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 | Vietnam Adoptions... Finally
by Kim Phagan-Hansel |
Adoptions from Vietnam have come a long way since an estimated 2,000 children were evacuated from Saigon in 1975 during Operation Babylift. Today Vietnam is turning a new page in adoption history as it prepares to reopen adoptions to the United States and Canada after imposing a moratorium three years ago.
Stating the desire to revamp the system, Vietnam stopped accepting new dossiers from the United States and several other countries in January 2003. Many believe this was Vietnam’s way of addressing the underlying corruption that was taking place with many intercountry adoptions from there.
“I believe they closed due to pressure from the United States because of unscrupulous activities taking place in Vietnam,” said Nicky Losse, Vietnam program director for Children’s Hope International in St. Louis, Mo.
As Vietnam prepares to reopen with a new centralized system in place, there is speculation as to what to expect. As agencies and prospective parents wait in anticipation, it is unknown how the system will actually work.
“We are encouraged with their plans,” said Deniese Dillon, executive director of Dillon International in Tulsa, Okla.
Dillon has received new guidelines from the Vietnam Ministry of Justice’s Department of International Adoptions, as have other agencies petitioning to relicense in Vietnam. The biggest change will involve adoptions functioning on a centralized system based out of Hanoi. Before the shutdown, adoptions were handled individually with each province.
“They have developed a central office in Hanoi and have gone through a series of revamping the system,” Dillon said. “The provincial control will continue to be there, but it will be in cooperation with Hanoi.”
Vietnam has established this system in the hopes of creating a smoother program with fewer holes for unethical practices to slip through.
“They saw a lot of flaws in the (old) system and wanted to do a lot of upgrading in serving children,” Dillon said. “They are making every effort to deal with corruptions . . . that occurred in the past.”
Unlike earlier speculation, the Vietnam system will not mirror China’s centralized system. Instead, referrals will still come out of the individual provinces, but the Hanoi office will double check the paperwork to make sure everything is properly handled.
“In the past, Vietnam didn’t do as good a job making sure the children were really available for adoption,” Losse said. “We hope that it really will make sure the adoptions are accurate now.”
In the past many of the problems stemmed from the use of Vietnamese facilitators in the country. Some agencies were paying their facilitators based on how many children were adopted, which opened the door for unethical practices like baby trafficking.
One such high profile case was Carrie West’s attempted 2000 adoption of a little Vietnamese girl, Tran Thi Thuy, who in reality was already living with her adoptive parents in Saipan. In the ultimate bait and switch scheme, West lost thousands of dollars in donations and adoption fees for a child who was never even available. What came out of the case was an eye-opening experience for Vietnam and the United States as agencies were shutdown and facilitators reprimanded for their involvement. Today West continues to advocate on behalf of adoption reform.
“As adoptive parents, we understand the reluctance by some to view international adoption fraud as the growing threat that it is,” West said. “Some regard the issue to be one that affects only the smallest percentage of families adopting today. While ours and many cases like it, may not represent the majority of families adopting internationally, the number of families coming forward to report fraud is growing.”
For reasons like these, Children’s Hope International stopped using facilitators in Vietnam years ago. They realized there was too much opportunity for baby selling and other unethical practices when facilitators are paid on a per adoption basis.
“You have to have someone on the ground over there to facilitate adoptions,” Losse said. “We stopped hiring facilitators a long time ago and instead we hire staff, and they are all salaried positions.”
Now agencies are required to register each person who will work on Vietnam adoptions both in the United States and Vietnam. It’s hoped all of these safeguards will lead to a more ethical and uncorrupt system. This all comes from Vietnam’s desire to help its children and have a smooth adoption system.
Not only is Vietnam wanting to do more for the children, but so are the agencies that were once facilitating Vietnam adoptions, which can be witnessed in their continued commitment to Vietnam’s children despite the shutdown. Agencies like Dillon International and Children’s Hope International, among others, never left.
“We were going to stay and help,” Dillon said. “We don’t just do adoptions.”
So Dillon International stayed in Vietnam to help the Vietnamese children. Through its program orphanCare International, Dillon International has provided a water treatment system and a concrete playground at the orphanage in Vinh Long. They have also supported orphanages in other provinces with educational scholarships, medical support and general funding for the benefit of the orphanage.
Other agencies like Children’s Hope International also remained in Vietnam to do humanitarian work. Losse said Children’s Hope has spent more than $100,000 a year to provide services for children in orphanages.
“Those children have better food and medical care and are going to school,” Dillon said. “I’ll never regret a dime we’ve spent if adoptions never happen again.”
But fortunately, adoptions are going to resume so children without parents can be united with loving families in other countries. Some families have been waiting to adopt since Vietnam shutdown, others are just signing up for the new program.
Many are anxious to get things going, but the process has been slow since the bilateral agreement was signed in June 2005. Since then agencies have been applying for licensing and many are just waiting to hear they are approved.
“All of us are going to have to be patient in order for this to work,” Dillon said.
At press time Dillon International and Children’s Hope International were expecting their licensing approvals within a few weeks. Once the agencies receive the license they will start the paperwork for families wanting to adopt from Vietnam.
Losse said some of their families are already matched with special needs children and have started on their paperwork, families requesting healthy children will start being processed once the license is received. She hopes the first group of families will travel this spring or early summer.
For more information about Vietnam adoptions, visit www.adoptvietnam.org.
To contact Dillon International, visit www.dillonadopt.com or call (918) 749-4600.
To contact Children’s Hope International, visit www.childrenshopeint.org or call (314) 890-0086.
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