On Thursday July 30th, The World Security Newspaper interviewed Dr. Long of the DIA. The following is the English translation of that article.
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Other provinces also show “fraud indicators
The case on making fraud adoption documents at the Y Yen & Nam Dinh Centers are being investigated seriously by Nam Dinh Police in order to strictly fine the criminal who make profit on humanitarian assistance of unlucky children.
However, the matter in question is that whilst all international adoption documents were completed following the strict law, wrongdoing still occurred.
Reporter from World Security Newspaper has an interview with Dr. Vu Duc Long ”“ Director of DIA ”“ about this matter.
Ӣ STRICT LEGAL PROCEDURE BUT LOOSE ACTUAL PROCESS
Reporter: A child may be adopted by foreigners only when 11 kinds of papers are finished. Is that a so-called strict procedure?
Dr. Long: I confirm that adoption procedure in Vietnam is very stringent, even stricter than many other countries.
If a foreigner wants to adopt a child in Vietnam, he/ she must submit petition to DIA. If the adoptive parents are the citizen of a country that signed bilateral agreement with Vietnam, they will need 8 kinds of papers. If they are from another country that does not have bilateral agreement with Vietnam, more paperwork is required.
If the petition is lawful, DIA will send the adoptive parents a Notice of receiving.
After that, DIA will send a letter to the local SPC to ask for introducing a child. At that time, local DOJ will work with that SPC to complete the referring procedure.
DIA then verifies the application submitted by that province. If that application is appropriate and legal, DIA will send an official letter to local DOJ asking DOJ to collaborate with the SPC to complete the child’s dossier. A set of child’s dossier includes: a Copy of Birth Certificate, Agreement for the child to be adopted, Child-finder’s report Commitment of the SPC’s director that the child was not adopted domestically”¦.with other papers. Local DOJ must have an official note that the child is eligible for foreign adoptions. A dossier is legal only when it consists of all these above-mentioned papers.
After that, DIA sends the approval letter to DOJ. Local DOJ submit that documents to the local People Committee for the Chairman or Vice Chairman to sign on the Decision of Adoptions.
Only when all those documents are completed can a child be adopted by a foreigner.
It normally takes 4-6 weeks to finish this procedure.
Reporter: With that procedure, is there any other cases that the adoptive parents directly contact with the person who has a child or with the SPC?
Dr. Long: No one can do that. All foreigners must work through an agency. This requirement can prevent people from trafficking in babies. There are 69 representative offices of the licensed ASPs in Vietnam.
Reporter: Such paperwork procedure looks quite close, how come Nam Dinh made fraud documents?
Dr. Long: That’s true. Although the legal procedure is strictly regulated, the actual adoptions process shows unreasonable points. In Vietnam, provinces are the places that raise the children as well as introduce them for international adoptions. DIA is responsible for reviewing the documents and certificates done by the provinces. If the documents are legal and appropriate, DIA will sign for approval. In fact, whom the child will be placed for is decided by the province. Wrongdoing may occur at this step because the ASP may make tacit agreement with the province before submitting papers to DIA.
Meanwhile, in China, the MOJ keeps the situation well in their hands. The Chinese MOJ does the matching so they can prevent irregularities by the provinces. I think we should learn this model. Vietnamese MOJ will draft a new International Adoptions Law following Chinese model to propose to National Assembly in 2009.
Ӣ REGARDING NAM DINH CASE, DIA USED TO ISSUE A REMINDER BY OFFICIAL LETTER.
Reporter: Among 11 types of documents in a child’s dossier, there are some papers about the child’s origin. How could Nam Dinh create fraudulent child’s origin?
Dr. Long: There are two phases for a child to become an adoptive child since it was born. Phase 1: from “being abandoned to “being received into the orphanage. Phase 2: transferring from “orphanage to “be adopted by a foreigner.
I mean “strict paperwork procedure in phase 2 only. It’s hard to verify the documents at phase 1. For example, the mother of a baby can be identified for sure when she was sent to stay at the orphanage since pregnancy by “facilitator. However, when they did the paperwork at the local PC, the “facilitator claimed that he/ she found the baby at his/ her front door, or back yard, etc”¦Then the child turned into an “abandoned child. We used to find out a case that a husband reported that he and his wife discovered an abandoned child and they altogether took the child to the orphanage. Nevertheless, the wife answered in a separate interview that in the past 28 years, no one in the village has found a baby.
Therefore, the unlawful activity happened at the very first stage of the adoption process. For their own benefit, they documented the child who they bought into a deserted child. The verification at this stage must be done by local authorities. DIA can not control the wrongdoing at this phase. For example, DIA can not deny a Birth Certificate which was certified and sealed by the communal authority.
Reporter: After reviewing Nam Dinh’s cases, did you find any unusual signs?
Dr. Long: Among 338 dossiers from Nam Dinh, we saw 2 (two) fraud indicators.
Firstly, there are quite many abandoned children in this province, more than other neighbor provinces. It raised doubts in our minds that there may have a person who collect children from other provinces to Nam Dinh.
Secondly, both Y Yen & Nam Dinh Centers are managed by district level authorities instead of provincial level. Thus we suspected that the management was likely unprofessional. Moreover, in Truc Ninh SPC, while the director and chief accountant are father and son (Vu Dinh Khan ”“ Vu Van Kiem), the financial transparency is suspicious.
Reporter: When you saw those fraud indicators, did you take any action or just wait and see?
Dr. Long: I myself paid two visits to Nam Dinh, warned them in a meeting participated by multi government entities. Then MOJ sent official letters to many provinces including Nam Dinh to alert them about that.
Reporter: That means, the irregularities happened not only in Nam Dinh but in other provinces, didn’t they?
Dr. Long: Yes, that’s right. Besides Nam Dinh, we warned other provinces such as: Tuyen Quang, Thai Nguyen, Lang Son, Phu Tho, Bac Can, Hoa Binh, Da Nang, Binh Thuan, Bac Ninh, An Giang, Baf Ria ”“ Vung Tau, Hochiminh city”¦ If the supervision & verification was not taken into great consideration, bad consequence might occur.
Reporter: Thank you very much.
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7 Responses
I do hope if there are future adoptions from Vietnam that Vietnam adopts the centralized matching system that China has. That seems fairer and more easily controlled than all these provinces doing their own thing…
That being said, I’ve become very cynical. I’m just intriqued that this flurry of activity by the DIA comes as the MOU is expiring. I hate to say it, but part of me thinks its a little grandstanding for the U.S.’s benefit. “Look, we are cracking down on corruption!” Especially as the U.S. has said repeatedly that it reports irregularities to VN and VN doesn’t act on the reports.
I see that the province which my agency works with (Hoa Binh) is listed here, yet my agency never received one referral for an entire year. I was just informed that there will be no more referrals before September 1st. Looks’ like I am the one being punished.
I also read an interview with a judge in Nam Dinh who talked about the safeguards they had as well. I feel that Dr. Long and this judge point to local control and the possibility and issues of irregularity. They also talk about their inability to police the local control aspect of adoptions. But point out that THEIR procedures are transparent and above reproach. Obviously, the need for reform is evident to all of us but still the systems do not cross nor does it seem like either of these gentlemen wants them to. To warn officials to get their act together, it seems to me that oversight and investigation of past adoptions is not really where they want to go.
Even though China has a central system, the news stories about baby selling are resurfacing, complete with evidence that children are being trafficked from VN to China for large sums of money. With recent stories about China and these about VN, I do wonder if it is possible to ever have a fair and just system with money exchanging hands.
This whole situation seems to point to the fact that innocent PAPs, innocent birth families, and innocent children are the losers. Corrupt government officials and agencies with high fees seem to be the winners until the stuff hits the fan.
All of this makes me sick because I have to someday justify international adoption to my children.
There is a famous saying in Viet Nam-The Emperor’s Authority Ends at the Village Gate-this makes me think that a central authority there cannot ever work as it does in China because it is counter to their culture.
I think many share this fear. You are right, it isn’t as simple as just enacting new laws and setting things up differently. I wonder if change would have to happen on a cultural level individually in each province in order for a central authority to be really effective in Vietnam.
Someone brought up this question on another group, and I think it is a really good one… notice how Dr. Long said “If they are from another country that does not have bilateral agreement with Vietnam, more paperwork is required.”
I thought in order to adopt from Vietnam by law, there had to be a bilateral agreement. This statement seems to indicate that this is NOT the case, but that additional paperwork is required. Does anyone know anything else about this? Is it possible that US citizens could still be able to adopt from Vietnam even after the MOU expires, assuming they submit this additional paperwork?
Great analysis. Did anyone respond to you concerning adoption without an agreement.