Nepal May Reopen For Intercountry Adoptions in 2012?

A recent article in Republica (a Nepali newspaper) states that after the 2011 closure, the Nepal government will begin accepting adoption applications from foreign prospective parents this year.  Here is an excerpt from this article:

REPUBLICA

ARJUN POUDEL

KATHMANDU, Nov 29: After receiving no application for inter-country adoption in 2011, the government has asked prospective foreign parents to apply for adopting Nepali orphans for the year 2012.

The Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare (MWCSW) has formally invited applications through concerned embassies, diplomatic missions and international adoption agencies for the first time after inter-country adotption was suspended in 2009.

The ministry had suspended inter-country adoption following disclosure of rampant irregularities in the process. Some European countries including USA had also suspended adoption of Nepali children indefinitely after revelation of irregularities. Before the suspension, the ministry used to receive more than 500 such applications each year.

“We have completed listing eligible children for adoption for 2012. Altogether 252 children are eligible for adoption,” the legal officer at the ministry, Sher Jung Karki, said. Children formally relinquished by the family will also be put on offer for adoption, he said.

Some of the children´s homes had stopped providing shelter to newcomer orphans since a year after foreign countries stopped taking in Nepali children. The children´s homes cited financial problems for stopping providing shelter to newcomer orphans. Foreign adoption is one of the main financial sources of the orphanages.

The government has also introduced strict measures after reports of irregularities in adoption were disclosed.....

You can read the complete article on http://www.myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action=news_details&news_id=38929. 

In 2011, 63 children were adopted from Nepal and brought to the US.  But, the Nepal adoption process has been fraught with problems.  In 2011, Nepal did not take any applications for intercountry adoption.  Also, in November 2010, the US announced it would no longer allow the adoption of children who were allegedly abandoned in Nepal as the paperwork supporting these abandonments was generally unreliable and the circumstances surrounding the abandonments often could not be verified.

Hopefully, the article above is accurate and adoptions from Nepal will now be transparent and ethical.  If you are considering adopting from Nepal, please ensure you are working with a licensed and reputable US agency.  As the Nepal adoption process can be complex, it may be helpful to contact the US Embassy in Kathmandu for the latest information, including a list of the adoption service providers who are registered with the  Government of Nepal.  Apparently this list changes fairly frequently.  You can reach the US Embassy in Kathmandu at: adoptionsnepal@state.gov.