The National Commission for Woman and Children (NCWC) along with the High Court, the National Referral Hospital and the Royal Bhutan Police are working on adoption guidelines in order to formalize the process of child adoption in Bhutan.
Till now there was no formal procedure for child adoption, the focal person from NCWC, Chuki Penjor told BT. “NCWC will facilitate and formalize the whole procedure. The final sanction will come from the court.”
So far Bhutan also did not have a legal procedure.
Drangpon Tshering Wangchuk of the High Court said that “only one provision from the Inheritance Act – that an adopted child is legally entitled to inherit property; and one from the resolution of the 67th session of the National Assembly were taken into consideration while adopting a child.”
“The NCWC is coming up with adoption guidelines which the judiciary might approve as an Act in future,” he added.
During the 67th session of the National Assembly in 1988, the Ministry of Home Affairs reported that numerous cases of adoption of non-nationals by Bhutanese had been observed. In that context, many representatives stated that adoption of children should be permitted from birth to the age of 5 to 7 years only.
The ministry reported that adoption of children should be permitted provided that cases are processed through Thrimkhangs (courts). The Assembly then approved the proposal of the ministry.
Yet, in many cases, adoptions were not undertaken through legal channels.
The maternity nurses at the Thimphu hospital had personally initiated to help patients who wanted to abandon their child by calling for adoption from childless parents. The chief nurse of the maternity ward, Geeta Giri, maintains a list of registered parents who want to adopt a child.
“Initially, we used to just call up friends who wanted to adopt a child. But from last year we started to maintain a register which has the list of parents and their contact numbers who want or wanted to adopt a child,” said Geeta Giri. “Since NCWC has taken charge of facilitating adoption, we call them up whenever a patient opts to give away her child for adoption.”
The formal registration for adoption was initiated on March 15, 2006, and it has 37 registered names till date. The register maintains the contact numbers of the parents who want to adopt a child. The procedure is on a first come first serve basis.
“We call up according to the serial number in the register but sometimes the couple is not reachable so we move on to the next in line,” said Geeta Giri adding that “so far we have handed over three boys and three girls for adoption.”
The adoption of a child is fully based on the mother’s choice.
“First we try to convince the mother not to abandon the baby. However, since they insist on giving away their babies hoping for better care from the adopted parents, they leave the baby right after birth,” said Geeta Giri.
Internal sources revealed that most of the abandoned cases are a result of teenage pregnancy and fatherless child. “Of all the cases we have handled, none of the mothers have ever come back to enquire about their babies,” said Geeta Giri.
Observers also pointed out the need to have a proper guideline for adoption.
“We are talking about the life of a child when we talk about adoption,” said a Thimphu civil servant. “Therefore, the whole process should be legal and the child adopted should be guaranteed every rights and privileges that other children have in a family.”
The Bhutanese trend of seeking adoption is also slightly different. Parents with children of their own were not so keen on adopting other people’s children. It was those with no kids of their own who usually sought to adopt a child.
A corporate employee in Thimphu waited for almost four years to have his own baby. But when several check-ups and visits to the hospital revealed that both his wife and him were barren they decided on adoption. Today, he lives happily with a baby boy.
However, now that NCWC is formally endorsing adoption guidelines, any form of adoption has to go through the commission and the court for approval.
“There are certain criteria to be fulfilled by parents who want to adopt a child. NCWC is developing a form which will have details and requirements for adoption that will be ultimately sanctioned by the court,” said Chuki Penjor, adding that “NCWC will facilitate all adoption cases in the absence of an adoption act and an adoption agency.” Source: Bhutan Times
