On Sunday night Dateline NBC’s feature, To Catch a Baby Broker profiled shocking cases of corruption in Guatemalan adoption. The cases of kidnapping, unreported medical issues and unavailable children being referred for adoption showed the worst kinds of adoption-related corruption. It would be easy to dismiss these reports as extremely rare and only happening in Guatemala. But that would be a mistake.
Two experienced adoptive parents on the APV list reported that one of the agencies highlighted on Dateline is run by a woman who previously ran an agency in Florida that was involved with a corrupt facilitator in Vietnam. Most agencies have programs in more than one country, and often when a corrupt agency is exposed, the owners will move to another state and reopen under a new name. This is why it is imperitive that PAP’s thoroughly research their agency and all of its employees.
One of the facilitators featured on Dateline is banned by the US Embassy yet he worked with American agencies to facilitate the adoptions of 167 children last year. He was shown on camera actively encouraging an “agency” (the reporter acting undercover) to falsify documents, bribe police and lie to enable a child molester to adopt. The agencies involved with this facilitator shrugged off their responsibility, saying that they didn’t know what their facilitator was doing in-country. That is why it is imperitive that PAP’s thoroughly investigate the facilitators their agency is working with.
It can be hard to find answers and sometimes it seems like PAP’s have to be professional investigators to find the whole truth. For that reason we urge experienced AP’s to speak up, especially when they have seen things in Vietnam that were concerning or were told things by their agency that may indicate a deeper problem. We created the Full Disclosure Project in the hopes that agencies would answer these kinds of questions themselves. So far only six agencies have stepped up. If your agency hasn’t, will you send them the link and ask them to take a few minutes to answer these questions for all prospective PAPs?
The problems in Guatemala’s adoption process that were featured on Dateline are part of the reason why that program is currently frozen and in danger of a long-term shutdown. Vietnam only reopened to American adoptions two years ago and already there are concerns being raised. But we should not let the actions of a few taint the entire program. The procedures and regulations in place can protect the system from corruption, if they are diligently observed. Our goal is to help the adoption community work together to promote ethical adoptions and allow the Vietnam program to continue for as long as there are children who need families.
One response
Thank you for pointing out the PAPs responsibility in this process. I would also like to add to that the responsibility of the US in policing US adoption agencies. There is little oversight of agencies and we are not coming even close to making sure these agencies or people do not engage in illegal and unethical behavior. If we didn’t use these agencies or if they were closed down and not allowed to re-open elsewhere, we could go a long way to help improving adoption worldwide.