When is the child yours?

The child is yours once you sign the legal documentation at your G & R. You are then responsible for the child under Vietnamese law. You are given a sealed envelope which you bring to the child's local ministry of justice to get the birth cert. You may then apply for a passport. Us law technically does not come into force until you have left Vietnam. If you run into Visa problems because of malpractice by your agency, under Vietnamese law you are responsible for the care and wellbeing of your child.

I was told that you have to either readopt or legally change your child's name once you come home for your child to have the name you chose. I plan to readopt so I can have easy access to Layla's birth certificate in the future.

As I understand it, the G & R paperwork is the finalization. As to a legal name change, a lot depends on what is on your child's finalization documents and Vietnamese passport. Some, but not all, countries, and some, but not all, provinces within countries, allow you to have your child's American name listed as an "a.k.a." on the foreign documents, especially the foreign passport. If your child's American name appears on his Vietnamese passport or other documents, it may be considered his legal name, and you don't need to do a name change to get documents such as his certificate of citizenship in his American name. HOWEVER, if your child's American name does NOT appear anywhere on the foreign paperwork, you will have to do a legal name change. Legal name changes are done under the laws of your home state. There are usually two ways to do a legal name change for an adopted child. The most commonly used mechanism is the readoption process. If and when you readopt in your state, you can simply request that the judge include a name change order in the readoption decree. This means that the decree will contain a sentence such as, "The child, formerly known as X, will now be known as Y", in addition to a statement that he is now legally your child under your state's laws. If you do not have to readopt and do not choose to readopt, you will need to go through whatever process any nonadopted person wanting a name change in your state must use. The exact process will vary by state, but basically, you will provide some documentation for a judge's review, and if he/she is satisfied that you are not requesting the name change for an illegal purpose, he/she will issue an order saying that your son, formerly known as X, will now be known as Y. Sharon

Thanks, I think I have a better idea now.