Vietnam Adoptions-Closing Hope

Adoption from Vietnam to the United States has a long and rather tumultuous history. In 1975, 2700 Vietnamese children were brought to the U.S. during Operation Babylift. Many Americans became aware of the plight of these children after an ad was placed in The New York Times and were so moved that they provided homes for the airlifted children.  With the start of Operation Babylift the number of children for Vietnam adopted to the United States rose dramatically (Martin).

In the fifteen years following Vietnam’s unification, Americans adopted only forty-four Vietnamese children.  However, after a long hiatus, adoptions resumed in 1995 as relations with the U.S. were re-established and the number of adoptions from Vietnam doubled that year.  Adoptions continued to increase each year and in 1998, 603 children were adopted to the United States (Martin). During its peak, in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Vietnam was one of the top 10 sending countries to the U.S. By 2005, adoptions to the U.S. had ceased, as a new law was implemented, but resumed in 2006 when a Memorandum of Agreement was reached between the two countries. Under that agreement, adoptions were conducted at the orphanage and province level, with national oversight, over the next two years (The Adoption Guide).

However, in late April 2008, Vietnam announced it would end its adoption program with the U.S., in response to a report by the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi that alleged corruption within Vietnam’s adoption program. The existing pact allowing adoptions between Vietnam and the U.S. was to expire on September 1, 2008 but in a letter to the embassy, Vietnam officials, who deny the allegations, said they would not renew the pact, and would no longer accept new applications from prospective adopters after July 1, 2008, Vietnam will continue to process applications for families matched with children before July 1, 2008 until the pact expires (The Adoption Guide).

Operation Babylift

The end of the Vietnam War precipitated increased adoptions of Vietnamese children by American families. As South Vietnam began to disintegrate due to the attack of the North Vietnamese, hundreds of thousands of citizens were trying to escape the county, fearing for their lives. Two years after the Americans signed a cease-fire accord with Vietnam, North Vietnamese troops spread through the South, Da Nang fell to the North Vietnamese.  Saigon was next and was under attack.  The country was literally falling apart and there were very little resources to care for the children that were found abandoned (Craft).  Some of these children were of American soldiers whose mothers feared for both their safety once the North Vietnamese found them.

On April 3, 1975, with South Vietnam’s agreement, some humanitarian groups working with orphans in Vietnam had planned their own evacuation for caretakers and children when President Gerald Ford announced his directive, known as Operation Baby Lift. According to his plan, military airlifts would fly several thousand children from orphanages to the United States. He allocated two million dollars for the 30 flights, some of which were cargo planes ill equipped to carry passengers (Craft)

One of the first flights, a C-5A cargo plane, crashed due to a mechanical problem, killing almost half the 330 adults and children aboard the craft (154 died). However, evacuation efforts continued with other flights; some commercial airlines, in addition to the military aircraft, flew the children out.

Information obtained from the adoption agencies or processing centers indicates that 2,547 orphans were processed under Operation Babylift. Of this total, 602 went on to other countries, leaving 1,945 in the United States (Herman). Service organizations such as Holt International Children’s Services, Friends of Children of Viet Nam and Catholic Relief Service coordinated the flights.

The motivations behind Operation Babylift became very controversial and sparked much debate.  From the beginning, the program encountered a number of problems.  Some questioned if the children would benefit from being way from their birth country and family members.  Others questioned if the children were bona fide orphans because some documentation was often sketchy or inaccurate.  In several cases, birth parents or other relatives who later immigrated to the United States from Vietnam requested custody of children already placed. The hasty evacuation in the final days of the war also led to debate over whether the rescue operations were in the best interest of the children (Craft)

Operation Babylift is an interesting part of Vietnam’s adoption history.  The migration of these children for adoption was shaped by national needs and concerns.  However, the U.S. involvement in the war and political concerns over Operation Babylift, opened up much debate regarding the problems in processing the children and the practice of proxy adoptions (Lovelock, 923).

Vietnam Program Closes

Much concern about Vietnamese children offered for adoption were bought or stolen led the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service to announce a review of the Vietnamese adoption process (U.S. State Department, The Bureau of Consular Affairs).  Subsequently, the Government announced in 2003, it was amending its adoption regulations.  Changes included a requirement for countries to enter bilateral agreements with Vietnam and the creation of a central foreign adoption office to approve petitions. The U.S. State Department issued a notice stating, “In light of the uncertainties facing international adoption in Vietnam with the implementation of the new regulations, especially the likelihood of an indefinite suspension, American citizens who have not already done so are strongly urged not to enter into an agreement with an adoption service provider to adopt in Vietnam at this time.” On June 21, 2005, the United States and Vietnam signed a bilateral agreement on intercountry adoption. The current Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the United States and Vietnam expired on September 1, 2008. As a result, intercountry adoption is suspended until a new MOA is signed and implemented (Joint Council).

Until the United States and Vietnam governments can resolve and rewrite adoption policies, the children suffer, closing hope on a brighter future.

Statistics

adoption.state.gov

Works Cited

Craft, Carrie. “What is Operation Baby Lift?” What is Operation Baby Lift?

New York Times Company. Web. 28 Feb. 2010.

<http://adoption.about.com/od/international/f/babylift.htm>.

“Joint Council on International Children’s Services.” Vietnam. 2003. Web. 28

Feb. 2010. <http://www.jcics.org/Vietnam.htm>.

Herman, Ellen. Adoption History Project. Department of History, University

of Oregon, 11 July 2007. Web. 27 Feb. 2010.

<www.adoption@uoregon.edu>.

Lovelock, Kirsten. “Intercountry Adoption as a Migratory Practice: A

Comparative Analysis of Intercountry Adoption and Immigration Policy

and Practice in the United States, Canada and New Zealand in the Post

W.W. II Period.” International Migration Review 34.3 (2000): 907-49. JSTOR. Web. 05 Mar. 2010. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/2675949>.

Martin, Allison. “The Legacy of Operation Babylift.” The Legacy of Operation

Babylift. About.com, 2000. Web. 02 Mar. 2010.

<http://www.adoptvietnam.org>.

United States. United States Government. Department of State. Bureau

of East Asian and Pacific Affairs. United States Government, Oct. 2009. Web. 04 Mar. 2010. <www.state.gov>.

“Vietnam Adoption.” The Adoption Guide. Adoptive Families. Web. 3 Mar.

2010. <http://www.theadoptionguide.com/options/adoption-from

vietnam>.

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