A letter to our representatives and government officials

Below is a letter that I urge you to send to your representatives and government officials.

A Holiday Wish

74 American families are facing a heart-breaking holiday season this year due to U.S. policy in Nepal. Some families are stranded in Kathmandu - many since August - as they await visas for their newly adopted children. Other parents remain in the U.S. while their newly adopted children stagnate in orphanages in Nepal. These parents wait helplessly for visas knowing that every day their child spends in an orphanage is a developmental disaster.

They need to come home to America. Some of the children awaiting visas have developmental delays due to malnutrition or institutionalization. Other children have diseases caused by nutritional deficits. Orphanages struggle to provide the children two meals per day - most can't afford to serve meat, fresh fruit or milk. These kids are surviving on rice, lentils, and unsafe water.

The families farthest along in the process have spent tens of thousands of dollars in legal and investigation fees and on extended in-country stays. This is in addition to the costs to adopt internationally. At least one family in the group is being forced to sell their house to bring home their daughter. Others risk losing their jobs or income as they stay in Nepal for an extended period. Several are taking out loans and/or soliciting donations from friends and families. The policies of the US Government are placing these new families at severe financial risk on their return in an already tough economy – this cannot be in anyone’s best interest.

The families are undergoing tremendous emotional, financial and, in some cases, physical hardship and all for one reason: our children. These children are our sons and daughters. They are truly abandoned. We cannot give up on them and leave them in orphanages in a country that is not only impoverished but also has a caste system which ensures that these orphans, as casteless adults, will face rampant discrimination.

Please, it is in your power to grant our Holiday Wish. The U.S. Embassy in Nepal has now completed all investigations and though they will not confirm this directly, what we can gather is that NOT ONE of these cases revealed any evidence of fraud or child trafficking. They are denying our children visas because they can’t prove there WASN’T fraud. The assumption is – against all evidence to the contrary -- that all documentation from the orphanages, police and hospitals is fraudulent. A conspiracy this large would be impossible to keep secret (just as it was no secret in Vietnam and Cambodia), yet no evidence of money changing hands, documents being forged or children being sold has been found. For those families that haven't yet spent the tens of thousands of dollars it will take to adjudicate cases through USCIS in New Delhi, let them save that money for college funds instead.

Please grant us our Holiday Wish to allow the families to bring their children home this month. Please grant the the visas they need to travel home to America.

Thank you.

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