[Michelle Nord]

I'm looking into Nepal adoption thru Adoption Ark. Does anyone have info on Nepal or the agency Adoption Ark??? Thanks Michelle

[mhpro]

REally??? Me too!!! What have you learned so far? PM me and let me know! I'm glad to hear of someone else looking into the same thing!
m.

[KarynB]

I looked into it a bit when we first were picking our countries - the only thing that stopped us was that if you already have a child they will only give you the opposite sex, and if you have two then you can't adopt any more. So, that didn't work for us. I think the issue right now would be Nepal's relative instability - but good luck!!!! Nepal is a beautiful, amazing country, and the children are just beyond gorgeous. I think if you are hopring for a new born the kids are relatively young when the are ready for adoption, so that is a plus.

Anyways, good luck with it all.

[mhpro]

Thanks for the info -- but you hit one of my major questions. We've been talking with an agency that said through "private orphanages" (I'm not sure how that is defined) that there are not family size/child restrictions. So even though I have a house full of boys AND girls, we can adopt from there. I haven't found any other agency telling me the same thing. I keep thinking I'm asking the question wrong, but no matter how many times I ask I get the same answer -- we can adopt from nepal!

Any suggestions on how to see if this is all for real???
m.

[KarynB]

That's funny you say that - and that is EXACTLY the reason we decided not to go with India or Nepal - because we got way too much conflicting info. We really didn't want to go through it all then at the last minute have someone say "oh sorry, you can't do this". When I researched one agency it said what i told you before - then when I looked somewhere else, it said "If one of the children are from a previous relationship, you can have more than two kids in the house". When I sent an enquiry to the agency that posted this - they said "Oh, no, you can only have maximum of two kids in the house". It was so conflictual, it made me nervous and we looked elsewhere.

But that is just our feelings - it may be different for you - and I really would have LOVED to adopt from there.

Are you in the US or Canada?

[mhpro]

I'm in the US.

We adopted our youngest two from Guatemala. Now we're just in the "research" stage. There are just way too many agencies, rules, requirements & fees to keep it all straight. I'm trying to act in faith, but without being stupid!!! I want to go somewhere I understand. But more importantly I want to find my child that I know is waiting on us.

How is South Africa going? I went to Ghana this summer. I've found one agency that is working out of Ghana, but it is really in the trial stages right now.

[betsykantro]

I am almost done with my homestudy for Nepal. My family fits their criteria perfectly. I am extremely excited. My son (only child, I had to have a hysterectomy after his birth) keeps talking about his future baby sister. I would be happy to talk to anyone who is also working on adopting from Nepal. It is frustrating not having any Nepal forums.

[KarynB]

South Africa is good and in many ways straight forward - but also quite slow. And in some ways it is similar to domestic in that your proflie is shown to an orphanage and they then "match you" with a child. It's taking a broad spectrum of time - anywhere from 10 days to 2 years to get a match - which is very challenging. Once you are matched you travel within 4 weeks - so you need to be ready. In some ways that is good, though, as the babies are quite young and once you are mnatched you get your baby quickly. I think the way Guatemala does it (or Haiti, etc) would be very hard for me - knowing the baby is there but can't go there for months...

[mhpro]

Can you PM me who you're working with?

We don't fit the "norm" criteria but have been told we can do it anyway. I just want to doublecheck/be sure.

I bet your little boy is excited about having a little sister!!!

m.

[mhpro]

Parts of adopting from Guatemala were hard -- especially the knowing she was there, what she looked like, knowing she would be ours but we just had to wait. But now that Campbell & Lucas are home, t's like they've always been there!!!

[Michelle Nord]

there is a yahoo group for Nepal!!!

[sak9645]

Please read the U.S. State Department flyer on Nepal. It gives a good overview of the situation and the rules.

Go to Intercountry Adoption Nepal for the information.


Sharon

[sak9645]

KarynB, I gather that you are not in the U.S.

As of last June, at least, the U.S. did not have an agreement with South Africa, to permit adoptions.

With South Africa, there are two ways to adopt. One is for foreigners resident in South Africa for five years; obviously, that process can't be used by most people on this board.

The second way is only open to foreigners living in countries that have an agreement with the South African government. Basically, this means countries that have ratified Hague Convention #33 on international adoption. The U.S. has passed the legislation that would allow it to ratify, but is not expected to ratify until at least next year.

Sharon

[KarynB]

Yes, I am in Canada. In some cases the US has permitted SA adoption in other ways you mentioned here, but you are right - for the most poart US citizens cannot adopt from South Africa.