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| Children at Nha Trang Orphanage. |
In October, I had the pleasure of visiting Vietnam. Over the course of a week I visited the Hanoi, Nha Trang and Ho Chi Minh areas of Vietnam. I traveled with our Country Office Director, Hang Pham, and we visited the government officials in all three areas as well as the orphanages of Khanh Hoa and Thi Nghe.
Each area presented a very different perspective of adoption in Vietnam and how the Vietnamese view US families traveling to adopt children from their homeland. My first stop was in Hanoi. While in the city I saw many, many adoptive families (primarily Americans) as I traveled around town. It was quite evident that there were a lot of children leaving Vietnam with Caucasian families.
Hang and I met with Dr. Long, the Director of the Department of International Adoption (DIA). It became clear that officials at that level are concerned with the transparency of adoption. However, they are also frustrated at their inability to focus the parliament’s attention on international adoption when so many other “more important demands are competing for their attention as well. Due to Vietnam’s burgeoning economy, there is a tremendous influx of international business and investment dollars. This is where parliamentary officials are focusing their time and attention; adoption is not receiving the attention that the DIA would like it to. For example, the current adoption law in Vietnam does not address domestic adoption rules and regulations and, with the sensitivity of the issue, it can be very challenging to address issues such as these that need to be reformed.
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The staff of PSBI’s
Vietnam Office in Hanoi. |
The DIA is also frustrated with the U.S. Embassy’s handling of child investigations. When Embassy or USCIS staff have concerns regarding a child’s visa application, they will often do additional investigations regarding the circumstances under which the child became eligible for international adoption. This sometimes means visiting provincial and/or orphanage officials. DIA has not given permission for these visits and the provincial and orphanage officials are frequently upset by them.
As a result, there is a great deal of tension between DIA and U.S. Embassy staff around this issue.
In addition to meeting with Dr. Long at the DIA, we visited the U.S. Embassy. While we were there, three families were visibly upset in the waiting room as they had just been issued NOIDs (Notice of Intent to Deny) from the Embassy because of issues regarding the relinquishment of their children. We met with Embassy officials who had had a very tough day dealing with the distraught families. The families believed that they had adopted these children and would be going home with them to the United States. However, there were things amiss with the paperwork and it appeared that at least one family may not have been allowed to leave the country with the child. The other families were likely to face additional investigations over the coming days and weeks. The Embassy staff indicated that there are an unusual amount of infants at some of the orphanages and they feel that that not all of the children could have been abandoned. Officials are concerned that they were obtained by other means, which is why the U.S. Embassy was investigating. Embassy officials also indicated that they were keeping an eye on several orphanages and facilitators about whom they have concerns.
Following my meetings at the DIA and US Embassy, I met with provincial adoption officials in Hanoi. During these meetings many officials indicated that there is a huge need for adoptive families for children with special needs and older children.
After completing my meetings in Hanoi, I traveled to Nha Trang, located in the middle of the country. Here the environment for adoption is very different. The poverty in the area and the lack of placement opportunities for relinquishing families has presented many abandoned children who have been left to perish. Nha Trang is working hard to set up a transparent and child focused system with PSBI to create a vehicle where children who are in need of homes can be placed. It was clear that there was much need, especially for older children who had been abandoned for several years now and were expected to spend their entire youth in the orphanage.
The officials in Nha Trang were very supportive of our work and reputation and were very hopeful that we could continue our relationship.
My last stop was in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City). It was here that I had a glimpse of the effect that adoption by foreign families has on attitudes toward adoption. In a meeting with provincial officials I was asked directly “why do we [US adoption agencies] only send families who want babies and have no concern for their country. I explained the philosophy of our agency and our commitment to birth culture, our long history of working with our families, our screening process and our post placement events. However, it was clear that the officials had seen one too many families who had adopted one of their country’s beautiful children and left without a care for the culture or countrymen left behind. It was a very uncomfortable meeting. All I could do was acknowledge that we screen and train our families to appreciate their child’s heritage and of the importance of honoring their native land. Interestingly, the officials had just returned from a 10-day visit to the U.S. paid for by a U.S. adoption agency, and were getting ready to take another trip funded by a different adoption agency. It was an interesting juxtaposition of messages.
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| Children at Nha Trang Orphange. |
All in all, I returned with a better sense of the children in need of families in Vietnam. Although there are some infants available, the majority of the children are older or have special needs. PSBI will be editing our program information and recruitment materials to address this reality. This will mean an additional focus on families who are open to adopting waiting children.
I also returned with a renewed sense of the importance of maintaining our “hard line on ethical practices, even though it means that we may not receive the same numbers of referrals as other agencies. Change in the US, in Vietnam, or anywhere does not come easily. However we must remain strong in our commitment to not create incentives for families to relinquish children and not to reinforce or support the corrupt elements of the system. There are officials in Vietnam committed to ethical, transparent adoption practices and we need to do everything we can to help those people be successful in creating change. It will be a long, slow, hard fight, but it cannot be any other way.
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10 Responses
What an awesome organization and an honest account of the current state of things – no sugar coating. There is so much that disturbs me about what is going on in VN adoptions right now, but I think one of the most bothersome aspects of international adoption in general is hit on the head with this statement:
In a meeting with provincial officials I was asked directly “why do we [US adoption agencies] only send families who want babies and have no concern for their country.â€
I know there are families who greatly discount the importance of birth culture, and it makes me sick to think that so many PAPs give off this obvious vibe while they’re in-country adopting their Vietnamese children. They don’t try the food, they’re not intersted in the people, they could care less about the culture…they just want to get in and get out.
I don’t think those PAPs are the majority, at all, but it saddens me that the few who act this way make a bad enough impression that the generalization is made – we don’t care about the country, we just want their babies.
Laurie,
Are we absolutely sure that some PAPs in country are behaving in such a disrespectful manner? I am to travel soon. I am an American that has lived overseas in 3 other countries. I am very nervous because I absolutely know I will not be able to convey my true feelings about adopting a child of Vietnam. Let’s be honest. I do not have a command of the Vietnamese language or culture. I am sure my good intentions might be interpreted wrong, simply because the cultural divide is so great. This is not a new concept. It happens every day, where courageous people venture into cultures they do not understand, but hope to gain insight and understanding for the future. It is impossible to expect PAPs behaviour to be interpreted fairly. Could it be that the climate in HCMC is so infiltrated by caucasian families leaving with babies that it makes Vietnamese officials uncomfortable? Then it becomes an adoption issue, not one of disrespect. Let’s be fair here. I have been warned heavily not to eat the local food because of the chance of getting sick…..yes, this is a reality and readily happens. Forgive me for putting the child put into my care my first priority. I do not want to be sick, when all of my energy and care needs to go to my child. Forgive me for not learning the language in the very short period of time I will be in Vietnam, completing my adoption. As desperate as I am to become immersed in the culture, my thoughts and focus will go to my first priority….the child. It is hard for me to believe that families that go to great lengths, spend years planning and investing emotionally in adopting a child of Vietnam, couldn’t care less about where that child was born. Give them a chance to cross the cultural divide in their own time, which I am sure is their first priority once baby is home safe.
Thank you for this very informative and honest post. I was so saddened when I read, “why do we [US adoption agencies] only send families who want babies and have no concern for their country.†I can only hope that my husband and I are able instill a sense of pride and love of Viet Nam in our child. We wish that we would have more time to spend in country to get some sense of it to share with our baby; and I look forward to the day that we take our child back to VN when he is older. Viet Nam is giving us a tremendous gift and for that I am forever grateful.
Reading this letter when it first came out and again here makes me say-
OK I am ready for #4 and and older child,
Then I have days like today and I come back to reality.
One of the things that I am really thinking/praying about is HOW do we give back to Vietnam/Vietnamese people? I REALLY want to go back to Vietnam and spend some time working in the orphanages and serving the children…..and those who care for them.
Jena – I think it’s possible, maybe you can coordinate through your agency? I know that our agency allows us to put together donation boxes to send anytime we’d like.
I was also disgusted by the same comments as everyone else. I understand that there are PAPs who might never before have traveled out of the country and are uncomfortable and awkward while in Vietnam, but for it to happen so much and to be so obvious that a statement like that was made is so, so sad.
My husband and I are planning on going over earlier than we need to be there for the G&R. I want to see as much as we can. I don’t want to just get in and get out, that’s for sure!
We have been to Vietnam 4 times and it is indeed a wonderful country. We also sponsor a little girl and her family from Vietnam.
A couple of years ago we had a bad experience with an infant referral from vietnam, now we are fighting for the only Irish agency to help us adopt a child over 1. They totally refuse without any explination. The referrals they have had recently are from 4 weeks up. Can anyone tell my why Irish couples can’t adopt older children.
Many thanks.
Hi Sarah,
It is a question I have asked as well, I adopted an 18 month old girl under the old system, unknown to us her older sister had been adopted 3 months earlier. The two sisters are now in contact. What happens to older children, are they left to languish in an orphanage.
The following is an excerpt from Helping Hands website.
9. How often do older children come available for adoption in Vietnam? Most of the children available for adoption in Vietnam are under 6 months of age. Older children do not become available for adoption regularly in Vietnam. It is impossible to estimate a time frame for receiving a referral of an older child.
10. How often do twins / siblings come available for adoption in Vietnam? Twins / siblings do come available for adoption in Vietnam but not regularly. It is impossible to estimate a time frame for receiving a referral of twins / siblings.
Thank you Brendan, I wonder what bright spark came up with number 9. We’ve visited an orphanage in Vinh Son, and the majority of children are over 2. The director of the orphanage would be willing to help us adopt, but we can’t do it without Helping Hands.
Its an insult to us that they expect us to use the same facilitator as the one who cost us our child before.
“During these meetings many officials indicated that there is a huge need for adoptive families for children with special needs and older children. ”
If there are so many older and SN kids that are waiting, it would be very helpful if Vietnam would reform its system to be more centralized. As it stands now, PAPs who are willing to adopt SN or older kids only have access through their individual agency, which then only has access to certain orphanages in certain provinces. (I know I am stating the obvious here). My husband and I are willing to adopt SN but it seems like the referrals are sporadic, even with our agency which does a fair number of them compared to others. I don’t question the fact that the orphans are there, but how we can we improve the process to adopt them out faster? With all due respect to the DIA, if they want those children to find homes then they should reform the system. I’m ready to take one tomorrow!
I understand that this is how the system works, and that PAPs wait for healthy infants too, but it seems especially unfortunate in the case of SN referrals. In fact, as far as I know, even PSBI does not have any children from Vietnam on their waiting child list right now.
I don’t know if Ms. Bolarski is reading the comments here but if so, can you please tell us your thoughts on how to make the process easier for those of willing to take SN children if there are so many waiting in orphanages?
Sarah,
Contact me at irishmediaweb (at) eircom.net replace the (at) with @
VietSouth support group have a meeting with John Collins CEO Adoption Board on 28th November. I will put you in contact with the secretary and ask her to raise the issue at the meeting.
I would have thought that the Adoption Board would support older children being adopted. I think it is contrary to the MOU that older children would be excluded. I am sure that Hague would cover this as well.
Brendan