Update: May 5, 2009The info below was just posted on the Department of State web site this morning even though it is dated May 1. It is disappointing that there is no new information here. It is just rehashing of everything they have been saying for months. There was no information about 2nd referrals for those families that lost referrals after September 1 or any word on those families that received referrals of special needs children but do no have the "official referral" letter. Adoption Notice U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Bureau of Consular Affairs
Office of Children’s Issues
May 1, 2009
U.S. citizens are not able to register a new adoption in Vietnam at this time. The Government of Vietnam has stated its intention to introduce new adoption legislation and to institute reforms in the adoption process, and has indicated that the anticipated new legislation and implementing regulations may take effect in 2011. Establishing new procedures and ensuring that they are effective will take additional time. Adoption service providers and prospective adoptive parents should not seek or accept new referrals from Vietnam at this time.
On October 15, 2008, the Governments of Vietnam and the United States jointly announced that intercountry adoptions were suspended until a new bilateral agreement is reached or Vietnam accedes to the Hague Adoption Convention. (Vietnamese law requires that a bilateral agreement or international convention must be in place; a previous agreement between Vietnam and the United States expired September 1, 2008.) This decision is based on evidence of significant irregularities, fraud concerns, and the lack of sufficient legal safeguards in Vietnam’s current adoption process.
Nearly all adoptions for which an official referral had been issued before September 1, 2008 have now been processed to completion. The U.S. Embassy in Hanoi and Vietnamese officials are assisting families whose cases are still pending. Questions about these cases may be sent to hanoiadoptions@state.gov.
The Governments of the United States and Vietnam are seriously concerned about the inconsistencies and deficiencies that led to a mutual decision not to renew our previous bilateral agreement. Vietnamese criminal investigations and U.S. field reviews revealed evidence of child buying, including forged or altered documents, cash payment to birth mothers (for other than reasonable payments for necessary activities), coercion or deceit to induce the birth parent(s) to release children to an orphanage, and children being offered for intercountry adoption without the knowledge or consent of their birth parents. Vietnamese criminal investigations into certain intercountry adoptions are still on-going as of May 2009.
The United States continues to meet regularly with Vietnamese officials to discuss intercountry adoption. Talks in Hanoi and Washington, D.C. have focused on the broad range of child welfare responsibilities encompassed by the Convention, the principles underlying the Hague Adoption Convention, and the practical requirements for implementing procedures that the Convention requires. During these meetings, representatives from both countries acknowledged that intercountry adoptions from Vietnam to the United States cannot resume until fundamental reforms are in place to ensure a transparent child welfare system that has the best interests of the children as its first priority, and which protects the fundamental rights of all parties.
The United States welcomes action by the Government of Vietnam to investigate and prosecute individuals responsible for illegal activities related to intercountry adoptions. The United States also strongly supports Vietnam’s efforts to establish a comprehensive child welfare system that includes the option of intercountry adoption for children when family preservation or domestic alternatives are not possible. At this time it is not known when Vietnam will implement reforms sufficient to address the problems which led to the current halt in intercountry adoptions to the United States. Update: April 15, 2009On Wednesday April 1, 2008, I attended a meeting in Washington at the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute with the Vice minister of the Ministry of just and seven other members of the Vietnamese Delegation. I wish to thank Kathleen Strottman, the Executive Director of CCAI, for the use of her office and her help in getting the meeting arranged. TO READ MORE CLICK ON iaap2000 BLOG AT THE RIGHT. Update: February 24, 2009I received an email from the Department of State this morning saying that they would have a statement soon about the meeting in Hanoi between Assistant Secretary Jacobs and the MOJ. As soon as we receive anything we will post it here and in our blog. Dick Graham Update: February 17, 2009 VietnamNet Bridge, an online Vietnamese publication, has posted an article about Assistant Secretary Jacob's visit to Vietnam. The article says that the US is waiting on Vietnam to sign the Hague. Vietnam could still be years away from signing the Hague. This will not solve the problems the US sees in Vietnam nor will it allow the US to resume adoptions there. Vietnam must still put in place an adoption system that the US approves of. Other countries that signed the Hague years ago such as Guatemala and Cambodia still do not have an adoption system in place that the US accepts. It is disappointing that there seems to have been no discussions about special needs adoptions while we wait years for Vietnam to produce an adoption system that the US will accept. These children continue to wait and continue to suffer. There is no excuse for this. To see the entire article click on the iaap2000 blog at the right. Dick Graham Update: February 6, 2009Assistant Secretary of State Janice Jacobs is scheduled to be in Vietnam from February 8-10. There is not much known about what she will be discussing with the Vietnamese. We have been told that she will be having high level meetings with the Vietnamese about a number of issues with one of those being adoption. Read more by clicking on iaap2000 blog at the right. Update: December 10, 2008As of today there is no date set for a meeting between the United States and Vietnam to discuss a new MOU. It appears there will be no meeting in December. We were told today that the US Team will probably be headed by Deputy Assistant Secretary Michele Bond. Update: November 13, 2008Let Your Voice Be Heard! Contact the Obama Transition Team! The election is finally behind us and no matter how you voted we now have a new administration coming in that we all need to get behind and help solve the many problems this country faces. With the new administration we hope there will be a new approach to solving the problems in Vietnam. We hope there will be a new spirit of cooperation that will bring about the continuation of adoptions for everyone. Now is the time to let the new administration know our thoughts about what has taken place in Vietnam and where the US can go from here to see that adoptions can restart as soon as possible. You can let your voice be heard by going to http://www.change.gov/page/s/yourvision to send your thoughts to President-Elect Obama. We exercised out right to vote on November 4 and now lets all follow through with our right to be heard by the politicians. Vietnam -US Meeting There has been a rumor that a meeting will be held between the US and Vietnam in December to start the negotiations for a new MOU. We checked with the Department of State and as of today there is no date set for a meeting. We will keep in contact with the Department of State and let you know as soon as we have any word of a meeting date being set. Update: October 28, 2008The meeting between the United States and Vietnam that was scheduled for October 28, 2008 has been canceled. As of today at 11:30am EDT, the Department of State has not posted anything about this on their web site. The JCICS posted on their web site yesterday that the meeting was postponed and we received confirmation from DOS late yesterday afternoon after we made an inquiry to them by email. This is a very disappointing development. When both sides say that they are interested in reaching an agreement to begin adoptions again, it is hard to understand why a meeting that had been scheduled would be canceled. There is nothing to gain by this and there has not been a new meeting scheduled. The Vietnamese say they wish to meet in early November. We hope the US also wants to reschedule the meeting as soon as possible. While these meeting are further delayed the special needs children continue to wait. There are special needs children that have families here ready to adopt them but cannot because the US has said they will not process these cases if submitted to them. The Vietnamese were clearly ready to continue with special needs adoptions after September 1. The DIA sent a letter to the Department of Justice in all provinces on August 12, 2008 clarifying that adoptions could continue to the United States for cases as described in Decree No. 68/2002/ND-CP and as amended in Decree No. 69/2006/ND-CP. Decree No. 69 specifies that children with special needs can be adopted by citizens of a country that doe not have an adoption agreement with Vietnam. It is very clear! It would appear that the US must have put pressure on Vietnam to reverse their decision of August 12. We hope that both sides will sit down at the table immediately and reach a decision for all the children but especially for the special needs children that wait. Dick Graham Update: October 17, 2008 The United States has reversed its position on Special Needs adoptions from Vietnam and has issued a statement saying that they will not allow any Special Needs referrals after September 1, 2008 from Vietnam until such time as a new MOU is signed with Vietnam or Vietnam implements the Hague agreement. Both of these could take years. It took the United States 14 years to implement the Hague after it signed. We are appalled by this decision. It clearly does not take into account the "best interest of the children". I would like everyone to understand that agencies did not start giving referrals of special needs children without some guidance from the DOS (US Department of State) and the DIA (Vietnam Department of International Adoption). We participated in a conference call with Gerry Fuller and others at the DOS in August about special needs adoptions. We also presented to them a proposal as to how a special needs program could be structured to address their concerns. We were told at that time that yes, Vietnamese law does allow special needs adoptions and since the US does not require an agreement with Vietnam to do adoptions, the US would process any case presented to them as they do any other case. We were cautioned that we must be sure these cases would indeed be special needs cases and that agencies should not try to sneak a child through with "a scratch on their knee." We all agreed to this. There was also a meeting of adoption agencies in Hanoi in August where agencies asked questions about special needs referrals after September 1 and were assured by Embassy staff and USCIS staff that this would be permitted.
We then had a conference call with Dr. Long at the DIA. He also agreed that special needs adoptions could and should continue after September 1. He encouraged us to proceed and told us that since agencies would no longer have a license in Vietnam then agencies would need for their staff to have a power of attorney from them to be able to represent them in Vietnam.
I am telling you this to let you know that agencies did not embark on Special Needs adoptions without first doing our home work. The US has blindsided us all with the announcement. I must believe that there is more about the circumstances that lead to this than we now know.
Why must all adoptions be shut down on the possibility that there could be problems? Could it not also be possible that there will be no problems or very few? Is that not an equally possible outcome along with the certainty that many special needs children will find homes? We had referred two special needs children. Don't these two children and hundreds of others like them deserve a chance? Why is there no interest in trying to define a process that will work for those children that need homes now rather than take the easy road and just stop them all? We will be working in concert with other agencies and groups to formulate a course of action to get this decision overturned. As the plans come together we will keep you informed and hope you can support us all in these efforts and for the sake of these children.
This is a dark day for adoptions and especially for the special needs children of Vietnam.
 Child Affected by Adoption Suspension from Vietnam
We would like you to meet Nguyen Van Hai. He has a family here in the United States that want to adopt him but can't. The US has stopped all special needs adoptions from Vietnam until a new agreement is signed with Vietnam. No one knows when this might happen. The last time adoptions were suspended it took two and one half years to reach an agreement! Nguyen Van Hai has two deformed hands, a club left foot, no right foot, both eyes are crossed, and he has speech difficulties. We have a family that will adopt him. They have adopted several special needs children with burns, missing hands, and albinism. They would give this boy not only a wonderful home but also the medical care he needs to grow up to be a healthy adult and live to his fullest capacity. He has been in the orphanage his entire life and is now 5 years old. He knows there is a family waiting on him. The US says they are only working for the "best interest of the children". As he gets older he will begin to have more physical problems without help. Who will be there for him later in life to explain again why this was in his best interest?
|
Latest News
