Hoping in Hanoi: Queens couple’s adoption stalled in Vietnam
BY NOAH ROSENBERG
Tam Ky’s watchman failed to make a note of the occurrence in his logbook. Because of this oversight, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) have been questioning how Oliver arrived at the orphanage. The logbook entry would have qualified Oliver for orphan status, there would be no cloud of suspicion surrounding the legality of the adoption, and the Frenches would already be home with their son.
16 Responses
I saw this father interviewed on CNN, and was very moved by his story. It seems to me that in this particular incident, if birth parents are not able to be found, that at this point it would be in the best interest of this child to remain with this family.
However, I do not understand the assumption of the author of the article that it is a simple paperwork error. It is absolutely plausible, given documented instances of illegal and unethical actions surrounding adoptions in Vietnam and in the past in Cambodia, that there is no entry in the logbook because the story of how the baby ended up in the orphanage is fabricated.
I don’t see how USCIS is supposed to protect the children without investigations that rely on paperwork trails. And I don’t think situations like this
“…Then last year, Rauschenberger read a newspaper article that described a guilt-ridden birth mother in Cambodia who told how she was coerced into giving up her baby boy, and she realized the boy referred to in the article was her adopted son, Sam.
“At first, you know, it’s almost like your blood runs cold. So I have another mother’s baby, that I didn’t mean to have. I have the worst-case scenario,” Rauschenberger said.”
are in the best interest of anyone involved. I hope that in this case it simply was an overlooked entry in the night watchman’s logbook–but I don’t know what alternative USCIS has but to enforce the laws and investigate to the best of their ability so that only true Vietnamese orphans are being brought to America.
The quote above came from the following article about baby recruiters in Cambodia:
http://abcnews.go.com/2020/International/Story?id=611826&page=1
That is the heartbreaking crux of the issue. Nothing can be proven. Is the USCIS chasing ghosts of alleged corruption and illegal baby trafficking when the logical explanation for the absence of the baby’s recorded arrival date is simple human error?
If so, then the adoptive parents and baby are paying for the guard’s mistake in spades. I commend the CIS for requiring approvals to be issued prior to the G&R ceremony, providing they can make their decisions in a timely, consistent, and fair manner.
But how can it be in this little boy’s best interest to be returned to foster care in Vietnam, assuming nothing can be proven, and no birth parents magically materialize? Let’s remember that Vietnam is an extremely poor country; birth parents DO abandon their children due to poverty; and sometimes people there, like everywhere else, make honest mistakes.
S. In you post, “… It is absolutely plausible, given documented instances of illegal and unethical actions surrounding adoptions in Vietnam … ”
This is similar to what I read on the Embassy website a few months ago. Where can I find more information on these documented illegal/unethical activities. Is there a journalistic source or, better yet, a legal case prosecuted or pending in Vietnam?
Thanks.
Shad…
I’m not S. but I would say if you want the best possible information, find yourself an in at the Embassy or the USCIS and work from there. That’s where the documentation lives. We’ve posted first hand accounts of corruption here on this site. If those aren’t evidence enough, if the Embassy itself citing these issues is also not evidence enough, I’m not sure what would possibly appease you.
As far as I know, the only way the US has of “prosecuting” situations such as these is through NOIDs. The US has no jurisdiction over how Vietnam chooses to make children available for adoption. Their hands are tied. I could be wrong on this point but I also recall learning at one point that the Embassy also has no direct jurisdiction over individual ASPs so there, too, their hands are tied. Their only option is to investigate and, when warranted, issue NOIDs.
However not all uncovered corruption can be directly tied to an individual case. Sometimes corruption is discovered within a province or orphanage. When the US learns that baby buying and selling and stealing is, in fact, occurring within a specific area, they have an obligation to act in the very limited ways they have jurisdiction to do so. Its only course of action is to more closely scrutinize visas to ensure that all adopted children coming into the US are legitimate by US law.
Thanks for the response Nikki. So I guess you are saying there really isn’t any documentation that is available to the public or the press? Why wouldn’t the state department make the information available, if not to the public, then at least privately to the US agencies involved? When I mentioned criminal cases, I really meant Vietnamese criminal cases. I understand that the US really has no jurisdiction, but you’d think that if children were being kidnapped, the local officials would do something about it. Right?
Shad…
I’m an American who’s been living in Hanoi for almost five years. I follow the adoption scene, and I work for the VNese gov’t in one of the Ministries, for their publication. I write and edit. People here understand the unethical and corruption behavior of all officials. The system is such that everyone does have to take part – its a part of their job. They call it a ‘benefit’. US ethical standards and VNese ethical standards don’t overlap in many areas. Every VNese person agrees that the general corruption that exists at every level is unfortunate. It’s also accepted as being a necessary part of life and those who benefit from corruption are respected. (I don’t like that either.)
That said, the legal system is corrupt. My VNese lawyer friends (heads of law offices) say that money ‘wins’ – its that simple. In corruption cases, its usually a power struggle. Anyone could be charged.
I’m saying that its interesting to study the VNese media as we in the business here all do but it’s 100% gov’t controlled (many external Internet sources are blocked to me as I sit here at my computer) and a ‘justice’ system for all practical purposes does not exist except for street crime.
Why is it so hard to believe that this could not be a simple oversight or paperwork glitch? We are talking about a 3rd world country where the people have very different standards and values than our own. I am pretty sure that most of the orphanage workers (who I do not doubt love and care for the children) have little to no formal education. Who knows how well they can even read or write-so I for one would not be surprised if errors in paperwork were made, I’m sure they do not place the importnace on paperwork that we do. These children are the ones that are going to pay the price of the US imposing our standards on their system.
Here in the US we go to great lengths to make sure things are overly documented and still mistakes are made every single day. There are children in our own foster care system here in the US that are abused and neglected and no one realizes it for years because their PAPERWORK gets lost in the system. We supposedly have checks on the system to help prevent this, but it still happens over and over. A child will be murdered and there will be a big outcry and every paperwork/human error that was made will be published and they will swear new regulations will be put in place so this never happens again and then people get lax and overworked and we forget about it until another case is uncovered.
I just read an article online a few weeks ago about a major hospital here in the US that is still reporting errors where surgeons are cutting off wrong limbs, performing surgery on the wrong side of the brain etc and this is happening in an environment where procedure and documentation are supposed to be strictly adhered to. They have training classes, protocols and accrediting agencies in place (not to mention muti-million dollar lawsuits) and still these mistakes continue to happen. These are highly educated, professionals who are making these mistakes-which were attributed to not following a new checklist put in place to help prevent this (a paperwork error)-one doctor failed to write in the chart which side was to be operated on but said he was confident he remembered from his physical exam which side to operate on. Those are MAJOR paperwork issues that I think most of us would agree outweigh what a nightwatchmen in an orphanage is writing in a log book.
Why is it so hard to believe that an oversight by a nightwatchmen in Vietnam could not be a simple mistake (or that maybe he just didn’t realize the impact such an omission would have) when things so much worse happen everyday here in the US. Mistakes happen everywhere and all the time. I am not saying the US should not investigate, but they need to take into consideration that mistakes happen and look at the big picture. I know this is not the popular view, but these children will live their lives without a family. I”m not saying turn your head and look the other way when corruption is occuring. But it’s not like you can deny these children orphan status and the birthparents will magically appear and take them home.
Plus, why in the world (if the child really was not abandoned) would they (most likely the orphanage director or someone else high in power) not just make sure the name was entered into the book. That would have solved all of these problems. Why buy a baby, pretend it’s abandoned and then HOPE no one checks the nightwatchmans log book to see no baby was found that night? That just does not make sense to me.
Tracy
I don’t think the issue is so much that its so hard to believe there could be legitimate paperwork errors as it is that this particular article failed to present valid legit corruption as a viable reason for investigation. Are mistakes made by nightwatchmen? Sure. Are mistakes made by the US government in investigating otherwise legit adoptions? Sure. But I would say, in both these cases, that this would be the rare exception – not the rule. Does it honestly sound *likely* to you that a night watchman who had absolutely NOTHING to do all night, so bored that he fell asleep on his post, would then FORGET to do the ONE THING he was employed to do the entire night? Is it possible? Sure. Does it seem the most LIKELY explanation? Not to me. He wasn’t exactly busy. I can think of a lot of other more likely explanations.
It is a cold hard reality that when we practice what we preach (transparency in adoption, ethics reform, adoptions with integrity) that real actual people – families and babies both – will be affected. We can’t turn on our government for doing exactly what we employ them to do. Thankfully our government exacted change to reduce as much as possible the impact on families when they do their job.
It’s irresponsible to project every far-flung possible explanation onto a situation very likely involving corruption without also considering that there was wrong-doing going on. The parents involved may not want to consider that possibility but its the job of the US to consider that possibility in the face of very real and documented cases of similar corruption and fabrication. It would have been “fair and balanced” for the journalist to also consider this possibility. To presume that this was simple human error and do nothing else *is* akin to turning a blind eye, in my opinion.
“Very likely involving corruption?” That sounds like guilty until proven innocent. In fact, I do think it’s plausible that a night watchman — who perhaps was relatively new to the job and sleep deprived — might have neglected to enter the date when the child arrived at the orphanage. More egregious things have happened on the job.
Although cracking down on corruption is important (as long as it’s undertaken in a fair, consistent, and reasonably expedient manner), I don’t think that we should adopt the attitude that VN is overrun by crooks who are out to deceive the USCIS and PAPs. Truly, sometimes the simplest explanation is the correct one.
In any case, in situations like this one, it may be a case of “damned if you do, damned if you don’t.” If the night watchman made an honest mistake, then when does the USCIS determine that no further evidence of alleged corruption is forthcoming, and release the case? There should be a statute of limitations for the investigation of similar cases in the future.
I’m sure that the night watchman just forgot to note the incident in the log. We’re not talking top-notch special ops security here — like most night watchmen around the world he was probably an older guy, or someone really, really low on the totem pole (I mean night watchman at an orphanage is not the kind of high-powered position that has the best & brightest vying for it) who was probably half asleep at the time! I’m sure his main focus upon finding the baby was to make sure that the baby was okay & to get him inside — not to start worrying about filling out the proper paperwork.
What I REALY don’t understand is why the CIS is going out of it’s way to find problems that don’t necessarily exist. However that baby got the orphanage, he’s surely better off with an adoptive family than staying there.
The thing is, I’m not at all sure the night watchman forgot… the only thing I’m sure of is that would be a very easy cover/excuse for an orphanage that “finds” children… and it is a well documented fact in Vietnam as well as most other countries where there is inter-country adoption that orphanages/facilitators/agencies are known to go into the villages or to the local hospitals to convince women to relinquish their babies… they may persuade women with money or “gifts” of rice or promises that the child will return with money for the family or bring the family to the US someday. I know no one likes to think about that happening but it’s reality and it is up to the Embassy to do what they can to make sure that children were relinquished for the right reasons. Vietnam is not China, relinquishments are not illegal and I have read they are more common than abandonments. But certainly abandonments do happen and if that is the case in this instance, I hope that can be established to everyone’s satisfaction quickly… I’m sure this delay is very hard on the family involved and they are certainly not at fault for whatever mistakes were made.
With all due respect Audrey, it does matter- and very much- how babies wind up in orphanages.
I don’t believe that I said it doesn’t matter how babies in general wind up in orphanages, if I implied that certainly that wasn’t my intention. However, this particular baby somehow ended up in an orphange (abandoned if you believe the orphanage’s account — some other way if you don’t) and unless a biological family member claims him (which seems unlikely at this point, since he’s been there since May) or a family in his birth community wants to adopt him (again, unlikely since no one has expressed an interest yet) it seems that his only choices are life in the orphange or life with the Frenches. I, personally, think that he will be better off being loved & raised by the Frenches than growing up in the orphanage. This may not further anyone’s political agenda but to me, children are more important than making political statements.
I am very sad for this family. I believe that they are in such a painful position and find it admirable that they are able to shift their lives
I don’t feel that this is a case of guilty until proven innocent. Getting bogged down in the details just seems to get away from the important points.
The watchman works for an orphanage. Soon after he found the baby, he turned the child over to the administration of the orphanage. They should be making sure that his Ts and Is are appropriately marked. They should make sure that their paperwork is impeccable. Logging in children is part of the process. In turn the agency should be holding the orphanage accountable while making sure it has the resources needed. AND so on.
I believe it is important for us to keep getting back to the procedural issues because when a system is created and working fewer irregularities can happen. I don’t think it is in anyone’s best interest to find excuses or possibilities for any official (orphanage, VN government, US government, adoption agency, home study agency) not to hold themselves to a high standard. If each constituent holds each other accountable, including APs, then the watchman couldn’t make a monumental/inconsequential mistake because it would be unacceptable to be sloppy with such important paperwork and he would know it– because without proper paperwork the child would not be eligible for adoption.
As long as we get bogged down in conjecturing, from any point of view, we create loopholes. I am sure this is not the first time that logs were not kept properly or completely. Unfortunately for this family, they happen to be the ones caught in this discovery process.
Thank you K, for that very well thought out and rational point. It brings the whole issue into the realm of reality, not conjecturing. Hopefully, this type of situation will not happen with the new I-600 system. The family(supposedly, with the new system) would never have gotten to the point of being in-country with a baby and not being able to bring him home.
I hope that we can all agree that we need to be working for and supporting a system that is transparent, accountable and working soley for the best interest of children who need families.
Just as many PAPs have felt adversely affected by the I-600 ruling, I believe that it takes families like the Frenches placed in these positions to cause people to act. I don’t want any family to be in this situation but I do recognize that they are because of sloppy practices by admins. in VN and agencies. This is precisely the point of groups working for ethical practices that all will follow. As legal reps and gov’t reps get involved, the point is then truly lost. The Frenches should not be in this situation with a new I-600 policy or not. Their well-paid agency failed them. The orphanage working in partnership with their agency failed them. This young child will be failed by all because of these choices.
We need to acknowledge that a problem does exist. While I am no fan of the US Embassy, they are also in an unenviable position as it seems like they are looking for trouble. If their job is to protect and honor ethics in this arena, they have to do it whether I like the outcome or questions. So, we can make it so that their questions are pointless by insuring good, no great, practices.
Both of my children would have suffered greatly if they had not had access to US medical care and support services. There were questions in each of their adoptions. However, good practices (although not necessarily efficient or great) made it so that we did ultimately get their VISAs. I would have been incredibly angered if they had gotten caught in this web. Knowing that there are families robbed of the opportunity to parent and children who may never be eligible for adoption out there, I can honestly say let’s have some rough moments now to get to the better practices so that more children won’t suffer. We know that many of the these kids are fragile. We know that by the time a PAP is in country they are fragile as well (or at least I was.)
Let’s get this fixed from the end where the fewest of us get hurt.