Prachanda Raj Pradhan — head of the Child NGO Federation Nepal (CNFN)

Prachanda Raj Pradhan (the head of the CNFN — the Child NGO Federation Nepal) is a controversial figure in Nepali adoptions.

For allegations regarding unethical conduct by Pradhan, see Nchild posts:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nchild/message/11331

and

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nchild/message/10459

(In order to respect the terms of service for Yahoo groups and Nchild in general, specific content of messages cannot be reprinted here. However, membership in Nchild is open to anyone interested in Nepali women or children.)

Pradhan and his wife have long been the facilitators for Florida Home Studies & Adoption (FHSA). And Prachanda is a former board member of NCO/Bal Mandir. See Nchild for details:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nchild/message/3220

He has also worked with Amici Trentini (Italy):

http://web.archive.org/web/20101224184414/http://comune.trento.it/comune/argomenti/gemellaggi/visite_trento_20.htm

Jaya Rajbhandari (Pradhan’s wife) runs the Society for Each Other (SEO — a controversial home that was formerly licensed for adoption):

http://www.seonepal.org.np/index.php?action=contents/about

Florida Homes Studies (Prachanda’s long-time U.S. agency) was denied Hague accreditation:

http://adoption.state.gov/hague_convention/agency_accreditation/deniedagencies.php

Nonetheless, FHSA has been licensed by Nepal:

http://www.mowcsw.gov.np/opensection.php?secid=483

Nepal Children’s Organization (NCO/Bal Mandir — where Pradhan was once a board member) has been at the center of kidnapping allegations for many years. See Nchild for details:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nchild/message/3774

Nepal Children’s Organization is particularly notorious for its attitude to special needs children:

http://web.archive.org/web/20080517120756/http://www.stichting-veldwerk.org/kindertehuis02_e/samjana.html

In 2006, the French Foreign Service blacklisted NCO/Bal Mandir:

http://pearadoptinfo-nepal.blogspot.com/2009/11/nepali-adoptions-french-warnings_23.html

Nepal Children’s Organization (NCO/Bal Mandir) website:

http://www.nconepal.org/front/index.php

Child NGO Federation Nepal (CNFN) website:

http://www.cnfnepal.org/ex_comm.php

What is grotesque and unbelievable is that NCO/Bal Mandir was given a separate matching board in the 2008 adoption “reforms” — the 2008 Terms and Conditions:

http://www.mowcsw.gov.np/uploads/Child%20adoption%20details/3521Terms,Con.of%20adpn%20of%20Nepali%20Child.pdf

Equally disturbing is the fact that the 2008 Terms and Conditions gave the Child NGO Federation Nepal (the organization Pradhan heads) a seat on the Investigation, Recommendation & Monitoring Committee.

More recently, the new “Child’s Right Fund” of February 2010 requires all foreign adoption agencies to conclude a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the CNFN and gives the CNFN a seat on the fund’s management committee. The fund should bring in $800,000 a year ($10,000 per agency).

For no apparent reason, 10% of the fund goes to NCO/ Bal Mandir (a private NGO that is often mistakenly called “the government orphanage”).

And there is no reasonable explanation as to why another private organization (the Child NGO Federation Nepal) is at the center of this whole process. The government’s Central Child Welfare Board (CCWB) would have been the logical choice. The CCWB is also missing from the fund’s management committee.

20% of the fund goes to “monitoring” even though the government’s $3000 fee (for each adoption) already covers “monitoring.” Another 20% goes to “research.” 5% to “overhead.”

Meanwhile Sabitri Basnet (another CNFN board member) is at the center of the Helpless Children Protection Home (HCPH) scandals:

http://pearadoptinfo-nepal.blogspot.com/2010/02/dalit-couple-foils-adoption-of.html

And Maya Sunar Tamata (yet another controversial CNFN board member) runs the Children Welfare Home (CWH) — which was also blacklisted by the French:

http://pearadoptinfo-nepal.blogspot.com/2009/11/nepali-adoptions-french-warnings_23.html

Then there is Kedar Dahal of World Nepal — a CNFN board member & a current NCO/Bal Mandir board member:

http://www.nconepal.org/front/centralCom.php

Other CNFN members are equally controversial.

According to Gorkhapatra (the government newspaper), “8 Embassies including Germany have written the ministry to remove CNFN from the adoption committees, but the president of CNFN accused the attitude of the embassies being revengeful.”

From:

http://pearadoptinfo-nepal.blogspot.com/2010/02/activities-of-child-homes-suspicious.html

The Hague’s Nepal report was particularly blunt:

“A conflict of interest arises from the inclusion of the orphanages’ representatives on the Investigation, Recommendation and Monitoring Committee. The role of this committee is to actively investigate and verify the accuracy and authenticity of the information and documents on each child’s file which is prepared by the orphanage directors and staff. Representatives of orphanage directors should not be permitted to investigate themselves as this creates a clear conflict of interest. This work should be done by independent and skilled professionals who have no connections with orphanages, either directly or indirectly…. The involvement of CNFN on the Investigation, Recommendation and Monitoring Committee should not continue as it creates a conflict of interest and the credibility of the investigation may be questioned. Therefore, CNFN should not be involved in any mechanism that investigates dossiers or makes recommendations on adoptability.”

Meanwhile, in the Kathmandu Post, CNFN Chairman Prachanda Raj Pradhan has claimed that the Hague’s Nepal report “was prepared with a view to tarnishing the country’s image. It is far from truth.”

From:

http://pearadoptinfo-nepal.blogspot.com/2010/02/state-sees-no-loopholes-in-adoption_07.html

The foreign embassies & the Hague Conference Mission are clearly right in insisting that the Child NGO Federation Nepal be removed from all adoption activities. Nepal Children’s Organization should be dissolved as well, and its homes handed over to an organization with a less unsavory reputation. Perhaps Next Generation Nepal or the Umbrella Foundation.

PEAR NEPAL