Voices for Vietnam Adoption Integrity

Nicki:
I adopted my daughter from Phu Tho province, Vietnam in the fall of 2006. I have seen, first hand, the lack of integrity that can and does routinely occur both within agencies and within the government and I have seen parents held at the mercy of corruption that occurs despite the system. I have also seen beautiful, ethical adoptions occur and these adoptions have inspired me to actively promote a more thorough education and understanding of adopting with integrity in Vietnam and worldwide.

Like the other regular contributors to VVAI, I also keep a personal blog over at Stepping On Legos.

Christina:
I’m an adoptive sister, cousin and mother.  We adopted our  daughter from Cambodia in 2002 and our son from Dong Nai, Vietnam in 2006. 

As a result of our adoption experience in Cambodia (including being caught in the INS shutdown) I became very involved in the issue of adoption ethics.  I am on the board of RathCare, an organization working to see ethical adoptions resumed in Cambodia. 

I also maintain a website about adopting from Cambodia.  (www.CambodiaAdoptionConnection.com) and I blog about adoption and life in general over at http://mrsbroccoliguy.wordpress.com/ .

Rachel:

I am the mother of two children via international adoption. Our oldest daughter, Ava, was adopted in 2002 from Cambodia at the age of 10 months and our youngest daughter, Sera, was adopted from Vietnam in 2007 at 3.5 years old. My husband, Tim, is also a Vietnamese adoptee and was adopted in March 1975.  Adoption has played such a huge role in my life and I am very interested in all things adoption related. And after witnessing, and being caught in, the suspension of Cambodian adoptions I am especially passionate about transparency and ethics.

Feel free to join me at my personal blog: http://timandrachel.wordpress.com

Jena:

I am the mother of three children, one of whom was adopted from Saigon, Vietnam in March of 2007.  Through our adoption experience, including our in-country stay, I became even more convinced of the widespread and systematic corruption in Vietnam adoptions.  Soon after we came home from Vietnam and I had begun to process all I had seen and heard, I knew that I needed to get involved.  The last year has been a steep learning curve of listening and learning as much as I can about adoption practices world wide, with a concentration on what is going on right now in Vietnam.  It is my hope and prayer that through involvement we can change the course for the better of adoptions in Vietnam.

I also keep a personal blog at www.twodifferentloves.wordpress.com