E. J. Graff’s article, Anatomy of an Adoption Crisis, online today at ForeignPolicy.com, pulls back the veil to reveal details and information only previously hinted at and corruption beyond what many of us could have imagined.
… inside their fog of secrecy, the faceless bureaucrats were also agonizing about the well-being of the children and their families. Based on hundreds of pages of documents received via Freedom of Information Act requests, this article gives a never-before-seen glimpse at how the State Department discovered what it believed to be a gray market in “adoptable” babies and debated what to do about it, trying each of its inadequate tools in turn.
A number of these released State Department documents report on investigations into particular cases, heavily redacted because of the U.S. Privacy Act of 1974. What’s left are agonized conclusions like this: “government run clinics and orphanages are actively engaged in baby buying and are lying to birth mothers to secure children for international adoption… forcing witnesses and even birth mothers to recant the statements they gave to consular officers so that the adoptions can be completed.” In one cable, the embassy reports that it “has discovered ‘safe houses’ … where women are offered lodging, medical expenses and money to ‘start a new life’ in exchange for their child…. The women are required to sign agreements promising to relinquish their children before entering the safe houses and are often separated from their children immediately after birth. Tragically, in some instances these women were told that their children would be adopted domestically and that they would return home once they were 11 years old. Even worse, one hospital in [redacted location] essentially kidnapped infants from their parents by refusing to release the child until they paid their medical bills. When payment was not forthcoming, the hospital declared the children ”˜abandoned’ and placed them for adoption without the birth parents [sic] knowledge or consent.”
These released documents detail how consular officials, two ambassadors, and an assistant secretary of state confronted Vietnamese officials at varying levels with evidence of document fraud, defrauded birth families, and provincial officials profiting from the purchase and sale of children for adoption. …
But no matter how often the U.S. diplomatic corps offered evidence of criminal wrongdoing or pressured Vietnam to live up to its existing agreement with the United States, Vietnamese officials not only failed to pursue it, but — in the embassy’s view — chose to help rather than prosecute the baby merchants.
It is incumbent upon not only all parents of children adopted from Vietnam, but anyone who may be currently considering or in the process of an international adoption to take the time to read this article and all of the supporting documentation. E.J. Graff has done the adoption world an immense service by bringing to light that which in the past had only been revealed in isolated cases, giving detailed support to that which was previously referred to only in sweeping generalities.
For those whose children were adopted from the specifically highlighted provinces reading these documents may be especially painful. But I think it’s important to be informed and also to understand that adoptive families were only at fault so much as they pressured agencies to provide a young baby fast. The real culpability lies with the orphanages, the agencies, the local and higher level Vietnamese officials who either turned a blind eye or actively participated in the corruption. We can not go back and undo the damage. But the knowledge is still worth having. Our children will have questions, and now perhaps we will have more complete answers.
Meanwhile, adoptions continue in many other parts of the world, and having signed the Hague, may resume in Vietnam one day. We must take what we’ve learned, and do all within our power to prevent these same abuses from happening again. Ask the hard questions. Rethink your own expectations. Hold American agencies, and the American government to a higher standard. Because our children deserved better.
9 Responses
“E.J. Graff has done the adoption world an immense service by bringing to light that which in the past had only been revealed in isolated cases, giving detailed support to that which was previously referred to only in sweeping generalities.”
I couldn’t agree with you more, Christina. Nothing I read this morning surprised me, and I’d actually already read pieces of a lot of it over the past few years here and there, but reading it all at once, in one place, was a good thing.
When people ask me if we’ll adopt again internationally and I say that I don’t see how I could, knowing what I know, this is why.
I completely agree. I read the full text this morning and was, of course, sickened but not entirely surprised. I’m just wondering HOW. How do we “prevent these same abuses from happening again”? Yes, we can “Ask the hard questions. Rethink your own expectations. Hold American agencies, and the American government to a higher standard” but how exactly does that flesh out in any country where bribery is a way of life and people are so unspeakably poor that $30 is enough to convince a mother to give up their child? It sounds as if our government’s hands were tied through much of this mess and their only real recourse was to “turn off the spigot,” leaving the real orphans to grow up with no families. I don’t believe that all the faceless bureaucrats are heartless, and I think that they probably did their best with the limited tools at their disposal. Which all leaves me feeling rather hopeless. If our government can’t stop it (all it’s myriad of problems aside, it’s still the best) who can?
LauraT,
Good questions. Wish I had better answers. It seems all we can do is recognize how much an influence our money is on the agencies – if PAPs refused to work with agencies who couldn’t or wouldn’t give them complete information and show them what specifically the agency is doing to protect and preserve birth families and what policies and procedures they have in place to prevent corruption and fraud in their adoptions, well frankly that would immediately put about 90% of agencies out of business. (And in my mind? That would be a good thing. Competition is healthy, but only if it benefits the children!)
And secondarily, we might consider changing local, state and federal laws and regulations so that our gov’t has more power to hold the agencies accountable.
You’re right – in the end diplomacy only works if the other country is willing, and we don’t have much control over other country’s behaviors. But when an agency enters into a working relationship in that country, they DO have the responsibility to maintain the higher standards we expect.
Ireland only allows its citizen to adopt from Hague countries. France severely limits how much money PAPs can give to agencies, and the agencies have to account for it all. I like the last a lot — it gives us PAPs the same benefit as the tax credit (keeps international adoption more affordable) but limits how much of our money adoption agencies have to work with. Neither is a perfect solution, but both would help.
Hi Joy
Adoptions from non Hague countries will continue in Ireland until Nov of this year. From the time we are accepted by Hague that will change. In the last 5 years the most popular countries for Irish couples have been Russia, Vietnam., Ethiopia and Mexico. Up to 2009 Irish couples were “encouraged” by the relevant authorities to adopt from Vietnam. Despite concerns raised by parents from 2006 they continued to promote Vietnam. It is now very hard for these parents, reading these documents to come to terms with what has happened and to accept that those couples who did speak out ( and were absalutely slated by PAPs and the Agency ) were telling the truth. But in true Irish fashion it will be swept under the carpet
Una. Yes, I misspoke when I said Ireland doesn’t allow non-Hague adoptions; since the change is a few weeks away it didn’t seem to take away from my main point. Despite what’s happened in the past, Ireland has now chosen to go forward (staring in Nov) with adoptions under the Hague treaty only. The US could do the same. It certainly won’t fix everything, and cannot fix the past, but it would be a major improvement. One step among many that could make a difference.
Hi Joy
Yes I do think Hague will be a good thing, it won’t fix the wrongs already done but it is a step forward. I think what the article and documents clearly show is that money needs to be either taken out of the equation altogether or far more closely controlled. Donations to orphanages need to stop, cash payments to officials and money lodged into accounts not designated for Humanitarian Aid by agencies needs to stop.
Yup! Or should I say “sea”
Thank you for sharing this. I caught it this morning.