Nepal decides to resume children adoption by foreigners

Kathmandu, Oct 28 (PTI) The Maoist-led government has
decided to resume adoptions of Nepalese children by
foreigners, months after tightening rules in the wake of
widespread corruption charges, according to officials.

Adoptions of Nepalese children by foreigners were
stopped last year following reports of middlemen charging
probable parents up to USD 20,000.

"New applications for adoption will be accepted within
a month," an official at the Ministry of Women, Children and
Social Welfare said.

The government has approved 58 adoption agencies from
the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Sweden, Denmark,
Belgium, Italy, Spain and Norway, according to the official.

In the past, adoptive parents could approach
children's homes individually, but this practice had been
terminated. As per the new regulation, 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, the official said.

Adopting parents will pay USD 5,000 to the children's
home and USD 3,000 to the government. A report published by
the United Nations last year stated that many children were
being sold, abducted and trafficked in Nepal.

Nearly 80 percent 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.

As per the government report 2,200 children have been
adopted by foreigners in the past seven years.