Did you ask your agency????
1. Do you pay unpublished cash fees to the orphanage in any way (donation or otherwise)?
Any kind of unpublished fees provide incentive for for more profits for the cash-strapped orphanages.
2. Do you pay the hospitals in the area of the orphanage(s) you work with “humanitarian support” or any other kind of financial contribution?
Many agencies in Vietnam will pay these fees to hospitals in order to secure that the referrals will come to that agency once they are in the hospital.
For example: Agency X pays three hospitals in Ho Chi Minh “humanitarian support” in order to “earmark” babies to come to their agency once they come into the orphanage(s). This gives incentives to hospital staff to help persuade birthparents to make an adoption plan for their children, in essence the hospital makes more profits the more children they provide for Agency X.
3. How old are the children at referral?
There are currently 2 waiting periods that affect when children can be referred for international adoption:
– First, after a child is born or abandoned there is a 30 day wait for the birth certificate.
– Second, the orphanage has to spend 30 days advertising for either the birth family or a Vietnamese adoptive family.
If there are any children available that are two months or younger, this would be cause for further questions.
4. Was the agency active in Vietnam during the shutdown doing humanitarian work? What kind and how much?
If agencies were indeed active and present during the shutdown this indicates a commitment to Vietnam and its children that shows the agency cares more about people than the bottom line.
5. Does the agency permit adoption of 2 unrelated children at the same time?
While not expressly forbidden in Vietnamese law, a willingness to provide 2 unrelated babies for adoption raises several red flags….How is one agency able to provide multiple families with more than one child when other agencies working in the same provinces have no babies available for adoption? Where are these children coming from?
6. What is the agency’s position on keeping birthfamilies intact? How do they work to provide for this?
There are several agencies currently working toward this goal, shouldn’t they all?
7. What is the agency’s position on Vietnamese domestic adoptions? How are they working toward this end?
8. Does your agency “partner” or “umbrella” with another agency?
Any agency advertising a Vietnam program is required to have its own license. If they do not have their own license they cannot be held accountable for their actions, this is a dangerous position.
9. Have any of their employees or anyone “helping” the agency ever been under investigation by the US or Vietnam?
There are currently agencies in Vietnam who have current employees who have been under investigation by both the US and Vietnamese governments in the past.
10. Did you agency get their license on the first try, or did it take them several months, and several tries to get their license?
There are currently agencies working in Vietnam who were denied their license as many as four times over a period of months who suddenly obtained a license.
Written by Jena from Preparing for Rain. Thank you, Jena, for this important contribution to the discussion of adoption ethics in Vietnam.
7 Responses
Hi,
Great job on this new project! I have some additional comments about the referral process. According to my agency, some agencies make “soft” referrals of babies/children. That is, they offer referrals before the babies’ dossiers have been officially approved. They say this approval process normally takes four months from the time a baby is found orphaned or abandoned (this period includes the two months you mention). Apparently the DIA can’t regulate at which point an agency makes a referral, however, so an agency could make a referral before the baby is paper ready. This means that there’s a possibility that something will arise during the baby’s dossier process that prevents the baby from being legally adoptable after all. For instance, they may actually find a relative or the proper paperwork may not be able to be found for some reason — even after the baby has been referred to someone. Given this, the agency also recommends asking such questions as: Has the baby’s dossier actually been completed and approved? If the agency makes referrals before the baby’s (or child’s) dossier is completed, how many of those babies actually end up with the family to which they were referred? How long after they were referred were the children actually cleared for adoption by the DIA? How long after referral did the families travel to bring home their children? What happens if the family has accepted the referral and then “loses†the referral because next-of-kin comes forward or the proper paperwork cannot be obtained, and therefore the child is not legally free for adoption? According to the agency, if a baby/child is *completely* legally free for adoption, then travel and & G&R should be happening one to two months after referral. This doesn’t always appear to be happening. I’m not saying that means something hincky is going on. I just think that my agency has raised some good questions that people should be considering and asking about.
Ellen-
One very plausible answer that I would venture is that some agencies are willing to pray bribes to speed their paperwork along, and others are not. If you go to Mrs. Broccoli Guy’s website, you can read her story of how long it took to bring her son home. Her agency refused to pay any bribes to the official in charge of her son’s paperwork(though if I remeber correctly, none was asked for outright, but it became clear as time passed that one was expected, correct me if I’m wrong Christina). The official then decided to make the process as long and arduous as possible.
This coupled with the fact that some agencies give referrals before the babies are paper ready and cleared(wich my agency refuses to do) could very well make up for some of the difference.
Jena
Jennifer’s comment above may actually have some clues to the question that I would like to ask of the blog +owners or readers. I am wondering whether the age at time of referral and/or timeframe between referral & travel have any connection with ethical vs. unethical. For instance, my agency (which I *believe* is ethical) seems to give referrals of infants at least 5-6 months old, sometimes up to 8 months old. Then travel is happening 3-5 months later. I have seen that other agencies are referring babies at 2-3 months (or less!) and then parents are travelling 2-3 months later (or less!). What does this mean? Is either scenario any more or less likely to imply ethical issues? If a baby was relinquished or abandoned at birth, then what was going on for those 6-8 months prior to referral — was there a search for birth families or something else happening? Or is my agency slower with paperwork processing than others? I know it may be hard to answer these questions and that it’s possible infants are abandoned at different ages but I have yet to see *any* referrals with my agency where the babies are as young as with others. I would appreciate anyone’s input.
It would be interesting to track which agencies are giving referrals for babies under age 4 months, if that’s possible.
Jennifer, There is a database on the APV site that tracks referrals. With only 31 entries, it’s by no means comprehensive but it’s a start. There are a few referrals there that are under 4 months. The one that stands out is a referral given last fall for an 11-day old infant. Coincidentally, the agency for that referral has had parents stuck in Vietnam without G&R dates twice since the re-opening (there is one group there now) — any connection?
Like we’ve all said…if you get a referral for a child under 2-3 months old then you KNOW that child’s paperwork hasn’t cleared according to the rules started on March 1st. I guess if you are ok with that then fine. Honestly, I’d rather wait a little longer and not stare at a photo and then be told that is no longer my child. Also, the travel shouldn’t take as long as it has in the past which is a good thing.
[…] Call me naïve, but as I see it, when people continue to work with agencies who have employees or associates (in whatever capacity) who have been investigated for criminal activities and ordered by the government of the country they are working in to stop working in that country; when people continue to demand healthy baby girls (and boys) as young as possible; when people continue to work with agencies who have had a difficult time being licensed and had to pay for the licenses; when people continue to work with agencies who are umbrella-ing; when people continue to work with agencies who pay hospital workers to convince women in labor to give their babies up for adoption (and call these “hospital donations”); when people continue to work with agencies who require you to carry large amounts of cash for donations; that is what feeds corruption. On the flip side, if we stop using these agencies, we starve corruption. If you want to know if the agency you are using has done or is doing these things, ask them. […]