Kathmandu: The United States has warned its
citizens against adopting children in Nepal, saying it has
"grave concerns" about the reliability of that country's
adoption system.
The government urged prospective adoptive parents to
choose another country, citing the case of a young Nepalese
girl placed in the custody of an American couple without the
consent of her biological mother and father.
"The US Department of State strongly discourages
prospective adoptive parents from choosing Nepal as a country
from which to adopt due to grave concerns about the
reliability of Nepal's adoption system," it said in a
statement on its website dated March 4.
Nepal introduced new adoption legislation in 2008
following reports of widespread abuses of the system by
unscrupulous agents who were effectively trafficking children
overseas for profit.
Twenty Nepalese children have been adopted by foreign
parents since the system restarted last year, seven of whom
are in the US, but experts say little has changed since the
new rules came into force.
The State Department said that in one of the first cases
processed by the Nepal government, the US embassy in Kathmandu
found the birth parents of the adopted child were actively
searching for her.
PTI
First Published: Friday, March 05, 2010, 23:50