As reported in the Hong Kong newspaper, The Standard:
Police in Vietnam have arrested the heads of two health centers suspected of forging documents in a scam that put up infants for overseas adoptions, a senior official confirmed.
The suspects in northern Nam Dinh province allegedly issued fake birth certificates for the under-five-year-olds, who were then sent to centers that arranged more than 300 international adoptions, state media has reported.The arrests come three months after the US embassy in Hanoi detailed endemic baby-selling and graft in the adoptions system in a nine-page report that led Vietnam to suspend a bilateral adoption agreement.
A second related story and interview were also reported in Viet Nam News.
Please do not miss Christina’s post titled: reservations. It contains many important talking points and is very relevant given the spiraling state of adoptions right now.
2 Responses
Call me a cynic, but part of me wonders if Vietnam is really starting to take the problem seriously, or if this is just a show for the benefit of the US State Department? Are they really starting to try to affect change, or are they just jumping through a few hoops to try to get America back in the game? Or maybe they are just trying to save face after the US allegations of baby selling/stealing? I suppose only time will tell. Christina’s post was great, BTW.
I had similar thoughts. I really do hope its the beginning of broader change or at very least change within just one province. You are right, time will tell. It should be interesting what the next few months bring.