According to the News and Observer, after a recent trip to Vietnam;
U.S. Rep. David Price hopes the United States can soon complete an agreement with Vietnam on international adoptions after a breakdown between the two countries this year.
Read the whole article here.
6 Responses
I have to wonder about this, how is David Price related to the negotiations? Seems like a bold statement when we are hearing the opposite form JCICS. It would be great if it was true.
Congressman Price is the chairman of Homeland Security Subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee. USCIS falls under the auspecies of the DHS and gets their funding from Price’s commmittee. He doesn’t do the negotiations, but he is an influential Congressman and if he has a meeting with the GVN to try to get negotiations going again . . . that’s good news for me. JCICS? Last time I heard, Tom DiFilipo hasn’t been to VN to prompt negotiations. Seems to me that Congressman Price, by de facto, is in a position to know more than JCICS. However, believe as you will. I choose to be hopeful.
Agreed. JCICS are a group representing many adoption agencies with a vested interest (though groups like Ethica are also members). They haven’t exactly been pro-active in fixing any of the problems that lead to the shut down, even though in many ways they are best placed to do so. On the other hand, Congressman Price has actual influence with DOS, who will negotiate with the Vietnamese government.
Maybe I’m missing something here but it seems to me that JCICS is working on jump starting negotiations. They just launched a call to action – I was emailed about it last week by my agency. I pasted the email I received below. I’m sure that it is also on their website, http://www.jcics.org. I do find it interesting that Rep. David Price has made the statement he has but hasn’t signed onto Sen. Landrieu’s letter.
Joint Council CALL TO ACTION
Program International Relations Initiative
Date December 17, 2008
Regarding Vietnam – Letter to Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung
Dear Families, Friends and Colleagues,
Senators Landrieu and Coleman, along with other Members of Congress, are continuing to show their support of ensuring every child’s right to a permanent, safe, and loving family. As part of their commitment, they will be forwarding a letter to Nguyen Tan Dung, the Prime Minister of Vietnam. This letter will encourage Vietnam’s continued participation in negotiations related to the new bilateral agreement on intercountry adoption. The letter will express Congressional support for the continuation of intercountry adoption and will emphasize the importance of the transition to a Hague-compliant system and a new bilateral treaty.
Between Monday, January 5th and Wednesday, January 7th, individuals can support this important initiative through the following methods. Please note that many of the Congressional offices will be closed for periods of time throughout the Holiday Season. Please be sure to contact your Congressional offices between January 5th and 7th.
Contact your Congressional Representatives and Senators and ask them to sign the letter to the Prime Minister of Vietnam regarding the future of intercountry adoptions from Vietnam. Also, not that if they are interested in signing, they should contact Sarada Peri from Senator Landrieu’s office (Sarada_Peri@landrieu.senate.gov) by Wednesday, January 7th. For a list of Senators and Congressman that have signed the letter as of the time of this writing, please see below.
You can find your Senators’ phone numbers and email address at http://www.senate.gov
You can find your Representatives’ phone numbers and email address at http://www.house.gov
Please note that many of the Congressional offices will be closed for periods of time throughout the Holiday Season.
Send a notice of support (and ensure that you receive updates on this initiative) via the Joint Council website. To finalize your message, you will need to follow the steps below.
Click here to go to Joint Council’s Webpage
Please note that this is a donation and sign-up page. This initiative is not an appeal for a donation.
Once on this page, please click, “Sign me up for Joint Council news.â€
Under the communications preferences, select the drop down menu for “Newsflashes and Updates.â€
Click “Sign me up.â€
Fill in your information
Under the comment section type “Letter to Vietnam Prime Minister.â€
Joint Council will also be forwarding the names of individual who contact us to Senators Landrieu and Coleman.
Contact your friends and family encouraging them to join the effort. Please feel free to forward this email to all interested parties.
The letter to the Prime Minister can only be successful with your help! If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Joint Council staff via advocate@jcics.org
Please note the following Senators have already signed the letter to the Prime Minister of Vietnam:
Senator Landrieu
Senator Coleman
Senator Oberstar
Senator Lincoln
Senator Lautenberg
Senator Menendez
Senator Kerry
Senator Johnson
Senator Bill Nelson
Senator Akaka
Senator Roberts
Senator Murkowski
Senator Durbin
Senator Klobuchar
Please note the following Representatives have already signed the letter to the Prime Minister of Vietnam:
Rep. Jim Oberstar
Rep. Scott Garrett
Rep. Jerry Costello
I appreciate everything that Tom DiFilipo and JCICS does, but they don’t have any authority to jump start negotiations (although I do wish that they did). They can only push our representatives and DOS to negotiate, just as we do. This initiative, that JCICS is thankfully making many PAP aware of, is being spearheaded by Sen. Landrieu, Co-Chair CCA. JCICS became aware of this initative AFTER Sen. Landrieu started the letter to the PM and possibly after signatures were added. Kudos have to be given to our congressionals on this one.
I do agree with you on the Price thing though. Hopefully, he’s signed on by now. I also hope that those who read this have pressured their Senators & Congresspersons to add their signatures to this letter. It’s only as a group that we have enough leverage to see that a new agreement is reached.
Rep. Price’s office was intimately involved with several constituent families who encountered difficulties in their adoptions from Vietnam – I believe he is particularly knowledgeable – versus your average congressperson – about the issues in Vietnam.
I’m actually very heartened to read that he is continuing to work on this issue; I haven’t followed him as much since the MOU terminated.