From the Irish Times:
The Adoption Board has warned prospective adoptive parents that any planned foreign adoptions from Vietnam have no special status here and may not be recognised under Irish law.
The board sent out the notice last week, warning prospective adopters that any application to adopt from Vietnam would be examined to ensure it complied with Irish adoption law, and would be decided on a case-by-case basis.
The article goes on to say:
Although talks had been taking place with the Vietnamese government about an interim agreement, such an agreement has been put on hold by Mr Andrews, pending the consideration of two UN reports by his department. In the absence of an agreement, no legal adoptions can be processed in Vietnam.
The two UN reports follow the publication of a highly critical US report on adoption in Vietnam in April of last year. Among the abuses it found were instances where children were described as “deserted when their parents could be found and identified, unexplained pockets of “desertions in certain areas and payments to the birth parents of “relinquished children, though these are outlawed by Vietnamese law.
You can read the full article here.
16 Responses
Has anyone ever identified the names of the areas that had high desertion rates? This was one problem I had with the US report – it was not specific about locations or the ratio of adoption with issues. Did they find problems with 10% of adoptions? 50%? I guess it would be helpful to know more.
I think we can probably make a few guesses based on personal experience. I know Phu Tho was one, as was Thai Nguyen. Both of them were named by the DoS, as well.
I had assumed those 2 areas but didn’t know if there were others. As an AP – of course – I want as much certainty as possible that my adoption was above board. After that report – I feel like no one can be sure.
I heard that the province of Thai Nguyen was a place where it was illegal to relinguish your children, you HAD to abandon them. Is that true? Also, what was the report that the US gave? Was it the “White Report”? I saw something that the DoS released and within a few days, most, if not all, of the examples/situations were proved as not the full or complete truth by those whose cases were described, or by their lawyers (power of the internet!). Was there a different report? I know Irish PAPs have been asking us US PAPs about such a report and I wasn’t sure exactly what it was that they were asking about.
The White Paper was an early document, and it seems to have disappeared after the families complained. The much more detailed report (not using those examples) is available online:
http://vietnam.usembassy.gov/irreg_adoptions042508.html
It has lots of statistics, but is frustratingly short on details like references to specific provinces, let alone agencies, or even exactly how the stats were calculated. For example, a reference to “75% of birth parents who were interviewed by a consular officer..” doesn’t say at all how many birthparents were actually interviewed. Did the number constitute a genuine representative sample? I’m also presuming that the interviews (since it required a lot more work than a review of the paperwork) took place in the context of investigations where DOS already suspected problems, another fact that would skew the statistics. I’m not saying AT ALL that there were no irregularities or fraud or even outright criminal behavior. Obviously there were. It’s just that I think DOS should have been more transparent in their methodologies in order to make the report more sound.
Thank you Mary. I too feel that the US had reasons to further investigate certain areas and the people working in them. I have NO doubt that there was/is corruption in Vietnamese adoptions, as I am sure there is in ALL programs around the world, including the US. I don’t think it is as wide spread as it sometimes seems though and I don’t think that everyone that has been blamed is at fault. I am also sure there are more to blame out there and I hope that they find them, so has to not prevent these children from finding the good homes that they deserve and that birth parents want for their children.
The original article says that the Irish government has put an interim agreement on hold pending review of two reports by the UN that followed the US report from last year. I do not believe the UN reports have been made public, but the article says the concerns found by the US are “reiterated in the two reports at present under consideration by the Minister.” I think it speaks volumes to the credibility of the US report that the UN has the same concerns as those raised back in 2007-2008.
I believe the US report is credible – just wish I understood the magnitude of the problems they discovered.
Dawn – I do remember reading that relinquishments were not legal in Thai Nguyen.
I have been following the discussions on Vietnam on an Irish parenting site and I am shocked at the amount of paps who do not want to believe anything underhand is happening in Vietnam. This is what was just posted on one such site
” By the way – the ‘horror’ aspect of the stories around adoptions by Irish couples can be grossly overstated. It seems most APs are quite happy with how their adoptions went – especially in recent years at least. Even if money can’t be accounted for, if it helped a girl choose to give a child up for adoption rather than have an abortion (Vietnam leads the way on that option), the child is thriving in ireland, and an AP couple are now fulfilled, how ‘horrible’ is that? Without doubt money should be removed from the equation, but APs should not be feeling in any way bad or guilty – they have done a wonderful thing.”
Some Irish paps seem happy to exploit poor Vietnamese birthmothers so that they can be “fulfilled “
It has been reported this morning in the Irish Daily Mail that a reporter has uncovered a baby selling scam in Lang Son. The Vietnamese women are paid $200 to hand over their babies to the orphanage, the children are then adopted by Irish parents. The home they live in is right next door to the orphanage.
Couples are still preparing to go this week and collect children, even knowing they were bought from the mothers.
Hi Frances,
I am an Irish pap hoping to adopt from Vietnam. This is the first time i have come across this site. The first thing i would like to say is that any pap i have met and my wife and i would want any adoption to be open and transparent for our own peace of mind and for the child’s life-story in years to come. Secondly the story appeared in a tabloid news paper which a lot here in Ireland would probably put on the same level as the National Enquirer. Thirdly what the reporter omitted in his story is that if he had “bought” the child he would not be able to bring the child back to Ireland as the adoption would not be cleared by the Adoption Board here in Ireland through which all adoptions must be cleared. He would not have the relevant paperwork so would not be able to get a passport for the child which must be cleared in Vietnam. I do not deny that there are problems in relation to Inter-country adoptions but this story gave a lot of mis-information. there was a reply from the IAA which is a support group which should be read to give a better insight to what i tried to put into words above
Frances, Is the Irish Daily Mail (or Mail on Sunday or whatever it’s called now) online? The UK version is, but doesn’t mention the story on Irish adoptions. We have family connections in Ireland and would love to know more.
Colm thank you for pointing me in the direction of the iaa. Unfortunately the statement just seems to want to cover up any wrong doing. While I agree no one can just arrive in Vietnam, hand over cash and take home a child, the reporter stated he did visit a baby brooker and had photos of many pregnant women, these women were paid for their newborns , the newborns were then sent next door to Lang son orphanage where the Irish paps adopted them legally.
I understand the paps did not know the truth, but it seems to me by reading on line forums some paps are in denial and just want this covered up. Why are they not shouting for this to be investigated further instead of shouting that its all lies ?
Mary no sorry, it does not seem to be on line, only the uk version.
Frances it was the ‘Daily Mail’. As a previous person mentioned it is the equivalent of the National Enquirer(or The Sun). Photographs of smiling mothers and babies doesn’t in any way prove any of what the reporter claims. What is the forum? Do you have a link?
In relation to Thai Nguyen it was illegal to relinquish a child until very recently.
I am coming into this a bit late I know but first let me say I am an AP and I am Irish. There are problems in Vn. There are many parents concerned and actively trying to confirm the abandonment stories of their children. Not all of us have our heads in the sand. They are getting no help from the IAB and are being criticised by many PAPs. As for the “Relinquishment Law” I can confirm 100% it never exsisted. It was invented to stop parents querying the number of abandoned children in Thai Nguyen.