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/

Orphaned or Stolen? The U.S. State Department investigates adoption from Nepal, 2006-2008 (The Huffington Post)

by EJ Graff
Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism at Brandeis University

Posted: February 18, 2011
Updated: February 23, 2011

Exclusive State Department internal cables
from Freedom of Information Act requests

Children abducted from their families for international adoption, so that middlemen could profit from Westerners' cash. Families that left their babies temporarily with a child welfare center during times of illness or financial distress--only to discover on returning that, to their horror, their children had been sent away forever to Spain, Italy, or the U.S. A "demand and supply" effect: when international adoptions were suspended, reported "abandonments" drop. Fees that suddenly increase without rhyme or reason--unless orphanages needed more cash for bribes or just out of greed.

That's what the U.S. Embassy in Kathmandu was seeing between 2006 and 2008 when it checked into how children had become available for U.S. citizens to adopt, as documented in official internal cables received by the Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism in response to Freedom of Information Act requests.

read more....

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/schuster-institute-for-investigative-journalism/orphaned-o

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

US bar on Nepali kids' adoption to stay (Kantipur)

US bar on Nepali kids' adoption to stay

Kantipur

BABURAM KHAREL

KATHMANDU, FEB 18 - Visiting US Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affair Janice Jacob has said that the ban on inter-country adoption from Nepal would remain despite some changes to the adoption process in Nepal.

“The US suspension of inter-country adoption will remain in place until substantive progress is made on the issues raised by a February 2010 Hague Convention report,” said Heather Steil, Spokesperson for the American Embassy in Kathmandu. Assistant Secretary Jacob feels that recent changes to the adoption process in Nepal are "inadequate" to address concerns about the origin of the children being matched for inter-country adoption.

The US decision continues to affect over 80 prospective American parents who have already gone through meticulous paperwork for adoption of Nepali children. Though it is not clear how many American parents have adopted Nepali children so far, according to the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare (MoWCSW), over 2400 children have been adopted since 2000 by parents in western countries.

The US government in August last year suspended the inter-country adoption involving abandoned children from Nepal questioning the authenticity of the system that has been marred by “fraud and irregularities.”

Jacob—who met officials in the Foreign Ministry, MoWCSW and Prime Minister's Office—encouraged the Nepali officials to work with the international community, including The Hague Permanent Bureau, to implement The Hague Convention and reform its adoption process to protect children and families.

The US government's decision to suspend adoption from Nepal follows a report last February by Hague Conference on Private International Law, an intergovernmental organisation. The report, based on investigation by a group of lawyers, had alleged systemic failure in Nepal's adoption system with widespread abuse and had called for suspension of adoption from Nepal until the system was reformed. Since then, ten other countries—Canada, Denmark, Germany, France, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Spain, Italy and Britain—have officially and unofficially suspended adoption from Nepal.

Last year as well, a team from the Department of State had visited Nepal to interact with government officials. The team investigated numerous abandonment cases, including field visits to orphanages and police departments. Its investigation found that documents presented to describe and "prove" abandonment of children in Nepal were unreliable. The US then said in a statement that civil documents such as children's birth certificates often included data that had been changed or fabricated.

Tilak Ram Sharma, acting Secretary of MoWCSW, met Jacob and said that addressing US concerns would take time. He said inter-country adoption was not a priority of the government. "Our primary focus will be to strengthen the domestic adoption in place of inter-country adoption," Sharma said.

http://www.ekantipur.com/2011/02/18/top-story/us-bar-on-nepali-kids-adoption-to-stay/329806.html

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

US Embassy Kathmandu Biometrics Fee Clarification

From DOS to adopting families, on behalf of the US Embassy in Kathmandu:

The U.S. Embassy in Kathmandu has been receiving requests from prospective adoptive parents currently residing in Kathmandu to retake their fingerprints at the Embassy because their fingerprint clearances have expired. The Departments of State and Homeland Security strongly urge all prospective adoptive parents to ensure that their fingerprint clearances are valid and not soon to expire before traveling abroad. However, when necessary, U.S. Embassies abroad can provide this service. When the Embassy fingerprints prospective adoptive parents, they are doing so on behalf of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Effective November 23, 2010, individuals residing outside of the United States are no longer exempt from paying the DHS Biometrics Fee, where it applies. Prospective adoptive parents who have already paid a biometrics fee during the filing of their I-600A may request a one-time, no-fee re-fingerprinting. Effective immediately, the U.S. Embassy Kathmandu will charge the $85 DHS Biometrics Fee, where it applies, meaning after the prospective adoptive parents have already received their one-time, no-fee re-fingerprinting, whether in the US or abroad, each time fingerprints are collected from prospective adoptive parents on behalf of DHS.

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

MEDIA: U.S. suspends new adoption from Nepal (The Himalayan Times)

U.S. suspends new adoption from Nepal

The Himalayan Times
2010-08-06

KATHMANDU: The U.S. government authorities have decided to suspend adjucation of new adoption petitions and related visa issuance for children who are described as having been abandoned in Nepal from Friday.

Issuing a press statement on Friday, the Embassy of the United States Public Affairs Office in Kathmandu said the Department of State and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) jointly took the decision in order to protect the rights and interests of certain Nepali children and their families, and of U.S. prospective adoptive parents.

The Department of State’s recent interactions with the Government of Nepal and its efforts to review and investigate numerous abandonment cases, including field visits to orphanages and police departments, have demonstrated that documents presented to describe and “prove” the abandonment of children in Nepal are unreliable, read the statement.

“Civil documents, such as the children’s birth certificates often include data that has been changed or fabricated. Investigations of children reported to be found abandoned are routinely hindered by the unavailability of officials named in reports of abandonment.”

The Embassy said the police and orphanage officials often refuse to cooperate with consular officers’ efforts to confirm information by comparing it with official police and orphanage records.

"Because the Department of State has concluded that the documentation presented for children reported abandoned in Nepal is unreliable and the general situation of non-cooperation with and even active hindrance of investigations, the U.S. Government can no longer reasonably determine whether a child documented as abandoned qualifies as an orphan," the Embassy said.

Without reliable documentation, it is not possible for the United States government to process an orphan petition to completion.

Any petition filed for a child who has been presented as found abandoned and who was matched with a prospective adoptive parent prior to the date of this announcement, as evidenced by an official referral letter from the Government of Nepal, will continue to be adjudicated on a case-by-case basis and in light of the totality of the evidence available, according to the Embassy.

However, the Department of State will reach out to prospective adoptive parents who meet this criteria. Petitions that continue to be adjudicated will only be approved if they are supported by reliable evidence. Every effort will be made to process their cases as expeditiously as possible with the best interests of children in mind.

The Himalayan Times:

http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/fullNews.php?headline=U.S.+suspends+new+adoption+from+Nepal&NewsID=252584

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

US Embassy Reopens Today

The US Embassy in Kathmandu has reopened today, Monday May 10 after a week's closing due to nationwide strikes.

From the Embassy: If you were scheduled for an immigrant visa interview on Tuesday, May 4^th, please come for your immigrant visa interview on Friday, May 14 at 13:00. If you were scheduled to pick up your immigrant visa and travel packet on Thursday, May 6^th, please come to pick up your immigrant visa on Thursday, May 13^th at 14:00. For additional information regarding consular services, please carefully read the full announcement that is posted on the Embassy’s website at: http://nepal.usembassy.gov/pr-04-30-2010.html.

Please continue to monitor the Embassy website for updated information.


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