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Vietnam is closed to Americans at this time, and there is no official indication of when it will reopen. Vietnam has had a turbulent history with regard to adoptions by Americans. As an example, the U.S. government asked Vietnam to stop placing children with Americans in the early 2000s, because of evidence of extensive corruption. Vietnam then reopened in 2006, after the U.S. agreed that Vietnam had made serious efforts to reform its adoption system; the two countries signed an agreement that, it was hoped, would protect children, their birthparents, and adoptive families. Unfortunately, by 2008, it was clear that corruption was continuing and that some of the same "bad actors" who had been identified previously were still involved with adoptions. Once again, the U.S. asked Vietnam no longer to process adoptions by Americans. At this time, Vietnam is preparing to implement a Hague-compliant adoption system. It has passed a new adoption law that will allow it to ratify the Hague Convention on intercountry adoption, which the U.S. has already ratified, but it has not yet created the necessary implementing regulations and procedures that must be in place before it can actually become Hague-compliant. Once Vietnam has ratified, the U.S. and Vietnam will have to agree to reopen adoptions, and while some agencies are telling clients that the country will reopen this Spring, the State Department is saying that there is no solid timetable for reopening, and that families should not sign up with agencies on the basis of such assumptions. As an example, when the U.S. passed the Intercountry Adoption Act, which permitted ratification, it actually took several years until the necessary implementing regulations were put in place. In this case, Vietnam needs not only to put such regulations in place and then ratify the Hague, but also to conclude an agreement with the U.S. that would allow reopening. By law, the U.S. cannot enter into such an agreement until the U.S. State Department is satisfied that Vietnam's new system will comply with Hague and U.S. requirements. I would urge you to follow what is going on in regard to adoptions from Vietnam by checking out the U.S. State Department website, at [url=http://adoption.state.gov/country/vietnam.html]Country Specific Information for vietnam.htm[/url], and also by reading the information put out by the Joint Council on International Children's Services, at [url=http://jcics.org/]JCICS[/url]. Sharon
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