3 Nepali kids set to land in US

Kantipur Report

KATHMANDU, Sept 9 -
After a gap of one and half years three Nepali children are all set to land in the U.S with their new adoptive parents. This was made possible for three orphaned girls -Anita Himali, Anisha Sai and Santi Sai - after the government approved their documents related to inter-country adoption.

The adoptive mothers are Bonnie Lee Donohue of Wisconsin, Michelle Kyla Blanchard-Roma of Louisiana and Dr. Teryl Rae Elam of Alaska.

Donohue, who is a general manager in the food service sector, has been matched with three-year-old Himali, Blanchard-Roma, who is a reputed Louisiana-based attorney, has been matched with two-year-old Anisha, and reputed Alaska-based physician, Elam has been matched with nearly one-year-old Santi.

The Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare (MWCSW) has informed the Nepali representatives of the US adoption agency about the decision, calling the adopting mothers to take their daughters as per their convenience, according to officials at MWCSW.

This will be the first batch of Nepali children to go abroad with their new parents after seven months of adoption process.

At least 18 dossiers, on which almost all the necessary paperwork for the adoption is complete, are also awaiting final approval from the MWCSW. Over 100 dossiers of children, who are already gone through matching process (in which adoptive parents are paired with orphans), are also pending due to a delay in arranging a meeting of the recommendation committee. The recommendation committee, comprising representatives from ministries of home, law and MWCSW, will make the final decision.

The committee selects children in accordance with the adoptive parents´ preferences. Likewise, applications of over 300 prospective foreign parents are under the scrutiny of MWCSW. Earlier, the ministry had put the process on hold for one-and-a-half-years and started the process with new rules for adoption in January.

The adoption fee for each child has been fixed at US$ 8,000 — which means that adoptive parents will not get overcharged. From the adoption fee US$ 5,000 will go to the orphanages and US$ 3,000 to the state coffers. The ministry has already collected over Rs. 15 million from the fee, part of which will be used to monitor the overall adoption process.

Posted on: 2009-09-09 00:36:36 (Server Time)