There are thousands of homeless, orphaned and starving children in Nepal, and child adoption is one way to take care of them. I can understand a processing fee of $2,500 as a valid amount to pay for adoption. But children's organisations in Kathmandu want anywhere up to $17,000 for a child. I am a Nepali living in the USA and want to help. But this puts adoption beyond my reach. I don't want to buy a child, I want to adopt one. Orphanages and children's homes should give overseas Nepali couples first priority. I have been told by one government orphanage that if I go through an agency, I can have a baby girl in a few weeks, otherwise my application will be placed at the bottom of the list. What kind of reasoning is this? Obviously adoption is now a big business obeying only the rules of supply and demand. Can your paper help us highlight this unforgivable commercialism?

Kisan Upadhaya,
Duke University, USA