That said, the legal system is corrupt. My VNese lawyer friends (heads of law offices) say that money ‘wins’ - its that simple. In corruption cases, its usually a power struggle. Anyone could be charged.

I’m saying that its interesting to study the VNese media as we in the business here all do but it’s 100% gov’t controlled (many external Internet sources are blocked to me as I sit here at my computer) and a ‘justice’ system for all practical purposes does not exist except for street crime.

As far as I know, the only way the US has of “prosecuting” situations such as these is through NOIDs. The US has no jurisdiction over how Vietnam chooses to make children available for adoption. Their hands are tied. I could be wrong on this point but I also recall learning at one point that the Embassy also has no direct jurisdiction over individual ASPs so there, too, their hands are tied. Their only option is to investigate and, when warranted, issue NOIDs.

However not all uncovered corruption can be directly tied to an individual case. Sometimes corruption is discovered within a province or orphanage. When the US learns that baby buying and selling and stealing is, in fact, occurring within a specific area, they have an obligation to act in the very limited ways they have jurisdiction to do so. Its only course of action is to more closely scrutinize visas to ensure that all adopted children coming into the US are legitimate by US law.

This is similar to what I read on the Embassy website a few months ago. Where can I find more information on these documented illegal/unethical activities. Is there a journalistic source or, better yet, a legal case prosecuted or pending in Vietnam?

Thanks.

Shad…

We need to acknowledge that a problem does exist. While I am no fan of the US Embassy, they are also in an unenviable position as it seems like they are looking for trouble. If their job is to protect and honor ethics in this arena, they have to do it whether I like the outcome or questions. So, we can make it so that their questions are pointless by insuring good, no great, practices.

Both of my children would have suffered greatly if they had not had access to US medical care and support services. There were questions in each of their adoptions. However, good practices (although not necessarily efficient or great) made it so that we did ultimately get their VISAs. I would have been incredibly angered if they had gotten caught in this web. Knowing that there are families robbed of the opportunity to parent and children who may never be eligible for adoption out there, I can honestly say let’s have some rough moments now to get to the better practices so that more children won’t suffer. We know that many of the these kids are fragile. We know that by the time a PAP is in country they are fragile as well (or at least I was.)

Let’s get this fixed from the end where the fewest of us get hurt.

I hope that we can all agree that we need to be working for and supporting a system that is transparent, accountable and working soley for the best interest of children who need families.

I don’t feel that this is a case of guilty until proven innocent. Getting bogged down in the details just seems to get away from the important points.

The watchman works for an orphanage. Soon after he found the baby, he turned the child over to the administration of the orphanage. They should be making sure that his Ts and Is are appropriately marked. They should make sure that their paperwork is impeccable. Logging in children is part of the process. In turn the agency should be holding the orphanage accountable while making sure it has the resources needed. AND so on.

I believe it is important for us to keep getting back to the procedural issues because when a system is created and working fewer irregularities can happen. I don’t think it is in anyone’s best interest to find excuses or possibilities for any official (orphanage, VN government, US government, adoption agency, home study agency) not to hold themselves to a high standard. If each constituent holds each other accountable, including APs, then the watchman couldn’t make a monumental/inconsequential mistake because it would be unacceptable to be sloppy with such important paperwork and he would know it– because without proper paperwork the child would not be eligible for adoption.

As long as we get bogged down in conjecturing, from any point of view, we create loopholes. I am sure this is not the first time that logs were not kept properly or completely. Unfortunately for this family, they happen to be the ones caught in this discovery process.