Vietnam Complications

The agreement (MOU) is up for review March 2008. June 2008 is the renewal date. Brendan

They give a 6 month notice (which is in December). Our agency indicates that there is no reason to believe the this will not be renewed when it expires in June.

But what about all the NOIDs that have been coming? On RQ, they all talk about that it might be bad news when the agreement ends..

The situation at the moment is that USCIS are investigating 2 Provinces, the DIA have stopped taking dossiers for one and have sent in their security services to investigate what is going on. There is a little bit of bad blood between USCIS and the DIA at the moment. The DIA are complaining that USCIS are sending field officers to some orphanages unannounced and that they are upsetting orphanage staff. The USCIS investigation is aimed at stopping child buying (their words not mine), the situation where a child finder pays money to a First Mother to relinquish her child for adoption. Most First Mothers do not know that it is International adoption, this story was told recently. The trick is to find an official to sign that they found abandoned baby XXX, the paperwork then looks like it has orphan status. Sometimes the babies do not go into orphanages but go directly to designated foster homes run by agencies. Alarm bells started ringing when the same provincial oficial's name began appearing on a number of abandonment documents. USCIS picked up on this and issued NOID's to the PAP's involved. The PAP's are totally innocent it is the agencies who are to blame, of course they blame their in-country staff. I think that adoptions will continue that is why the new 1-600 procedure is now in force. Most of the agencies are operating ethically, it is the few bad eggs that are causing all the trouble.

I agree woth Norsk, the situation is increasingly troubling. Even if our agency has given us numerous reasons not to worry the fact is that there are increasing bad blood between the US and VN athorities, as well as increasing NIDs and Wait pool times (our agency went from 3-9 month wait to 12-24 month wait in less than 5 months! what will happen if the MOU expires before then?) I'm happy that the new procedures will help families be more "sure" of the child they bring home, but what of those of us waiting... will we end up getting a door slammed in our faces after months of waiting??? Not everyone has a back-up plan, some of us are sitting ducks with our dossiers in the waiting pool to be shot down or fished up with a referral. A few months ago, when we started filling out the first bits of paperwork there was nothing to worry about. Now our dossier is in the country there is too much to worry about! I know I wouldn't have gone into an unstable situation to begin with and now that the facts are changing... well let's just say I'm an unhappy camper at the moment.

Murdoc I understand your worry. I also believe that we are with the same agency. You have to keep in mind that ALL international adoptions can be risky....in fact adoptions in general can also be risky. Having been through this once before, there will always be rumors flying around, uncertainties, changes, fluctuating wait times, etc. With our agency to wait times have increased because, in the beginning, no one was in the Vietnam program, now there are many of us.....especially with problems with other countries. Our agency is a great one with very good info and resources.

Murdoc, I understand your frustration, I got out of Vietnam 9 days before the last closedown, I really do not think it is going to happen this time, friends of mine were adopting in Vietnam 4 months after the closedown because their documents were DTV. I really do not think the program is going to close down, not because of any adoption related issues, but because the Vietnamese economy is booming, the US want a real part of the action, they already have, they are not going to let a little part of the equation, IA get in the way. There are far more important issues at stake. So sleep well tonight, you will get your referral sooner than later. If I detect a serious decline in Vietnamese/US relations I will let you know. We will all know well in advance. Brendan

I don't think Vietnam is closing totally, as other countries are in the process of opening the doors to Vietnam right now, but I fear it might be a "bumby ride" untill we get our referral.

Thank you for the words of encouragement. I have come to terms with it and I agree with the rest of you that there is nothing to worry about yet. Clearly this is our first adoption and obviously we are a little stressed. I agree with jpeel99 that we have a great agency and I know that they wouldn't let us wait around if they were not sure that everything was going to be OK. I guess I'm just a little jittery now that our dossier is in VN and there is nothing left to do but wait.

I have the jitters really bad also...We lost a bunch of $$ with a china only agency (the 5 year marriage thing- it will be 5 years this may but to add another 3 years after.....sigh) Anyway once bitten twice shy or something like that. Just wanted you to know that there are others that have no back up plan. We cant afford another loss....

Laurie, Just to let you know that 7 Irish PAP's got referrals this week, it is business as usual they will be travelling 6-8 weeks. There are no 1-600 problems in Ireland, the children are already pre immigration cleared. You get clearance for an unnamed child say 1-12 months. Once your dossier is DTV, from previous experience the adoption will go through, if there is going to be a Vietnamese Government problem like the last closedown they always give plenty of notice. Brendan