Though the bilateral agreement on adoption between Ireland and Vietnam expired on May 1, 2009, Irish officials had reported that a new agreement between the two countries was being negotiated. However, Irish Minister of State for Children Barry Andrews announced this week that Ireland has decided to suspend adoptions from Vietnam until both Vietnam and Ireland have ratified the provisions of the Hague Convention.
A report on the website for Ireland’s Office of the Minister of Children and Youth Affairs says:
The decision, which will cause bitter disappointment for the many families hoping to adopt from Vietnam, was taken in response to the serious findings and recommendations contained in the report on intercountry adoption commissioned by UNICEF and the Vietnamese Ministry of Justice and carried out by International Social Services (ISS). An earlier report published last August by the Vietnamese Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) was also considered in making the decision.
The UNICEF/ISS report, which was accepted by the Vietnamese Government, “proposes that Vietnam suspends intercountry adoptions for the necessary period during the year 2010 that will enable it to ensure optimal implementation of the Hague Convention and to prepare for the entry into force of the new law on adoption in 2011. The Report also raises serious questions regarding adoption practices in Vietnam, including as follows:
(a) inter-country adoptions from Vietnam are essentially influenced by foreign demand, i.e. the availability of children who are “adoptable abroad corresponds more to the existence of foreign prospective adopters than to the actual needs of “abandoned and orphaned children;
(b) the circumstances under which babies become “adoptable are invariably unclear and disturbing;
(c) the inter-country adoption system is grounded in a remarkably unhealthy relationship between the mediating agencies and specific residential facilities; and
(d) Governments and central authorities of “receiving countries collectively at least, and individually in many instances have not effectively committed themselves to applying the basic principles of the Hague Convention or the recommendations of the treaty’s practical operation, in their dealings with Vietnam.
The statement also says:
The Minister added, “I am fully convinced of the Vietnamese Government’s commitment to improving child protection services. They are well advanced in putting in place the legislative framework that supports safe and secure domestic and intercountry adoption. Child protection practice is improving. However, the latest expert opinion points to worrying practices today. Of greatest concern is the question of whether the child is “adoptable. The issues of consent and the exchange of fees are critical in the adoption process. These two fundamental features of adoption law must be addressed prior to any bilateral agreement. I am confident that in the near future Vietnam will ratify the Hague Convention and at that time, I would hope and expect adoptions to resume
“…When any Government enters into a bilateral international adoption agreement, there is an expectation that the Government has satisfied itself that current policies and practice in the country of origin are robust. A level of security and comfort is derived from the fact that a Government has signed up to such an agreement. While accepting that an element of risk always attaches to intercountry adoption, the standard required to allow a Government enter into a bilateral agreement is high. At this moment, there is sufficient evidence to caution against entering into such an agreement with Vietnam, said the Minister.
While it is not mentioned in the government’s official statement, an article in the Irish Independent reports:
The Irish Independent has also learned that the Government was unlikely to support or sanction the adoption of 20 babies whose prospective Irish parents were already at an advanced stage of the process.
These are a small cohort of adoptions that the Vietnamese authorities had agreed could go ahead despite the lapsing last May of a bilateral agreement on adoption between the two countries.
Some are critical of the Irish government’s decision. The Irish Times reports:
Shane Downer, chief executive of the International Adoption Association, expressed deep disappointment with the Minister’s decision and said the report was based on “flawed, fragile and incomplete analysis: “The report itself is based on a nine-day trip to Vietnam, which only included visits to two of the 58 Vietnamese provinces. Neither of the provinces visited by the ISS team are provinces from which Irish applicants currently adopt.
The complete statement by Irish Office of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs can be viewed here.
The complete UNICEF/ISS report is available here.
One response
I don’t see how the ISS report could be called “flawed and fragile,” but I also don’t see the good that comes from denying 20 children who’ve already lost their original families a chance at a new family. Rather than simply washing their hands of everything, the Irish Gov’t could force Helping Hands to pay for birth family searches by an independent entity the government deems trustworthy. If no birthfamily can be found, or if the family does agree to allow the child to be adopted, then the children should go to their families in Ireland. And if birth families are found who still want the children, then that is surely a far better outcome than leaving the children where they are now.