Vietnamese Adoption: It's like an elephant pregnancy ....only more paperwork!There is a t-shirt with a similar saying about China adoptions. However, I thought it was very appropriate for Vietnam too. Elephants have a typical gestation period of 22 months. That means I still have awhile to go!
I haven't posted lately because there has not been a lot of movement in my number and a LOT of things going on in the world of Vietnam adoption that have had me concerned. I won't go into a lot of detail as this has been discussed on many blogs and yahoo group postings. However for those of you unaware of the happenings, here is the "much summarized" version. There have been several families in Vietnam to adopt their children who have been issued (or threatened with being issued) NOIDs. NOIDs are a Notice of Intent to Deny that is issued by the U.S. Embassy when they want to investigate the paperwork further to decide if it is legitimate and the child is actually an "orphan" under the U.S. criteria. These people have already adopted their children as far as the Vietnam government is concerned, but the U.S. won't issue a visa so that the child can be brought back into the U.S. I have a lot of compassion for the families caught in this predicament, however I am a strong proponent of making sure adoptions are as ethical as possible. The problems are mainly from 2 provinces and with only a few agencies. Children's Hope (my agency) does not work with orphanages in these provinces and has not been under NOID investigation. They may have a longer wait than some agencies, but I am proud of their integrity and feel confident when the time comes that my adoption will be legitimate. I want (need) to be able to look my daughter in the eye and honestly tell her about the circumstances of her adoption and not have lingering questions about its legitimacy. I will not assign blame for the current situation, but will let our government sort it out. There is the possibility that an innocent mistake was made and the decision will be eventually overturned. However, there is also the possibility that the adoption was made under unethical circumstances. The Embassy stated recently that "We are deeply concerned, however, by confirmed cases of child selling, and by evidence that children are being released for adoption with out the consent of the birth parents." A couple of the agencies have had questionable time frames from approval to referral and from referral to travel. Hopefully this will shed light on any unethical actions and improve the adoption process as a whole.
Our government has now enacted a new process that will hopefully prevent most of this sort of thing from happening. We will now file certain paperwork before travelling so that investigations can be completed prior to travel. The bad news of this is that there has been a lot of talk (speculation) about Vietnam closing down adoptions again. They just reopened to the U.S. in the last couple of years and the bi-lateral agreement is up for renewal in 2008. Hopefully the two countries can work together to extend the agreement. My agency has has told us that they have no knowledge of a closing at this time. However, it is scary to those of us who don't have a referral yet. I'll keep you updated and we should know more in the next 5 months or so.
Now for a couple more elephant pictures from my Zambia trip. Yes Julie, you can never have too many elephants. ;)
