The Leaked DNA Memo

It’s my guess that everyone connected to Vietnam adoptions has seen the internal USCIS memo regarding a new DNA requirement that was posted on Bring Our Children Home yesterday. This memo was news to us as it was to most people in the adoption community – although it appears that USCIS did notify some agencies and organizations ahead of time. As soon as we learned of the memo, we went to work contacting sources and doing research online to find verification and clarification. An assistant to the author of the memo told us this:

the memo that was posted to the Bring Our Children Home website was for internal guidance.
Accordingly, it did not include the level of detail normally provided in documents intended for public dissemination. A corresponding update to our website on this issue is also being prepared and should be posted shortly.

We have also learned that the USCIS has been considering implementing this requirement for at least a month.

At this point, we still have many questions and can only hope that the USCIS announcement will answer them. But there are a few answers I can provide based on information we already have.

Abandonment – This term has multiple meanings. For most of us, it means anonymously leaving a child. But the USCIS definition is somewhat different and more complex. In its entirety, from the USCIS Guidebook for international adoption the definition reads as follows:

Abandonment by both parents means that the parents have willfully forsaken all parental rights, obligations and claims to the child, as well as all control over and possession of the child, without intending to transfer, or without transferring, these rights to any specific person(s). Abandonment must include not only the intention to surrender all parental rights, obligations and claims to the child, and control over and possession of the child, but also the actual act of surrendering such rights, obligations, claims, control and possession. A relinquishment or release by the parents to the prospective adoptive parents or for a specific adoption does not constitute abandonment. Similarly, the relinquishment or release of the child by the parents to a third party for custodial care in anticipation of, or preparation for, adoption does not constitute abandonment unless the third party (such as a governmental agency, a court of competent jurisdiction, an adoption agency or an orphanage) is authorized under the child welfare laws of the foreign sending country to act in such a capacity. A child who is placed temporarily in an orphanage shall not be considered to be abandoned if the parents express an intention to retrieve the child, are contributing or attempting to contribute to the support of the child, or otherwise exhibit ongoing parental interest in the child. A child who has been given unconditionally to an orphanage shall be considered to be abandoned.

So, basically when USCIS says “abandoned” they mean relinquished permanently and unconditionally, or a child who is available for international adoption.

The complication is that in Vietnam, apparently 85% of children are anonymously abandoned. And what is not clear at this point is what the new regulation will mean for those children. Also not clear is what would happen to a child who was legally relinquished some time in the past but now the birth parent(s) can not be located in order to do a DNA test. These are just two of the many questions I have and hope that USCIS will address as soon as possible.

My reason for posting today, aside from clarifying the meaning of the word “abandoned”, is to attempt to be a somewhat calming influence on what is clearly a very stressful situation. First, I want to say, I know what people are feeling. No, this exact thing did not happen to me, but actually something worse. With absolutely NO notice, USCIS suspended all adoptions from Cambodia – while we were right in the middle of adopting our daughter. The announcement was made on a Friday night, right before Christmas and it was literally weeks before we got any answers. So I will be the last person to minimize how scary and frustrating these sudden USCIS announcements can be. But the good news is that in time there was some additional information – and while at first it seemed we were facing a brick wall, in fact we found the wall was not immovable and USCIS did eventually work with all the families involved to resolve our cases and our daughter came home.

My suggestion for those in process right now is to look to your agencies and your congressional offices for help and support. Check in with you agency and find out what they know. Probably at this point they are still gathering information, but just hearing that they are on top of things will be a reassurance. Your congressional office can be a great resource at times like this. During our Cambodian experience, USCIS told us they preferred to work with our congressional representatives. And your congressional office is required to open a file for any constituent who calls with a specific need. So when you call, explain your circumstances and be very clear about what you want them to do for you. (ie, “Please contact USCIS and find out what the new DNA regulation means, when it takes affect, and how it will impact cases in process.”) If you don’t know how to contact your congress people, a good place to start is Congress.org – it’s an independent resource that allows you to enter your zip code and then displays all your local elected officials and their contact information.

Hopefully in the days to come we will have more official statements and information to post. But as we wait, please remember that we are all in this together – we all came to this place wanting nothing more than to open our hearts and homes to Vietnamese children in need of families. Let’s not bicker or attack one another, but instead do what we can to support each other and work together toward that common purpose.