.

Germany and Canada had banned adoption of Nepali children citing cases of abuse, fraudulent documents and false statements about children’s origin and other related information.

Sher Jung Karki, under secretary at the ministry said direct intervention had become necessary to make orphanages accountable. After the amendment, only those homes or orphanages operating for more than six years will be eligible to provide children for adoption. Besides, the amendment aims to control child trafficking.

The amendment has made it mandatory for adoptions to be attested by a notary public. He said this was in keeping with the international standard recommended by the Hague Convention. With the amendment, the ministry will give priority to adoptive parents willing to adopt children in need of special attention. European nations, particularly Italy, France, Spain and the US are major recipients of adopted children from Nepal.

Although the ministry has plans to set up an independent body to handle adoption, it lacks budget. Children’s homes collect US$ 5,000 from each child being adopted, whereas prospective parents pay US$ 3,000 as revenue to the government of Nepal.

http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/fullNews.php?headline=Government+amends+adoption+procedures&NewsID=270209

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

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

Govt to form body to regulate adoption

Move comes after irregularity charges

Santosh Pokharel

2010-10-23

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Himalayan Times:

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


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

MEDIA: Adoption Suspension Leaves Children in Limbo

Adoption Suspension Leaves Children in Limbo
By Bhuwan Sharma

Excerpt:

"KATHMANDU, Sep 10, 2010 (IPS) - A big question marks looms over the future of many Nepali children in various child homes in the country in the wake of the suspension by 11 countries of their child adoption programmes for this Himalayan nation.

"Children will now have to remain in grim orphanages or may risk a worse fate by staying with families that don’t want them," says Philip Holmes, the adoptive father of two Nepali children and country director of Esther Benjamins Trust-Nepal, a U.K.-registered charity engaged in childcare and child protection and fighting child trafficking in Nepal.

Some 400 Nepali children are adopted by foster parents each year from 44 institutional homes accredited by the country’s Ministry for Women, Children and Social Welfare. There is no data available on the number of Nepali children given up for adoption yearly.

Besides orphans, Nepali law permits inter-country adoption for voluntarily committed children, who have been surrendered to a child welfare home, orphanage or Bal Mandir, a national children’s organisation, by either their guardians or parents.

Problems ranging from fake documents, lack of transparency in handling funds and corruption in the adoption process, which have been reported over the years, have led to the latest round of adoption suspensions."

more here: http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=52781

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