Comments on: Corruption in Vietnam Adoptions

By: Robyn

Robyn — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 22:35:18 +0000

Nicki, wonder if you could share the corruption that you saw. I know that there are problems and would like to know more about what you saw…

By: bella

bella — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 15:03:58 +0000

Ditto, Laura.

By: Laura

Laura — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 22:03:20 +0000

Am I the only one who had a problem with this section of the article?
“U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
investigates the child’s orphan status if it suspects fraud but deals only with the prospective parents in approving or denying these applications.”
Excuse me? I thought USCIS investigated every case. In mine, I had to pay for DNA testing of the bio mom and child, and USCIS used this as an excuse to conduct a one hour interrogation of the bio mo (I know this from an american who was there at the time adopting independently). USCIS also interviewed orphanage staff, and my bio mom’s family and friends. Please. I don’t know what the US’s “agenda” is, but I do not believe a word that our government has said on this issue. I think there was fraud and corruption, just as there is in some US domestic adoptions. What I have not seen is any proof that the overwhelming majority of adoptions are tainted. I also believe that our government should not approve any I-600s in which it believes the process was corrupt – why is this not an option? Instead of doing this, and thereby proving its allegation, our government has chosen a route that allows it to smear the entire adoption process at the expense of innocent APs, birth families, and children.
I was outraged by this article, as well as by the State Dept’s “cables,” because it paints all adoptions from VN with a broad brush, and I fear that my daughter will read this some day as proof that her adoption was not above board. I hate that these unsubstantiated reports are out there to color her story. She deserves better.

By: Barry

Barry — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 14:28:33 +0000

Let’s discuss credibility:
Staff at the US Embassy in Vietnam have done wonderful, above-board things like asking Vietnam’s DIA to decertify agencies who were not part of the first cycle of Hague Accreditation, 3 months before the US had even implemented it. A cable that they thought would not become public could contain just about anything from hair-brained ideas to hungover rants.
The pattern of manipulation and undercurrent of agenda are barely below the surface: US DoS expresses a zero tolerance policy in October 07; DoS hands over I-600 processing, in essence, to USCIS in November of 07 – enormous backlog and confusion ensue; DoS releases “10″ cases (actually 9) in a white paper through Representative Price’s office as justification for the (Full Name): Adjudicate Orphan First program in February 08; DoS re-releases these same 9 stories, but not as 9 of 1400 cases – instead, they release it on their website in a theme format. Each story can then be used multiple times, as evidence of corruption in different stages of the process. Masterful and twisted. The diplomatic reaction from Vietnam is not surprising – they lose face. Why would they want to sit down at a table with the same people who wrote this, to renew the MOU? And so, the US position is completely tenable and bullet proof. They do not have to justify to their tax payers why they have chosen not to renew the MOU – it is a Vietnamese government issue. AND, we discover in July 08 that the USCIS Officer in Charge is not the final authority for I-600 approval as laid out in November 07. Instead, a series of reviews, perhaps including committees, in Washington D.C., are completed for each case that she cannot “straight-forwardly” approve. Why? To prevent a repeat of the overturning of at least half of the NOIDs issued by DoS, including at least one of the infamous white paper cases! The delays and failure to communicate this governmental CYA fit nicely into an overall strategy of discouraging entry into the Vietnam program, one that ultimately will close. If real children, really amazing ones, weren’t forced to live in orphanages as a result, I could almost admire the strategy and implementation. As it is, it makes me sick!

So, let’s talk about credibility of sources again…

By: Mary

Mary — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 03:10:04 +0000

Jeanne, I’m very sorry to hear all of that. For what it’s worth, I do hope another path opens for you.

By: K

Fri, 30 Jan 2009 21:13:38 +0000

Jeanne- We are so sorry to hear about all the difficulties you have faced. We hope someday you will have the opportunity to have your dream cometrue.

We were so fortunate that we were able to bring our daughter home before the shutdown. We were orginally concerend with using a “large” agency because we had heard they were somewhat impersonal. However now we think we would not have been able to bring our daughter home without that “large” agency and their experience and influence.

By: lori

lori — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 00:24:32 +0000

I’m so sorry for all the people who want to parent Vietnamese children but why would you take any chance that you are stealing someone’s child? Try and transfer to another country or, God forbid, adopt domestically!

By: Jeanne

Jeanne — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 18:26:20 +0000

This was already my 3rd country that closed down and my agency closed with no transfers unless you had an active referral. My journey is over. I am sponsoring, but it does not compare to being a Mom day to day.

By: Mary

Mary — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 20:30:59 +0000

Oh Jeanne I’m so sorry to hear all of that. Can your agency transfer you into another program? I’m guessing you’ve already asked. Like you, I am also hoping that the US and Vietnam can work out a much stronger agreement, or that Vietnam can acceed to the Hague conventions. My husband and I would like to adopt again, but would only do so from Vietnam (just a personal preference; we’d like the kids to have that little bit in common). The agencies who screwed this up for everyone, especially the kids that didn’t find homes, really should have to pay for what they’ve done.

By: Jeanne

Jeanne — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 17:40:50 +0000

This whole thing is sickening, Vietnam needs to go to having the government match families with children with a national registry. This way there isn’t a case where a family only wants a 6 month old girl, and suddenly there appears one. Only one or two agencies were caught doing this, only 4 cases out of 1700 were deemed faulty.
Now all approved families like myself who was opened to any child, any age were held back because I wasn’t able to go directy to the national orphanges which has 20,000 legitimate orphans available, but deemed “older”. I had to wait in line at my agency and hope an older child walked through the door of that orphanage, which obviously didin’t happen. There should be no relationships between agencies and orphanages, the government should direct traffic only.
Now here I am 3 years later $15,000 which I can’t deduct/recover and I can’t start over. My paperwork is being returned as we speak- dossiers don’t change so why cancel them. All we ever asked was to stay on the list, some national list so when the country re-opens we could be first. The sadness for the children is overwhelming.