Kathmandu, Nepal (AHN) – American couple Haydn Hilling and his wife Edvige Hilling desperately want to take their adopted Nepali child home. Three weeks ago, the Nepali authorities approved their adoption petition. They are now waiting for the decision from another authority — the American Embassy in Kathmandu.
The Hillings, with their two-year-old adopted son Kailash, are mounting a campaign to have their voices heard. But the United States goverment recently imposed an adoption ban on Nepali children citing “malpractice in adoption process,” according to the Katmandu Post.
Following the approval from the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare, the couple went straight to the embassy seeking approval of their adoption process to take Kailash home. However, their request was turned down by embassy officials who said that they were dissatisfied with some of the adoption documents. “I am really disappointed and embarrassed,” she told the Post, who already has a seven-year-old adopted daughter Liliann.
She added that there was no valid reason to suspect the documents that were already approved by Nepali authorities. The Hillings have already spent more than one-and-a-half years getting the necessary paperwork required to adopt Kailash, but now the process has come to a standstill.
The ban went into effect on August 6. “In order to protect the rights and interests of certain Nepali children and their families, and of US prospective adoptive parents, the Department of State and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) have jointly decided to suspend adjudication of new adoption petitions and related visa issuance for children who are described as having been abandoned in Nepal,” American officials said in a statement.
The couple is in such a bind that it can neither leave the child in the orphanage from where it brought him, but they are running out of time to stay in the country. “We cannot think of leaving the child in a destitute home as we have developed a close bond with him,” said Haydn. “We are having a tough time deciding what to do.”
Their daughter Liliann, within a short span of time, has started playing with her prospective brother and snuggling up to him in bed as if he were her blood sibling, the couple admits.
The couple is struggling to convince Liliann why her brother is unlikely to be allowed to travel to their new home. “It is a violation of our rights,” said Haydn. “The U.S. officials should trust the Nepali authorities’ investigation and protect our right to adopt the child.”
Envige even went on to say that she would leave the U.S. and stay in Nepal if Washington does not allow them to take the child home. Haydn said he was ready to hand over the child if his biological parents are found. “Kailash had been staying in Sagarmatha Orphanage for two years without knowing about his biological parents,” he said.
Documents show that police had found Kailash unclaimed in the capital and handed him over to the orphanage. The U.S. State Department maintains that the ban was taken to protect the rights and interests of Nepali children and their families. However, Haydn says the decision is not in favor of the children as it is the right of the children to live in a good environment and lead a healthy life. Haydn is now planning to return home, leaving his wife in Kathmandu to convince the embassy officials.
He says he will take the child home at any cost. “I am ready fight a legal battle for the rest of my life to take the child home,” he said. As luck would have it, the HIllings couldn’t have a child even after 20 years of marriage. They had decided to adopt a child from Nepal. The Haydn couple is not alone. There are several American couples facing a similar situation in Nepal, according to another U.S. citizen Mark Barrett, who is a prospective father of Nepali children. They all hope that their call will be heard by the US authorities.
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