How long has your agency been in business?
11 years.
- How long specifically in Vietnam –
1 year this time around.
- Who are the facilitators working on behalf of Wasatch Adoptions?
We have a husband and wife working for us, but only the wife is registered with the U.S. Consulate. Her name is Trang Le and her picture is on our website. Her husband’s name is Kien Le.
- How long have each of your facilitators worked in Vietnam adoptions and in what capacity?
Trang and her husband began working for us about a year and a half ago. We worked in Vietnam before the last shut down and decided to find a new facilitator to work with so we could have more oversight. Trang and Kien had never worked in adoptions before agreeing to work with our agency, but they are very smart, college educated, and learned the process very quickly. We are 100% satisfied with their work and can completely vouch for their honesty and integrity.
- Where is your agency’s office in Vietnam?
Our office is located in Hanoi.
- How many Vietnam staff work for your agency in Vietnam in any capacity?
Trang and Kien work for us as our main representatives and staff in Vietnam. We have another staff person, a young woman named Jean, who assists them when needed. Both Trang and Kien have other jobs in Vietnam and their work for Wasatch is only part time.
- What humanitarian aid projects does your agency run?
Our agency has donated money towards a new building which will house the babies living there while they wait to be adopted. We have also donated many electric powered sewing machines to a school for teenage girls who are learning to sew clothing. Before our donation, these girls were using tredle machines
We also sponsor a project for the villages in the Phu Tho Province in which needy families can sign up on our waiting list for a cow. We solicit donations and when we have enough money to purchase a cow, that cow is given to a family on our waiting list. The families sign a contract promising to take good care of the cow and give our facilitators any calves that are born to these cows so the calves can be given to another deserving family.
These programs are run and managed by our agency. Whenever a purchase of a sewing machine or cow is made, we receive original receipts documenting the amount spent. Our facilitators, Trang and Kien, make the purchases on our behalf.
- What humanitarian projects, if any, did your agency participate in during the shutdown?
Wasatch sent money each month to an orphanage in Hoa Binh. Unfortunately, we were not able to get an agreement to work in that Province when Vietnam reopened, and at that point we began putting our money towards the orphanage we work with in Phu Tho.
- How much money does your agency dedicate to humanitarian aid per year?
We have no set amount but do what we can when we can afford to do so. This past year we have spent around $8,000 in humanitarian aid – not too bad for only placing 2 children this year from Vietnam.
- What orphanages does your agency support?
Wasatch Adoptions helps with the support of a small orphanage in the Phu Tho Province. The orphanage director at this orphanage is Dr. Ton. Dr. Ton does his best to take care of the children living there, and the staff is caring and devoted. We like this orphanage a lot because the babies are not tied down but are allowed to crawl around and explore. They are right on track with motor development and although they are a bit skinny and could use more food, they are well cared for.
- What kind of oversight does your agency provide in orphanages to ensure that orphanages are acting ethically and children are being kept safe and healthy?
Realistically we have absolutely no oversight at all because it is not our orphanage. However, our facilitators make weekly visits to this orphanage and update us regularly on the health status of the children. We feel comfortable after visiting this orphanage several times that it is well run and the children are safe.
- Would you be willing to share a copy of your contract as a public record for interested potential adoptive parents to pursue via our website?
I don’t have a copy of the contract but would be happy to email our facilitators to see if they will send it to us.
- Does your contract contain any gag clause?
No.
- Has your agency been threatened with or received a NOID since January 2006?
No.
- What efforts does your agency employ to encourage ethical adoptions in Vietnam?
We have met with the orphanage director and given him the criteria children need to meet in order to be adopted by U.S. families. We know Dr. Ton has worked with U.S. agencies in the past and currently works with other U.S. agencies as well as our agency. He understands perfectly well what is required by USCIS and follows the rules at all time. Phu Tho has already been investigated last year by USCIS and Dr. Ton’s orphanage was found to have absolutely no infractions – unlike the bigger orphanage located in Phu Tho. We do our best to follow the rules and ask that any referral given to us have clear cut paperwork with everything in order before we ever offer a referral to a potential adoptive family.
- How many adoptions have you completed?
We have only completed 2 adoptions. Wasatch Adoptions was the last agency to be licensed in Vietnam and we received our license in December of 2006. We work in a Province that is really overloaded with agencies and referrals have come slowly. Because of this we didn’t allow very many families in to this program and limited the people we allowed to go forward to only 10.
- How many waiting families are currently in your program?
We have 8 families who are dossier ready who are waiting for referrals. However, we have suspended our Vietnam program right now because we are worried that this country is headed for another closure. We are trying to talk to all waiting families to offer them other options at this point. We are very worried that the U.S. Department of State has no intentions of signing an new MOU and so are not allowing any new families to go forward until things are more settled.
- Is there any other information your agency wishes to share about its Vietnam program that might help parents in search of ethical adoptions make a very difficult agency decision?
The only thing I can say at this point is that Wasatch is committed to a very ethical approach to any adoption program we offer. If something is not going well with a country program we always let our families know immediately. The current families in our Vietnam program were sent letters followed up by a personal phone call when things began to unravel in Vietnam a few weeks ago letting them know there were potential problems looming.
Wasatch could have easily accepted 100 families in to this program when we began advertising Vietnam, but elected to limit the number of families we accepted in to the program until we knew for sure things were moving along well. Our goal is to make the adoption experience a positive one for adoptive parents and try to avoid offering programs that are “iffy” and not functioning well. We are always honest and upfront with the risks to prospective adoptive families, and feel we do all we can to provide good service to our families going through the adoption process.
Visit the Wasatch International Adoption website for more information.
Visit our Full Disclosure Project page for more information about the project or to read other agency profiles.