Comments on: Vietnam is not China

By: Heidi

Heidi — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 12:00:15 +0000

Yes, we learned this the hard way. So many agencies assured us that an ethical adoption could be completed within 6 months to a year, so we tried to complete our Vietnam adoption during our China wait. Here we sit a year into our Vietnam adoption with no referral, and China still a year away for us. Although lots of people have had quick, smooth, ethical adoptions from both countries, apparently we are not meant to be one of them. Sigh.

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Thu, 17 May 2007 16:00:17 +0000

YEAH!!! I’m so excited by your new website! The “China is not Vietnam” idea has become part of my daily rants to my family….just ask my husband. And once again, you have put my thoughts into (much more coherant) words.

By: Jenny

Jenny — Thu, 17 May 2007 15:28:11 +0000

Thanks for this post. I get sooo sick of hearing people complain about Vietnam’s program while in country because they have already adopted from China and think it is the same because it is an Asian country. It seems like people want to think they are both the same exact program, but no one would ever thing that Russia is the same as China!

By: Rachel

Rachel — Thu, 17 May 2007 14:43:22 +0000

Thank you so much for starting this great blog! There is so much to be shared and learned. Yes, some will see this blog as painting a “bleak picture”, but these are the realities of adoption. Not just Vietnam adoption, or even international adoption…these are the realities of ADOPTION, period. It’s not all sunshine and rainbows. A lot goes on behind the curtains and PAP’s have the responsibility of asking the tough questions.

Very interested in reading upcoming posts and watching this blog evolve!

By: Jenn

Jenn — Thu, 17 May 2007 13:58:06 +0000

Thank you for mentioning the provincial timeframe. That seems to be the part of the Vietnam process that is the most confusing. Even within an agency, families will notice differences between the time frame of provinces. It is very confusing for PAP’s to hear that so and so agency has x amount of wait to travel from one person and then x amount of wait to travel from another, let alone the differences between agencies.

This also can affect the age of the referred child, depending on if a child is in a province that moves on the quicker end versus a province that moves at the end of (or in some people’s experience, past) the dealines in the process agreements. Two children placed at the same age in different provinces could easily have a month or more difference in age due to this reason alone.

This blog is a good idea, I would suggest posting links to the agreement between the two nations and the list of USCIS approved agencies (as many PAPS never look at this and it is often too late when they realize what is going on.) ANy official links from the U.S. gov’t will help as they do have wonderful guidlines of what to look for and what to avoid during the process.

By: Laura

Laura — Thu, 17 May 2007 02:52:17 +0000

Hey guys!! What a great site this will be. As you know, I switched agencies b/c I was offered three babies before I even finished my homestudy..freaked me out! Of course now my agency hasn’t had a referral yet so I am kind of worried about that too (they were licensed in Oct) Anyway, hopefully I will learn a lot on here. Vietnam has been such a different experience from our China adoption in 2005 & like you said, the wait times, etc.. should not be a reason to just switch countries. RESEARCH …..

By: Jena

Jena — Thu, 17 May 2007 01:47:30 +0000

Reading these posts and this site made me feel like I wanted to stand up and do a whoo-whoo-whoo circling my arm in the air Arsenio Hall style…..
Ethics in adoption(Vietnam and otherwise) have become an ever important issue/value in my life.
Keep it up.
Jena

By: A lot to Think about « Mrs. Broccoli Guy

A lot to Think about « Mrs. Broccoli Guy — Thu, 17 May 2007 00:13:59 +0000

[...] posts. I’m hoping we see a lot of good, lively discussion over there. My first post is called Vietnam is not China and Nicki has a great post On Noids… click on over and let us know what you [...]