October 10, 2008

NCFA RESPONDS to UNICEF’S REPORT ON INTERCOUNTRY ADOPTION IN NEPAL

The United National Children Fund (UNICEF) and Terre des homes – Child Relief recently issued a report entitled “Adopting the Rights of the Child: A Study on Intercountry Adoption and its Influence on Child Protection in Nepal.” The report recommends that the Nepal government delay reopening its intercountry adoption program until Nepal is able to have a fully Hague-compliant intercountry adoption program. The report also includes recommendations for changes to some of Nepal’s adoption laws.

The National Council For Adoption (NCFA) affirms our agreement with the report’s statement that the best interests of the child must be the guiding principle in any and every adoption decision, be the adoption international or domestic. The Nepali government was right to take seriously media reports of bad practices, including child abduction and the adopting of children and infants without their parents’ consent. Yet while the Nepali government’s decision in June 2007 to shut down international adoptions from Nepal in response to such revelations was necessary and prudent, there can be no doubt that it negatively affected some children even while it protected others.

All available research shows that children require a loving, stable family to thrive and develop into well-adjusted, highly functioning adults. Research also shows that group or institutional care is no substitute for a family, and that children raised in such an environment fare poorly relative to their adopted peers. Therefore, international adoption is clearly in the best interests of children whose families are unable or unwilling to care for them, and for whom no timely domestic adoption placement can be made. As there are an estimated 15,000 children living in institutional homes in Nepal, it can be estimated that hundreds of Nepali children are currently without a loving, stable family as a direct result of the government’s ban on international adoption.

The recent UNICEF report raised a number of relevant issues regarding the state of child welfare services in Nepal, but offers no immediate help to children currently languishing in orphanages. Nor does it take into account that the Nepali government has already developed new procedures that address some of the problems detailed in the report. Although the report contains many positive recommendations, its suggestion that the Nepali government delay reopening intercountry adoption is not in the best interests of waiting children. NCFA stresses that the compassionate practice of international adoption can be carried out with appropriate child protections in place to ensure that abuses such as those documented in the report and elsewhere do not occur. Signing and implementing the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption treaty is an excellent way for a nation to become part of the international adoption community with the assurance that international adoptions are being done in the best interests of children. NCFA is pleased to see Nepal moving in the direction of entering into this important international treaty. Countries outside the Hague Convention can and do participate in international adoption while meeting best practices standards. For the sake of Nepali orphans, the government of Nepal should resume international adoptions immediately while moving toward signing the Hague Convention treaty.

Since the Nepali government suspended international adoptions in 2007, there have been encouraging signs that it is willing to act in the best interests of the nation’s orphan population in this regard. First, the Nepali government relaxed the ban on international adoptions for families that had already filed petitions to adopt, while instituting stricter terms and conditions for the adoption process in these cases to continue. More recently, the government has instituted a requirement that international adoption agencies wishing to work in Nepal must first register with the Nepali Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare. Finally, in September 2008 the government published a list of 38 children’s homes that have passed the Ministry’s extensive background check and are therefore authorized to handle adoptions, and announced plans to release a similar list of authorized international adoption agencies in time.

It is our expressed hope that the Nepali government will continue to address issues with its child welfare system as they are brought to light while moving toward signing and implementing the Hague Convention treaty. NCFA also hopes that in the meantime the Nepali government will allow international adoption agencies that meet stringent best practices standards to begin or renew operations in Nepal. Nepali children, like all children, have the right to grow up with a loving, stable family. Those children whose biological families are unable or unwilling to care for them should not miss out on any opportunity to achieve a loving, stable family through adoption.