A trade in Fake Orphans is being driven by western donations | Foreign Correspondent 

Hey Guys, thanks so much for watching and giving us your questions, here are your answers. Matt Coller Q: We saw the transit home, and the return to the Devi's village, but could you tell us more about these 'orphanages' themselves? I imagine to well-meaning western tourists they look like happy places with happy children, but the deeper implications may be harder to recognise ? A: Foreign Correspondent did not visit any working orphanages during our visit to Nepal. Certainly, some reports we read from people who have or who continue to volunteer with or donate to orphanages in Nepal described the environment they witnessed as happy. Others never saw the actual orphanage or children in person - they donated based on pamphlets or other material, including photographs. Matt Coller Q: One of the men in the village says "We worked so hard for them to get an education." Does he mean they were paying monetarily, or had to work for it in some other way? A: He means they worked hard to earn the money that would pay for the child’s education, as well as travel costs, food and accommodation. The amount paid by each child’s family or parent varied. In Devi’s mother’s case, it was 10,000 Nepal Rupees - equivalent to about 3 months’ wages. Other parents paid substantially more and even went into debt to gather the necessary funds. shazmosushi Q: Even in the developed world there are many cases of 'babies switched at birth', and like it or not it's easy for any parent to accidentally claim a child as their own if they're now 13 and haven't seen them since they were 4. Especially since some children won't even have any baby photos. The video said (at timestamp 7:00) that known fraudulent orphanages are producing fraudulent birth certificates and death certificates, so these orphanages are clearly untrustworthy and trying to cover their tracks. Also in developing countries officials can be bribed to do anything. So how does this 'Forget Me Not' foundation make sure the children are actually being returned to the correct families? This might sound callous but it honestly sounds like someone with a lack of understanding of third world dynamics who has already been duped into spending time and money to causing major problems (funding fake orphanages) might be doing it again causing more problems (by returning children to the wrong families). A: It’s a long and painstaking process. Forget Me Not works with all different kinds of evidence to establish that the children are returning to their correct families. This includes DNA testing where appropriate. The assessment process for children being reunited is rigorous and involves assessing the psycho-social, financial, community and other support required. It is coupled with intense counselling and social work to ensure that children are ready to return home, and that families are prepared to receive them. There is also no direct financial benefit for the families as any costs that are funded are sent directly to the relevant provider (i.e. school fees/medical fees etc). Jason Kidney Q: Are any of the orphanages connected to organizations like World Vision or Unicef? A: In recent years, as awareness of orphanage trafficking has grown, many charities and NGOs that deal with international development and children have reassessed their relationships with orphanages. Some no-longer fund, promote or support orphanages - whether ‘real’ or ‘fake’ - in any way. Foreign Correspondent suggests you do your own research regarding the policies of specific organisations.

Bless that woman for recognising that Nepalis are the people for the job not foreign volunteers.

I would love to see updates on Devi every year. She seems like such a lovely child.

My parents opened an orphanage in Kenya as well as a free school and set up a community well and stuff. It was their dream on life I guess. Anyway, people could sponsor a child and actually get videos and send gifts and make personal visits and stuff. But. Within the year we realized something was wrong and investigation revealed the workers we hired, especially the director had stacked the orphanage with their own kids and friends kids. Out of 100 orphans 76 were...not orphans. Had to close down and rehire new people and put monitors in place. Eventually reopened with only 50 orphans. It took years of work to get the orphanage to run right. Then we handed it over to a local board. Now we just visit a few times a year and raise money to install new playground equipment, uniforms, etc. would not recommend anyone open an orphanage unless you are willing to either live there full time or make surprise visits once a month. Even lawyers who are put in charge or local politicians see money and wonder how to get a cut. It’s sad really. The best thing we did was make the orphanage self sufficient by building chicken coops so they could sell eggs, planting avocado trees (they make HUgE avocados in Kenya) and donating pedal sewing machines and stuff.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

I wish the mother would hug Devi :( That's all she wanted :(

Poor Devi that lovely girl, please have her be well

Not a whole lot of affection in that family, but I guess it’s a tough life.

There is an underlying assumption made by all in this story; that being returned to the family is the best thing for the child. Poverty begets other ills that the presumption of "love" doesn't cancel out. I'm disquieted by how this was not addressed. I am glad they followed the story of Devi. It was a relief in some ways, but it felt like a cliff hanger (pun not intended).

Nepal is not the only country that has such practices It is common in Vietnam and has been going on for years. Lived there for over 20 years and know that it was going on in Vung Tau and Ho chi Minh City..

This breaks my heart 💔.. it seems the family's do not really want these kids back.. thank goodness someone is trying to help everyone involved.

*I think the U.S. should forbid adopting children from foreign nation's unless if there are no more children left domestically. So many people say they want to help a child when there are 800,000 forgotten here*

Poor Devi, the first thing her mother said to her after all that time was "out of my way". I think she would be really better off in the orphanage, her life in that village will be very hard and she's not really welcomed

Lol no it’s not that the “demand” for orphans is high, more like money & those kids are an easy source of revenue unfortunately

Please keep contact with Devi, I think she should have the option to leave her village as she gets older, she is too worldly now for that kind of lifestyle. and not sure if her mother is going to give her the love she needs! Devi may have gotten more love from all the people who helped her to get back home!

It is a complex issue. There are children who genuinely need a home when family structures are not intact. There are genuinely good homes where children receive quality care, education and love. There are also more dangerous people who will prey on poor families' desperation and ignorance. Many have sent their childten to work and they ended in brothels. And some families are broken. Step children and daughters are sometimes neglected and unloved or abused at home. This is the other side of the story. To try to stop donations to "orphanages" means some kids will not have an alternative. What is needed is less corruption at the VDC level, so that false papers cannot be made to say they are orphaned. And strict criteria for which children can be admitted to children's homes when there is a surviving parent. Single moms in rural areas may not be able to feed their children. Single fathers will remarry and maybe the step mom will care, but they will be less favoured than the new mom's own kids. Step fathers seldom care for kids not their own. It is possible that grandparents or aunts may help such families, but again, these children are seen as burdens and may not be well cared for or loved when resources are meagre. There are no easy solutions in any country when family structures break down due to death, abandonment or divorce. There are fewer good solutions for children in Nepal.

lits like crossing the last line of Inhumanity to make disgusting money this is disgusting of this Napali people separating children from parents and family to make them suffer physiologically and many other ways !!!

This used to happen in the US not even that long ago. Many people would abruptly leave their children at orphanages or a "boys/girls 'home'" (even until the 50s/60s). This is a great doc because it really shows how complex poverty issues really are--- many people simply believe it could all be fixed with money, but the very desperately poor are up against many more challenges than just obtaining basic material needs.

she says she happy she got Devi back. she ran to the guys and prayed to them or what not. imagine your separated and you get home you finally see your mom go n try to hug her and she's like "get off". doesn't seem too happy

It's so easy to think that the grass is greener on the other side. Poverty brings such perversion of human values. How beautifull the himalayas are!

That was such a powerful documentary!

When I was child I don’t remember bonding with my parents I felt they they were strict! But deep in their heart I never found so selfish in them , God bless you all

This is so saddening beyond words. Ignorance is truly bliss as some will say. These families don't even know why the kids are home.

My opinion is kids should stay at Katmandu for their education.

This happens a lot under various guises of "helping" all over the world to parents.

😊 This’s a beautiful thing to see happening. The best place for a child to grow is for sure in a family. It’s a child’s right to grow in a family. I hope this will be duplicated globally i.e. Orphanages diminishing and families getting strengthened. Thank you for loudly speaking about it

What courageous beautiful children.

@20:53 This part was hard to watch , and made me sick to my stomach. How can you not have love and affection towards your child?! 💔 😥

Anyone who's worked closely with orphanages knows that this stuff goes on, but most people are too caught up in their own empathy to admit it. Especially when they've payed thousands of dollars to partake in the morbid business that is the human misery trade (aka humanitarian industry). If you want to help, donate to your local church where they can directly assist members of your own community. Stay out of third world countries where things are inevitably corrupt and child exploitation is rife.

Out of the way.😓😥

So... Never donate? Got it!

I am so glad we decided to cancel our plans to adopt and went the IVF route instead. I would rather go my life without children than to adopt and wonder if my child actually had a family who misses them. The whole adoption thing seems selfish to me.

This is so upsetting I’m crying

This is EXACTLY why I talk about transracial adoption on my channel even though it isn't popular. People hear "adoptive parent" and think "saint", but in reality many of these people are NOT stable, they are VERY selfish and driven by ego, and they are NOT treating the children like humans or even thinking critically in their zeal to be the savior of other communities they see as less than their own. If you really care about foreigners, donate to keep families together. Stop falling for scams that are clearly simplifying major issues and are obviously way too perfect for your situation to be true.

Could I get the reporter or producer to contact me as this is the burning issue

All Devy wanted was a hug from mum, but she shoved her away like yesterday’s garbage. It seems as if, all the mum worries about is education, but what good is it, if your soul is empty and damaged? Whether rich or poor, we should feed our children’s souls, because love is the 🔑 key. This piece is troubling and sad on all counts. Sad affairs really! 🥂🥂🥂🥂🥂🥂🥂Cheers and 🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺beers mates!

So are donors willing to pay for their Education otherwise ?

Oh my lawrd. Nepalese women are breath takenly beautiful

Fraud operations! Need to catch all the crooks and their Families selling their souls for money and some unknowing what happened to their kids! That's why I would never donate to a profit organization. So happy that Alicia had a happy ending. Side note: they are all so beautiful

Wow. I had NO idea!!!!

What are the names of the criminal "charity" organizations?????

I got some more questions for you. How exactly does this scam work? Is it only individuals buying into the scam or is it also charity organizations? If people are donating sight unseen, why do they need any kids at all? They could just get some pictures of kids and sell it that way, why actually have kids? If some people come to visit the orphanage, how can they get away with having them in bad cramped shape? Just blame it all on poverty? And again, why would they need so many kids, just "sell" (as in solicit for donations) the same kids over and over again. Since it's a scam in the first place, I don't see why they would need to invent more orphans to keep up with some demand. If people come to donate their own time to the orphanage, how does that profit the scammers? They hand money over to the scammers at the same time? Wouldn't it be easier to just buy the kids what they need directly and thus the scammers wouldn't profit? What about actual orphans? You say organizations have stopped providing aid for orphanages, but children without families they can go to, either because of death or abuse or whatever, do exist. Are you doing anything for families that weren't caught up in this? For the poverty in general? If efforts are only going to the families that handed their kids over, isn't that just encouraging more people to do it again in the future? Is anything done to fix toxic culture among these rural communities, like that bit where the mom feels she needs to bow to all the men first and ignores her daughter she is reuniting with after a long time. Are these schools taught by modern thinking teachers or by people from the community?

Cute Devi... wish you bright future! Shine like your smile

Here are a few questions: who have defined this people group as “poor” people who are living in a “developing” nation? According to what standard are they supposed to be developing into? How about if the folks who are so concerned: i.e. those from the Western world, would simply go live amongst them and educate them exactly where they live? Meaning, instead of supporting a trade or practice that takes the children from their homes and families, folks would instead BECOME one with the home and families. One would raise your financial support and use it to sustain yourself and your host family and village.

i really like how you blame us in the west for the Napal scammers.TY!

Some of the families seem worse than the orphanages.

This right here is why I'll never help a child. You just can't trust them or their situation.

Also this entire thing was very confusing for ne

They shouldn't have spoken in front of the children

This stuff really happens. Only have to travel to the 3rd world and stick around for awhile and you will see it and hear of it.

Why is the camera in the girl’s face at 6:20-27?? So inhumane

All westerners need to end foreign aid and all of the 'charity'. it boosts third world populations[band aid boosted ethiopias population by 50 million in 30 years] and leads to abuse like this as well as future instability.

Humla is one of the most remote region of Nepal. As a Nepali living in Australia I believe a lot of Nepalese are equally unaware of these illegal orphanage as there is no governing body to keep them in check. In some parts of Nepal, illegal Indian doctors have been coming for years to take out Kidneys of poor rural Nepalese in the name of health treatment. The government is yet to control this as well. Only economic growth, quality education and awareness can uplift Nepal from poverty.

So many souls in this world...... Trying to do wrong the right way.....

*Please take in consideration im talking specifically about this case, and ONLY this case* *EDIT: i want to specify that i dont consider all children to be fake-orphans, ofc there must be real orphans, AND they 're also victims of this, because kids with families who can take care of them are taking their food, shelter and care, this is so sad, it makes me mad but the sadness is worst, because you have them living in hunger because parents of other kids dont care about taking food from helpless children that are alone in their country* I understand why they do it, but that doesnt mean i support it, when i give money to charities i expect that money to be used on people that really need it, and dont get me wrong, i know these kids might need the support, but there are other places and countries where the situation is far, far worse and even when i feel sad about this kids situation, theyre not in the same danger as other kids in the world, i'm not donating to developing countries' welfare budget, im donating to people who could live or die depending on the help charities are able to provide, not because it makes me feel better, but because we cant raise the dead, its as simple as that, i rather see some kids living in poverty WITH their families than digging more infant graves because of famine and lack of the most basic healthcare. These kids are not orphans, and the parents are literally making charities raise their kids for free. Ive been raised in a family where my parents spent the day working and i've barely seen them, we were poor and still my parents took care of me the best they could, i understand these people might not have the money, but that doesnt mean its right for the parents of these kids to take the food from kids dying just because they can, stealing from dying kids is so low i cant even begin to express how im feeling. I understand what living in poverty can do to people, but even in poverty you can find people with morals and humanity, there are not degrees of humanity you just have it or dont. Being in need doesnt make you deserving of, it doesnt make you entitled to the best care, it just makes you worthy of the best help we can give you right now, but not the only one nor the most important.

So much poverty yet the children’s mothers have gold hoops in their noses and giant gold coin-looking things in their ears. The gold alone must’ve cost a fortune as I won’t ever see that much gold in my lifetime. In fact they look like those large gold chocolate coins we put in Christmas Stockings here in the UK. I think it’s a particularly stunning place where Devi’s family live.

The muslim fund, muslim hands, just gives money to the family , and does tell that children live at home, and you can just sponsor the child, and help the family that way. No need for lies.

Sad story but Stolen generation was worse than this..😒😒