From The Irish Times:
A new adoption mediation agency will seek to engage with the governments of Vietnam, Bulgaria, India and Mexico concerning adoption when the Adoption Bill is passed in the coming weeks.
The Bill ratifies the Hague Convention on inter-country adoption.
The executive director of Arc Adoption, Shane Downer, former chief executive of the International Adoption Association (IAA), told The Irish Times he hoped the agency would be operational by September…
Asked about the “humanitarian aid fee charged by the Vietnamese authorities at the moment, he said: “Ideally there would not be any humanitarian aid.
The Helping Hands Adoption Mediation Agency, which dealt with adoptions from Vietnam until the lapsing of the bilateral agreement with that country last June, will also be seeking to mediate adoptions from Vietnam and other countries when the adoption legislation ratifying the Hague Convention is passed.
It is currently under inquiry by the Adoption Board, which last December appointed a firm of accountants, Browne, Murphy and Hughes to examine the disbursement of the $2,100 charged to applicants for facilitating the adoption.
A further $9,000 charged in “humanitarian aid is sent directly by Helping Hands to the Vietnamese authorities.
2 Responses
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The $9,000 reffered to here was not handed over directly to the Vietnamese. According to the CEO of Helping Hands large sums were lodged into bank accounts not for Humanitarian Aid and other large sums of the $9,000 were handed over in cash. Refer back to the interview given by the CEO to the Sunday Business Post.