In the cramped Anamnagar office of an adoption broker and his dusty orphanage in Ratopul, Nepali Times this week made arrangements to buy a child for adoption.
We posed as a British couple wishing to adopt a Nepali child and were told that the process was complicated and involved eight government offices and agencies. The broker said he could take care of the entire process for a $1,500 fee. If we decided to adopt from his orphanage, a further donation of $5,000 was strongly suggested.
Although he initially insisted on up-front cash of a third of his fee, he agreed to take a cheque for just over half the total amount. Immediately after we agreed to pay, he said he had just met a family from his village who wanted to put up for adoption a child the age we wanted. Earlier, he had said it could take months to find a child as young as we were looking to adopt.
Then came the promises of guaranteed approval because he had his representative on the adoption recommendation committee and that while he could not jump the queue he could use his influence.
We met the parents. They hardly looked unable to support four children as is required by law. The father said he was a political worker-turned-teacher and earned 72 pounds. He spoke fluently in English about choosing a bright future for his youngest child because love is not enough, enumerated the child's many good qualities, and used phrases like transparency, unfair practices and legal relationship. There was one condition, he said, his wife wanted to periodically meet the child. They were evasive about where they would like the meetings to be.