Vietnam Adoptions: One agency’s perspective and future outlook.

In August 2009, Pearl S. Buck International’s Program director for Nepal, Philippines, SWAN, Post-Permanency, and Independent programs, as well as Vietnam Coordinator while that program was open, traveled to Vietnam.  VVAI had the chance to interview Ms. Carter-Tryon and ask her about her impressions, the work PSBI does and PSBI’s outlook for any future adoptions in Vietnam.

(VVAI)Heather, you recently took a trip to Vietnam to work closely with Hang Pham, PSBI’s Country Coordinator for Vietnam.

(VVAI)What was the focus of your trip?

(HCT)Each year PSBI sends a staff person from the main office in Pennsylvania to visit our foreign offices, including the office in Hanoi, to complete a review of the office’s work for the past year and to assure that the office meets all of our standards as established by the board.  Although we have wonderful, competent staff, this formal review process provides an opportunity to ensure that all the necessary records are being maintained, that appropriate procedures are being followed, and that the emphasis continues to be on the best interest of the children.  With the closure of adoptions from Vietnam, this year’s visit focused on reviewing the records of some of the 680 Vietnamese children living in our partner orphanages who are assisted by American individuals and families through our agency.

(VVAI)What was Ms Pham’s outlook for adoptions in Vietnam?

(HCT)Ms. Pham shared with me updates on the progress of the new adoption law through the Vietnamese government.  Like any new law there has been quite a bit of contentious debate about it.  Although the hope was that it would be passed by the National Assembly in November, this did not happen as the debate was still underway.  It seems that it will be at the end of 2010 at the absolute earliest that Vietnam reopens for adoption and that it’s possible that it could be later than that.  Passing the law and then successfully implementing it are two very different steps in the process, both of which will take a great deal of time.  We anticipate that adoptions between Vietnam and the U.S. will not reopen until the U.S. is confident that there are significant safeguards for the children and their birth families that have been successfully implemented.

(VVAI)How important to the children of Vietnam is an adoption program reopening?

(HCT)Child welfare services in Vietnam include a wide scope of activities, of which adoption is just one part.  However, adoption is a critical piece of the puzzle for some children.  Some of the children we placed in the time that Vietnam was open had medical conditions that were either extremely difficult to diagnose or to treat in Vietnam.  For these children, adoption has truly made a life-or-death change for them.  For some of the older children, they were facing a future without family connections and without the education and opportunities to flourish in adulthood.  Since coming home, we have seen these children begin to catch up from their educational deficits (in some cases, much more quickly than expected!) and form loving, trusting relationships with their families.  Make no mistake, the path hasn’t always been easy for these families and children but we’ve definitely seen the overall positive impact that adoption has made on their lives.

In addition, so many of the children eligible for adoption in Vietnam are older children and children with special needs.  For these children, the reopening of an adoption program that focuses on them is critical.  Yes, there are infants who come into care for valid reasons and for whom adoption is important as well.  However, if Vietnam reopens as a program whose focus is on the placement of healthy infants agencies run the risk of recreating the pressures/opportunities that led to the issues like those we saw in Nam Dinh.

(VVAI)Are there other things that could/should be done to improve the lives of children in Vietnam who would/could be at risk for growing up without families?  What measure is PSBI taking to do these things?

(HCT)There are a lot of opportunities in Vietnam to institute family preservation projects, vocational training efforts, access to education, access to counseling services, and much more.  These projects can be community-based or orphanage-based.  As a relatively small agency, PSBI has elected to focus on children currently living in orphanages.  It’s important to remember that many of these children have connections with their families and see them on a regular basis.  However, they are living at the orphanage because their families struggle to provide them with adequate nutrition, education, clothing, etc.

We are currently working with 6 partner orphanages in four provinces to provide some of the services listed above.  Some of the work focuses on infrastructure support, such as the project we’re currently working on in Khanh Son (http://www.psbi.org/site/PageServer?pagename=OH_Project_Partner_Khanh_Son_Vietnam).  In other orphanages the work focuses on supplementing the minimal government support so that the children can have improved nutrition or a higher number of caregivers, which improve both their physical and emotional health.  Older children often receive vocational training so that they have some skills with which to support themselves in adulthood.  They may also receive counseling on reproductive health and STD prevention, including HIV and AIDS.  The more they know, they more they can protect their health and livelihood as adults.

(VVAI)What place does PSBI see adoption as a part of child welfare in Vietnam?

(HCT)PSBI sees adoption as one piece of the whole scope of child welfare services in Vietnam.  It is a service complimentary to the work that we’ve been doing in Vietnam since the 1970s.  As I mentioned before, adoption has been of critical importance ”“ life-and-death importance ”“ to some of the children that we placed.  We’ve seen what a tremendous difference it can make in the lives of children, especially older children and children with special needs, that we do believe it is an important part of child welfare services in Vietnam.

(VVAI)Could Ms. Pham tell you anything specific about the condition of the orphanages that PSBI partners with in Vietnam?  Could she tell you how the number of children has increased/decreased since American adoptions have ceased?

(HCT)Like many agencies, the humanitarian support that PSBI provided to orphanages as part of the adoption program (not to be confused with the support provided as part of the child sponsorship program) was funded by the adoption fees paid by families.  When adoptions closed, it made it difficult to meet our obligations for this support.  However, PSBI staff both in the US and Vietnam worked hard to identify other organizations that could replace the support that we were no longer able to provide.  We are thankful to have been able to replace all of the funding that we could not provide.

In one of our partner orphanages we have seen an increase in the number of young children being cared for at the orphanage.  However, this does not reflect an increase in the number of young children coming into their care.  It solely reflects the fact that these children do not have adoption as an option for them right now.

(VVAI)What about requests for “donations” or other material compensation for orphanages?  Have those requests increased to PSBI or decreased since American adoptions have ceased?

(HCT)In Khanh Hoa PSBI still provides food for infants because government funding is very limited.  For the general orphans we are still working with funding from Opportunity House.  There is always a need for children to have a better life with support for health and education.

(VVAI)What does PSBI see as the greatest need in Vietnam right now as it relates to children’s welfare?

(HCT)The greatest need is continued external support to supplement limited government funding in order to ensure that children’s basic needs are met on health care, feeding, education and psycho-social activities. For children who eventually leave the orphanage, there is a big need for vocational training or higher education and finding the job. For children with special needs such as disabilities, diseases or HIV exposure history, there are huge needs to find them a loving home and treatment; this is often very difficult to arrange in Vietnam.

VVAI appreciates Ms. Carter-Tryon’s time and effort in answering our questions.  We appreciate the many perspectives on adoptions in Vietnam and the welfare of its children.