In this opinion piece from the Guardian, Claire Bennett from Learning Service, who lives and works in Nepal, writes about volunteering in Nepal in response to the recent earthquake and the potential negative impacts involved.

This article, from the Australian Women’s Weekly, sheds light on the abuses of international surrogacy.

The Cabinet minister of women and child development (WCD) is dissatisfied with the progress made on the inquiry into the alleged child marriage racket being run at the Mahila Swikar Kendra orphanage in Baramati, India and has therefore ordered a high-level inquiry into these offenses, says the article.

This study was aimed at assessing growth and developmental outcomes of children living in orphanages in Odisha, India aged birth to 72 months and to make recommendations for “possible remedial measures” for addressing poor growth and developmental outcomes for children in institutions.

Local authorities in Kathmandu, Nepal have removed 16 children from a children’s shelter where they had been living in “horrible conditions,” according to the article.

A Parliamentary panel in India has recently rejected a proposal for intercountry adoptions of orphaned children, according to the article.

OVERVIEW

The Indian government has launched Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for the reunification and rehabilitation of children separated from their families at 20 big railway stations in the country, according to the article.

A recent police investigation in Baramati, India has revealed that a local girls’ orphanage has been running a child marriage racket, according to this article from Pune Mirror.

A correspondent from the Daily Star in Bangladesh investigated an “orphanage” at Angaria village in Dumki upazila that was receiving government funds.