Nepal to resume international adoptions

Nepal to resume international adoptions

3 hours ago

KATHMANDU (AFP) — Nepal is to restart international adoptions after

tightening regulations in the wake of widespread corruption

allegations, an official said Tuesday.

Adoptions of Nepalese children by foreigners were stopped last year

following reports of middlemen charging prospective parents up to

20,000 dollars.

"New applications for adoption will be accepted within a month," said

Prakash Adhikari, an official at the ministry of women, children and

social welfare.

"We have approved 58 adoption agencies from the United States,

Canada, France, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Italy, Spain and

Norway."

In the past, adoptive parents could approach children's homes

individually, but this practice had been ended, the official said.

"The international agencies and prospective parents can no longer

select the children on their own. The government will do the matching

after the parents furnish their criteria," Adhikari said.

Adopting parents will pay 5,000 dollars to the children's home and

3,000 dollars to the government.

In August, a United Nations report into adoptions in Nepal found that

children were being sold, abducted and trafficked.

Around 80 per cent of the 12,000 children in homes around Nepal had

family they could live with and should not put up for adoption, said

the report.

Government figures show 2,200 children have been adopted by

foreigners in the past seven years.