Nepal restarts international adoptions
⬤
public
Nepal restarts international adoptions
3 hours ago
KATHMANDU (AFP) — Nepal has begun accepting applications from foreigners who want to adopt Nepalese children, 18 months after the practice was stopped because of widespread malpractice, officials said Friday.
Adoptions were suspended after reports that foreigners paid up to 20,000 dollars to adopt children, most of whom were not genuine orphans and some of whom were taken overseas without their parent's consent or knowledge.
"We have started accepting applications for inter-country adoptions from registered agencies," said Hari Krishna Poudel, spokesman at the Ministry of Children, Women and Social Welfare.
Poudel said that under new, tighter regulations, it would take three months for the adoption process to be completed.
Foreigners now have to deal with registered adoption agencies from their home country, and can have no direct contact with children's homes and orphanages.
The ministry will be responsible for matching prospective parents and children, and fees have been fixed at 8,000 dollars, with 5,000 going to children's homes and 3,000 to the government.
The government has approved 58 foreign adoption agencies which will each have to spend at least 10,000 dollars per year on "the welfare of children in Nepal," the official said.
"The previous adoption process was dodged by financial irregularities because direct deals were made between the prospective parents and orphanages," he said. "With the new rules this channel has been removed".
Nepalese and international child welfare organisations have welcomed the reforms, but are worried that problems remain with the system.
"What we are concerned about is that the institutions which have been created for the sole purpose of adoption might continue to flourish," said Joseph Aguettant, Nepal representative of Swiss child rights group Terre Des Hommes.
"This may increase the number of children that are put into children's homes and we need to keep a close eye on developments over the next few months," Aguettant told AFP.
Terre Des Hommes and UNICEF, the UN child rights body, jointly released a report last year that found between 60 and 80 percent of the 12,000 children placed in homes throughout Nepal had family members they could live with.
UNICEF and the Swiss group say they are not against international adoption, but that increased support for families at a local level would help prevent impoverished parents putting their children into homes.
3 hours ago
KATHMANDU (AFP) — Nepal has begun accepting applications from foreigners who want to adopt Nepalese children, 18 months after the practice was stopped because of widespread malpractice, officials said Friday.
Adoptions were suspended after reports that foreigners paid up to 20,000 dollars to adopt children, most of whom were not genuine orphans and some of whom were taken overseas without their parent's consent or knowledge.
"We have started accepting applications for inter-country adoptions from registered agencies," said Hari Krishna Poudel, spokesman at the Ministry of Children, Women and Social Welfare.
Poudel said that under new, tighter regulations, it would take three months for the adoption process to be completed.
Foreigners now have to deal with registered adoption agencies from their home country, and can have no direct contact with children's homes and orphanages.
The ministry will be responsible for matching prospective parents and children, and fees have been fixed at 8,000 dollars, with 5,000 going to children's homes and 3,000 to the government.
The government has approved 58 foreign adoption agencies which will each have to spend at least 10,000 dollars per year on "the welfare of children in Nepal," the official said.
"The previous adoption process was dodged by financial irregularities because direct deals were made between the prospective parents and orphanages," he said. "With the new rules this channel has been removed".
Nepalese and international child welfare organisations have welcomed the reforms, but are worried that problems remain with the system.
"What we are concerned about is that the institutions which have been created for the sole purpose of adoption might continue to flourish," said Joseph Aguettant, Nepal representative of Swiss child rights group Terre Des Hommes.
"This may increase the number of children that are put into children's homes and we need to keep a close eye on developments over the next few months," Aguettant told AFP.
Terre Des Hommes and UNICEF, the UN child rights body, jointly released a report last year that found between 60 and 80 percent of the 12,000 children placed in homes throughout Nepal had family members they could live with.
UNICEF and the Swiss group say they are not against international adoption, but that increased support for families at a local level would help prevent impoverished parents putting their children into homes.
2009 Jan 2