As someone who has been researching adoption and in the adoption process for 2 years now, I am still not sure what agency this person is talking about. (I have a few guesses, of course) It sounds like a number of smaller agencies. Other than trying to figure out which smaller agency owner/operator/officer has a white son living in Ha Noi, PAPs really cannot figure out from this post who they need to stay away from.

I would honestly really like to know who these folks are talking about.

The reason that she lost her job facilitating Irish Adoptions was not because the Irish Adoption Board took action, they had been contacted on a number of occasions by Maxine Cawswell of OASIS and numerous other people raising concerns about her previous history.

She was removed because PAP’s took action, there was an article in the National Press and public outcry got rid of her. What did the Irish Adoption Board do after they were forced to sack her, they allowed Soland to publish a rebuttal on their website which allowed her portray herself as the Mother Theresa of Vietnamese adoptions. I nearly cried into my Irish Coffee reading it. were they trying to justify their actions or hers.

You would think they would have learnt a lesson, what did they do, they hired her assistant Ms. Binh as the new facilitator, she now facilitates Irish Adoptions.

Last month I contacted John Collins CEO of the Irish Adoption Board because 7 Irish PAP’s were shook for $250 each in cash $1,750 in total as a contribution for the upkeep of older children in the Orphanage.

Knowing Soland’s and Binh’s history, that cash never went near the orphanage. I got a reply, he had contacted Helping Hands the only agency that facilitates Irish Adoptions, they had contacted the last 6 groups that had adopted in Vietnam, they had all paid, it was a voluntary contribution, in the future the shakedown was going to be restricted to $200. The orphanage in question is currently being investigated by USCIS and the DIA.

$7,000 of the Irish adoption fee is for Humanitarian purposes, nobody seems to know where this money goes, The AB do not monitor the aid, the DIA says they do not know where it goes, where does it go to?

I hope it is not being left to our lovely facilitators to administer, maybe a penthouse over Hoan Kiem, nice new car, the last place it will go is to the place that needs it, the orphanage.

Brendan

Where are all the red flag facilitators that have been exposed in recent years for baby trafficking, Soland, La Trace etc. Suprise, suprise they are all still working in Vietnam, they are facilitating adoptions today, they work in the background using false names, they very seldom meet PAP’s, the agencies employ local named facilitators and pay them $200 a month, these are always very nice personable people who react well with PAP’s and their adoptive children.

As I have said they get $200 per month, a good salary in Vietnam, as far as I know facilitators do not have to register with the DIA, but the agency must be licensed. The people who make the real money are the rogue facilitators they receive between $3,000 to $10,000 per adoption. In one particular province the set fee for a referral is $3,000. There has never been a referral from that province unless the $3,000 was paid. One of the US licensed agencies was blacklisted in the province, the reason being that the rogue facilitator who was effectively running that Province had been sacked by the blacklisted agency when unethical behaviour was discovered a year earlier.

Your writer also brought up the problem of the childs paperwork. A lot of births are not registered in Vietnam, the reason being that it costs “dong” to register a birth. When MS X identifies a child for adoption, she pays the parent/parents $500, these familys are usually very poor but MS X will tell the parents that the children will be well fed, educated and will come back and take care of them in their old age. As a birth cert is necessary for adoption (you need one to get a Vietnamese passport) the child is then registered, maybe under their right name, sometimes under a false name. The reason for the false name is when the province put the regulatory notice in the local paper locking for objections to the adoption no one objects as no one recognises the name or family.

The question is, do the licensed agencies know what is going on? the answer is yes. A number of licensed agencies paid the Vietnamese to be licensed. I have had a long correspondence with one particular agency owner who was very sore that he/she had to pay $50,000 to be licensed. This was not an official fee, this was paid in cash to a quartermaster of the DIA on one of their many trips to the US.

Another licensed agency gave their first 4 PAP’s a discount if they paid all their fees upfront, this was to facilitate paying their fee to be licensed.

If you go back over the various threads on AAR you will find some agencies who were offering Vietnamese Adoption Programs before they were licensed, when they were confronted they sais they were going to be licensed anyday, they knew because they had paid.

I have to say that not all US agencies paid, some have had very strong humanitarian projects over a number of years, they were too risky for the Vietnamese to approach.

Brendan