2) I’m not sure if they are or they aren’t. I know these unannounced visits HAVE turned up issues that likely would have been hidden or covered up in the past and I also know that our own government has very little power to force corruption out. They are working within a VERY confined space but are doing SOMETHING because the situation demanded it and it is their obligation. Lots of people are doing things to make this stop from the big to the small. There’s the government, PEAR, JCICS, Ethica, each person who writes their congressperson in favor of ethical adoptions or in support of or with new ideas that will create ethical adoptions, bloggers, advocates on email lists like APV, etc. And that’s just a very few off the top of my head. Will any one do enough to exact fundamental change? Probably not which is why most of those groups recognize there is power in numbers and which is why most of those groups support the government initiative as PART of the solution. Hopefully it will all work together to make an impact but no one effort is likely to halt corruption. However the points you bring up (slowness) are not points I’ve addressed. I was specifically referring to the unannounced investigations and the inability to complete an orphan petition due to the restriction of these investigations. Now talk to me about paperwork sitting collecting dust, only being looked at 2 days a week, being misfiled, lost, mismanaged, etc and I have an entirely different set of opinions. I happen to feel the investigations ARE important. I happen to think that if the US is committed to this Orphans First initiative then they should do it all the way and not just when it fits in their otherwise full job descriptions. THAT I will advocate for, absolutely. Not on this sight becuase, again, it doesn’t fit the direction of this site and it detracts from the point that this initiative was driven by corrupt agency practices, fundamentally. But I will do it all on my own as a parent who believes our government should be held accountable just like I advocated for my old home state to get some additional staff in and approve I600a applications in a reasonable time frame. But I will disagree about one thing. They did NOT originally state it was only red flags and it was never dealt with that way. They have always stated that investigations will be the rule, not the exception, for the time being. And I am in complete support of that, honestly.

3) This is maybe the most complicated issue you bring up. I have mixed feelings. Part of me feels that, absolutely, we should have a right to know where our information is, when it is being processed, how it is being processed, etc. However I also understand that it has the potential to disrupt an on-going investigation if that information is shared. It would defy the point of impromptu investigations to tell the parents that they are still waiting in line for their impromptu investigation! If there are issues, it definitely would be inappropriate to share those issues until an investigation is complete and a decision is made. Keep in mind that PAPs are not those most affected here - the babies are and they know nothing before, during or after. We are secondary parties to these petitions. But I also can’t imagine waiting in limbo without information and I think a middle ground can and should be reached.

Your bottom line may be right on, not becuase the initiative is inherently pointless but becuase it is a global issue and no matter how powerful we like to think our little corner of the globe is, we do not have the power to single-handedly curb such a gigantic issue (especially when it is still occurring within our own borders!). But we spent years watching corruption take place and reaching out to ask our government to do something - anything - to stop it or slow it down and I believe they are acting in response to that. And of course now we don’t like it, are agnry it is affecting us, are angry it isn’t effective enough against corruption. But no one is proposing more viable alternatives, better ideas, clearer paths to ethical adoptions. Most people who are complaining the most will disappear the minute they bring their own child home. This isn’t just obvious to us here - it is obvious to all parties in this adoption process and I think it speaks much louder than all the phone calls and petitions in the world. What it says is “I didn’t really care about anything but MY baby and now I have him/her so I’m happy.” All that work done while they were frustrated and angry? Right out the window! Of those that hang around after their babies are home, many people who are complaining the loudest fail to offer action plans to curb what they do not like or fail to involve themselves in a more active capacity in one of the many movements or groups that HAVE acted.

We can not control what Ireland or France or Australia does in Vietnam. We can support those who advocate for global action. Or we can focus on what we CAN control. Or we can make our own government the Enemy because they are the ones we perceive to be between us and the Gold. Or we can turn a blind eye to it all. At the end of the day each of us has to decide if that’s good enough or, if not, what we are prepared to do in order to fight for global change.

I understand it is a foreign government but when discussing this issue we tend to put the cart before the horse and forget that the US government is investigating so aggressively BECAUSE of the corruption within the process on the Vietnam side (which some agencies knew of and were a party to - they brought the business after all). If we want to be outraged, we should aim our outrage at the agencies that made this all possible, so to speak.

Please think fairly and do ethically.

The bottom line for me is that if one is concerned with adoption ethics, I don’t see how these new procedures are helping. I just don’t buy it. I think it’s a pointless, meaningless and futile exercise that will only frustrate parents, harm babies and send the traffickers scurrying over to other provinces, other countries. In fact, given that this is the USCIS we’re talking about, it really reminds me of their efforts to keep undocumented immigrants out of this country — they still seem to get across the border, don’t they?