Changing Course: Closing Hope

Holt International’s approach to adoption is perhaps different from other agencies.  Their focus is on the child.  They have had years of experience, which has helped them develop and maintain programs to give orphaned and abandoned children safe environments.  They have had to jump over many hoops in regards to public policy because they deal with just about every aspect within government law.  Since they work in different countries, each public policy will be different within that country’s government, each issue or policy is forever changing depending on which country they are working with.

Lisa Vertulfo, Vice President of Adoption Services stated, when policies change, it will not only affect the child but, the perspective adoptive parents as well.  Many times the governments change their policies, or there is turmoil in their economic, political or culture arena leading to adoption requirements changing.  In some cases, the country will close their doors all together on adoption, not allowing any of their children the benefits of a better life.  However, Holt International continues to work hard in behalf of the children through other means until new policies can be put into place.

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.  Recent concerns of Vietnamese children being bought or stolen, and then offered for adoption, 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.

The Governments of the United States and Vietnam are seriously concerned about the inconsistencies and deficiencies that led to a decision not to renew our previous bilateral agreement.  Vietnamese criminal investigations and U.S. field reviews revealed evidence of child buying, including forged or altered documents, cash payment to birth mothers (for other than reasonable payments for necessary activities), coercion or deceit to induce birth parent(s) to release children to an orphanage, and children being offered for intercountry adoption without the knowledge or consent of their birth parents.  Any effort to predict when the current situation will be replaced with a reliable, transparent intercountry adoption procedure is purely speculative (state.gov)

Because of these changes in public policies in Vietnam, Holt has had to suspend all adoptions and cannot process or guide perspective adoptive parents into the Vietnam program.  However, Holt continues to work with the Vietnamese government in hopes once again the doors of adoption will be opened so the children might have the opportunity to have a permanent homes.

Lisa Vertulfo is hopeful that agreements will be made in the near future between the U.S. and Vietnam Governments. “There are so many children who need good homes, and their chances of finding them in their own country is slim.”  Changing adoption policies, changing course and closing hope is not in the best interest for the child nor for the perspective parents involved.  When the governments realize this, then perhaps Vietnam will re-open its doors for adoption.  But until then, everyone waits.

Works Cited

Holt International. Holt International, 2010. Web. 6 Feb. 2010. <www.holtinternational.org>.

“Vietnam Adoption Notice.” Intercounty Adoption. United States Government, 2009. Web. 21

Feb. 2010. <http://adoption.state.gov/news/vietnam.html>.

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