Mixed Signals

As promised, more on the adoption front. Over the past few weeks there have been some positive and some negative news about adoptions. According to our agency, there are going to be several upcoming meetings in Washington, D.C. sometime this month between Vietnam and the U.S.

Some of the news we have been hearing is as follows:

This is from one of Vietnam's online newspapers:

US wants transparent cooperation with Vietnam in adoption
16:26' 16/02/2009 (GMT+7)

Assistant Secretary of State Janice L.Jacobs.
VietNamNet Bridge – Speaking to VietNamNet last week, Assistant Secretary of State Janice L. Jacobs said the US expects Vietnam’s early participation in the La Haye Convention to resume adoption cooperation between the two countries, which was suspended last September.

Signed in 2005, the 3-year Cooperation Agreement on Adoption between Vietnam and the US was halted in September 2008.

From 2005-2008, of 69 foreign adoption organizations in Vietnam, 42 belonged to the US. Around 1,700 disadvantaged Vietnamese children were adopted by American families, making the US the country that adopted the largest number of children from Vietnam.

Vietnam is adjusting its adoption policy, including making preparations for joining the La Haye Convention.

The US is very serious about transparency in adoption, including a clear fee table for adoption, said the US diplomat.

She said the US is willing to provide technical assistance to Vietnam to compile the Law on Adoption. The US can also help Vietnam train staff.

“It is wise to restrict the number of adoption organizations,” she said.



Next from the Center for Adoption Policy website:

February 17, 2009. U.S. Official Speaks on International Adoption from Vietnam. Assistant Secretary of State Janice L. Jacobs gave an interview last week to VietNamNet. According to the account published by VietNamNet, Jacobs said that she expects Vietnam to join the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption soon and that thereafter, she expects international adoption from Vietnam to the United States to resume. Moreover, Jacobs stated that the U.S. has offered technical assistance to Vietnam in order to make its IA law Hague compliant. Among other things she cited the need for increased transparency in fee structures and a reduction in the number of accredited agencies from the 42 U.S. adoption agencies (out of a total of 69) that operated in Vietnam prior to the September 2008 shutdown.

Then today the bad news from Ethica’s website:

March 1, 2009Recently there have been rumors circulating claiming that Vietnam will be open to Americans adopting by the end of this year. Conversations with the U.S. Department of State have confirmed that adoptions are not likely to reopen for some time. Negotiations for a new Memorandum of Understanding have not been successful and Vietnam has indicated that it will be preparing to sign and ratify the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption. Given that Vietnam has considerable progress to make towards adoption reform and transparency, particularly in regards to how children come into care and the need for a fee schedule, Ethica advises families to be aware that this process will most likely take as long, if not longer, than the 3 years that it took for the second Memorandum of Understanding to be approved.

So now the million dollar question is who do we believe? We are choosing to believe somewhere in the middle of all these statements. Maybe not as fast as the Assistant Secretary of State would have you think but not as long as Ethica doom and gloom statement.

Who knows?