Posted today on the wire:
Vietnam has failed to police its adoption system, allowing corruption, fraud and baby-selling to flourish, the U.S. Embassy says in a new report obtained by The Associated Press.
The nine-page document describes brokers scouring villages for babies, hospitals selling infants whose mothers cannot pay their bills, and a grandmother giving away her grandchild ”” without telling the child’s mother.
Please read on for the full story. This is a very balanced and fair representations of the adoption landscape in Vietnam at this time.
16 Responses
I see the embassy posted a statement today saying that Vietnam has said those with referrals before Sept. 1 will be allowed to complete their adoptions and no dossiers accepted after July 1. It also repeats what we’ve all been saying here, that there are enough irregularities to warrant serious investigations by our government. After hearing the story of a family who lost their referral when it was discovered (by USCIS investigation) that the child was taken from the birthfamily without their permission, I’m glad our government is scrutinizing things so carefully.
Here’s the link: http://vietnam.usembassy.gov/adoption_warning0408.html
Well, I think the latest posting on the Embassy website says it all..read it and weep! Here is an portion of it…
On April 25, the Government of Vietnam announced that it will allow adoption to be completed in cases where prospective adoptive parents have been matched with a child and received an official referral prior to September 1, 2008. It further stated that in accordance with Vietnamese law, the DIA will suspend the acceptance of new dossiers on July 1, 2008. On September 1, 2008 any dossier that has not received a referral will be closed and returned to the Adoption Service Provider. In view of the processing time required in Vietnam from placement to the Giving and Receiving Ceremony, an adoption process begun now cannot be completed before the current Agreement expires.
There is a new warning and summary of irregularities in Vietnam Adoptions on the US Embassy site – Adopted Child Immigrant Visa Unit
http://vietnam.usembassy.gov/irreg_adoptions042508.html
This is so depressing. A friend alerted me to the article last night, and I agree it’s a fair, albeit imo simplified, picture of the adoption landscape. Unfortunately, my actual newspaper – a major NJ daily – chose to chop off the 2nd half of the article, so there was no information regarding the MOU, the stalled adoptions, or the comments from the PAP who has been waiting for 4 months for information on her I600…
Maybe it’s because I’ve been -as I’m sure everyone else who visits here – immersed in Vietnam adoption on a daily basis for almost 2 years now – I can’t help but wish the article had done more, said more…
I think the situation in Vietnam actually lends itself to an in-depth series by a major news outlet. I wish someone would do that.
I thought it was simplified too. but then I think if it was NOT simplified it would probably be enough for an entire book! I’m not sure there is a way to summarize the landscape of adoptions in Vietnam right now without greatly simplifying.
I would love a major series. Wouldn’t that be amazing?
Can someone provide a link to what is on the embassy website? I can’t seem to find it. Thanks!
http://vietnam.usembassy.gov/irreg_adoptions042508.html
Let me also add the link to the announcement regarding suspension of dossier acceptance:
http://vietnam.usembassy.gov/adoption_warning0408.html
My heart breaks for everyone involved who will be affected by this. 🙁
We have a referral and a logged in dossier, but we truly feel fo those who are going to run out of time. I pray they can get this worked out, but there no doubt will be an interuption. I always go back to the punish the many for the deeds of a few.
My heart breaks for all of the children -they are the true victims in all of this.
Unfortunately, there are a number of things glossed over or mis-represented in the article. It’s handling a very complex situation in a very superficial way.
I think this is probably the saddest news that has come out (in black and white) for the Vietnam adoption community. I am not a fan of the Embassy and I hope things aren’t as wide spread as they are making them out to be, but if they are telling the truth I don’t see how adoptions can continue. Even if the Embassy only THINKS these things are true, then how can they continue adoptions?
I too would like names of the agencies, I don’t think this is an issue of “good vs bad” agencies, but that is a good place to start. If this report is true, then ANY agency (and any of our children-which I hate to say) could be involved in this. Some of those allegations are happening way before agency involvement and any agency can only rely on it’s in country staff and the legitimacy of the reports when placing a child.
I know there are so many babies that aren’t going to go to homes and so many PAPs that are going to be effected by this, but I have to wonder how our Embassy (again, they obviously truly believe this is VERY wide spread from that report) can continue issuing visa’s when there is just no way to ensure the children really are not being produced by corrupt means. And I have to think that if these people had a big incentive to buy or steal babies before, what will the Sept. 1st deadline do for this? You have hundreds (probably really several thousand) people waiting for a referral right now. If that doesn’t up the anty in all of this nothing does. I mean they have to know that they need to place as many children as possible before Sept. 1, 2008-it seems to me this is going to place even more pressure/incentive on them to buy babies.
Again, I don’t know how wide spread the problem is and there are some things that I did wonder about in that report (like why in the world would an orphanage director tell the Embassy some of those things? Our gov. has no power over them, they can’t arrest them or fine them….so why would they admit to buying babies or hiring child finders)? But the point is our gov. obviously strongly believes this is true and that it’s very wide spread. If that is the case, then how can they continue issuing visa’s?
I think they should investigate the heck out of the cases they have now and just shut it down-why risk more children being bought or sold between now and Sept. 1st? Again, I know this is easier for me to say since my children are home, but we all admit none of us wants a child that came from any of the conditions that are in that report.
As for those of us that are already home, even I (and my husband-which is really saying something) have to think about the legitamacy of our children’s beginnings. We personally are going to have to trust that our agency and orphanage didn’t fabricate anything and that the Embassy didn’t see any red flags that needed investigating and leave it at that. There is no way we will ever know and there is nothing we can do now (I mean we aren’t going to take our child back to Vietnam and search for birth parents-some people are higher up on the activism chain than I am), but if I were doing it all over again, I don’t know that I could personally continue with the program after that report.
The sad part is that there are going to be so many children that truly are orphans that need a home, but you have to draw the line somewhere and I think that report was a big fat black line in the sand. How can we in good conscious cross it now? And I am SO the last person that ever thought I would say that:(
“I think they should investigate the heck out of the cases they have now and just shut it down-why risk more children being bought or sold between now and Sept. 1st? Again, I know this is easier for me to say since my children are home, but we all admit none of us wants a child that came from any of the conditions that are in that report”
You are right, Tracy. However, there is nothing new about this. Rumors, concerns of foul play and stories have been flying around for *months*. With all due respect I’ve noticed these past few days that there are few very vocal people saying exactly what you did above who were still processing their adoptions when the rumors starting to fly less than a year ago. Funny that now they are home, they’re ‘speaking out’. Why not months ago? Well because they might have jeopardized their own adoption!
This is disturbing on so many levels. I feel sick like everyone else but I’m not going to blindly believe everything that comes out of the Embassy. I want to hear from JCICS and Ethica. I want to see a breakdown of specific evidence and numbers. And no, saying that does not mean I don’t believe this stuff is happening- I do. But I still believe that there are more ethically sound adoptions than not, and that the US has played just as big a role in all this mess as questionable agencies and individuals have.
[…] AP Exclusive: US alleges baby-selling in Vietnam […]
I think there is a lot issues get invole corruption of authorize Vietnam from top to bottom, because Vietnam have no rules, no democracy, no freedom anh no human right at all the government Vietnam do whaterver they want to do.b We need to more journalist to discover more information about these isses. Thank you
I would like to say clearly that Tran (2008-05-02 13:57:34) is a brave man to post his comment. It is completely true that the VNese gov’t does whatever it wants to do. It is much like a mafia, and it calls all the shots.
When I posted a single batch of information on this website last Oct (a week or so before the US Embassy started closely examining cases), my email address was apparently hacked into and the password changed. The VNese gov’t is watching this very closely and they STRONGLY dislike exposure. The US Embassy people know very well what’s going on here – they are not amateurs. Proof is very difficult due to the complicity of all VNese parties in the corruption. The practice is not hidden and the money is shared, everyone getting at least a bit. And of course they lie about it. The VNese gov’t controls everything but claims to be responsible for nothing.
This website is not blocked here in VN – no firewall. But I’m sure you’ve all noticed that VNese people – with the seemingly unique exception of Tran – dare not speak out about what they know to be true. Tran will be traced and he will have trouble, unless he created a new ‘discarable’ email address and sent his comment from an Internet cafe.
This is serious business, serious income to a great many people here in VN, and it involves face. (Poor Mr. Long…) Those in the business here are now very unhappy to have that river of money dry up and their shenanigans exposed, and by the US Embassy no less. (Wow.) As you can see, the US ended it and the VNese gov’t simply responded with, “You can’t end it – we end it!”
It’s fairly certain that the VNese gov’t is right this minute trying to get the goods on Americans who handed cash money over to VNese people in the course of their adoption. What they gather and present will ‘prove’ (by local pseudo-logic) that it is the Americans, not the VNese, who are corrupt. Be prepared. The VNese gov’t cannot defend the total corruption that exists in this country, it can only attack.
I’ve been in VN for five years and have tried to do a local adoption for the last 15 months, but I have refused at every turn to hand over cash in an envelope as asked (to help the poor, unwed mother and her extended family in my case). Cash money in an envelope is corruption money, or baby-buying money. VN is called ‘an envelope society’. You know if you paid.