Days of The Dragon

Whoa! This is so much longer than I originally intended it to be - which probably means it’s not very well organized and has some run-on issues and some disjointedness, maybe even some contradictions - but hey this stuff is a conglomeration of several very gray issues. Sorry, I’m not a writer

The AP articles have brought what we’ve all known was an issue in adoptions from Viet Nam to the world public’s attention - at least for a day or two. The articles were not all that well written, but what do you expect for wire reports that were probably written by someone who knows little about either adoption or Viet Nam. At least some of the important stuff in the articles was correct. The cutoff date for official referrals is still September 1 - that has not changed as of April 29.

The USCIS/DoS released some very important information last week. They represent the official US government take on the current situation with Viet Nam adoptions, the prospect of continuing adoptions in the future, and a somewhat detailed run-down of some illegal activity that has occurred in some cases. We do not currently know exactly how many cases of illegal activity have been uncovered - though, this can be obtained by filing a FOIA request. I’ve begun working on that request - who knows how long it will take to get any information back. The types of fraud and corruption outlined in the report isn’t really news if you’ve been even slightly engaged in the Vietnamese adoption world in any way. The information details disgusting acts, things that really rip at the fabric of humanity - things on the plane of depravity that slavery exists on.

As adoptive parents we rely on three entities to ensure that our adopted children were truly orphans before they became our kids. They are the agency, the Vietnamese government (orphanage and DIA), and our own government.

• We rely on our agency to work in an ethical manner and to not accept children for placement that have questionable or known illegal circumstances surrounding their being eligible for adoption.
• We rely on the Vietnamese government to strictly police adoption agencies that they have licensed, to thoroughly verify a child’s paperwork, to police provincial and orphanage officials, and to ensure fees are used for what they should be.
• We rely on our government to investigate individual adoption cases to ensure that each child meets the US’s legal definition of an orphan so that the child can immigrate to the US.
• We also rely on ourselves. We all have intuitions, we are all intelligent enough to recognize when something shady is going on. You owe it to your child-to-be and to yourself to ask questions and to get real answers if something seems odd. I know a PAP who left Viet Nam without their child-to-be because things just didn’t seem legit once they got to Viet Nam. That takes courage, morals, and a strength most of us probably don’t have.

When any one of these fails, problems are going to show up.

It has been floated “out there” that somewhere between 7 and 10 US adoption agencies have been implicated in illegal activities - out of 42 licensed by Viet Nam. What has Viet Nam done about this? Take a guess - nothing much! Viet Nam has not revoked the licenses of these agencies. I find that very frustrating and quite sad. It’s not really a surprise, though, as agencies pay thousands of dollars to the Vietnamese DIA/orphanages to gain licensure - on top of the thousands of dollars of humanitarian aid they are obligated to give as well - the amount of aid directly correlates to the number of children that an agency is referred. You’d have to bury your head in concrete to think that all that money goes where it’s supposed to. That money finds its way to all levels of the Vietnamese government, all the way up the DIA chain. Some of it also finds its way into the pockets of unscrupulous agency personnel. And, yes, a lot of it does go to actually helping the children and to some really wonderful humanitarian projects in Viet Nam, such as building new schools and providing medical care. There are even agencies that pay orphanage/provincial officials to not give referrals of children to “competing” agencies, but obviously those licenses haven’t been revoked because the officials get more money by taking no action. Dr. Long (head of DIA) needs to stop making excuses and be a responsible, honest official. He should immediately call for thorough investigations into all this wrongdoing and clean out the system! Viet Nam did close Phu Tho province to adoptions from the US because of confirmed fraud and corruption - yet, the province remains open to adoptions from other countries. Sorry, Viet Nam - simply closing the curtain on your window does not mean that the bad stuff going on has stopped - it just means that now we don’t see it. After all that I will say that I do believe that Dr. Long and Mr. Dao are generally good, decent men who are overall trying to do good for the orphans of Viet Nam. If they truly just need more authority to make changes or go after those who perpetrate these crimes then I hope the government of Viet Nam sees fit to grant that authority and to oversee it. I am willing to extend the benefit of the doubt to them.

An important note to keep in mind is that some of the illegal activity is not necessarily happening with the help, or even knowledge of an agency or its facilitator. Certainly there are some instances where orphanage officials or “baby finders” work to procure a child and arrange for the paperwork to look perfectly legitimate. Falsifying paperwork in the US isn’t that hard to do, in Viet Nam it’s trivial - anyone with a little money can get official paperwork saying what it needs to say.

Some people are still questioning the validity of the US findings about illegal activities. To be frank, these people are so far in denial, there is no helping them see reality. I saw enough while I was in Viet Nam and have heard enough first hand accounts from other PAPs that I do not question the validity of the information. It would be nice to know how widespread they feel the irregularities are - it is likely a small fraction of cases that are fraudulent - hopefully. At the same time I would love to hear Viet Nam’s counter to the US report if they have one beyond “outrageous! How dare you?!” - I’m open to hearing all sides.

Now on to PAPs - some stay with agencies even when they find out that an agency requires a cash payment to the orphanage - which is about as big a red flag you could ever find that something is not legitimate about an adoption. That’s even illegal according to Vietnamese law, even if not all the orphanage directors enforce it. Wake up! You are possibly participating in trafficking children - STOP IT! There are people who use agencies who have offered a choice of children. You know, pick the prettiest baby from these 4 - special offer just today! If you don’t know, that is not supposed to happen - don’t participate in it - report it to your state child welfare organization and to USCIS. If your agency feels the need to coach you for your I-600 interviews that’s another red flag, especially if any of the information is different from what you witnessed in person. We, as adoptive parents DO NOT have the right to anyone else’s child - so, stop acting like you do! There is NO PLACE for entitlement in adoption - the only entitlement should be that the children are entitled to a good family of their own. I could go on and on, but that’s not the real purpose of this posting.

Alright, I’ve criticized the Vietnamese government, and some PAPs/agencies. Don’t worry, I’m not leaving out the good ole USA. The US government, specifically the Department of State (DoS) and US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) are charged with processing and investigating individual adoption cases before granting final approval to bring the child back to the USA (the I-600 process). They’ve obviously been busy processing cases and finding these irregularities. At the same time they have been implementing new procedures meant to help ensure illegal activities are deterred or caught. Whoever drew up the implementation plan for these new procedures needs to be fired - plain and simple. There is just no excuse for the method that these were implemented - there is still very little official public information about the new DNA testing requirement for relinquishment cases; that is unacceptable. There are reports that some Vietnamese orphanages/officials have denied US investigators access because the US officials did not follow proper protocol - if that is the case, then the US needs to comply and continue investigations as agreed in the MOA. They also need to be publishing the names of agencies that have been found to be involved in illegal activities - they need to be informing PAPs that these agencies are suspect - not doing so is a serious deficiency (though, I understand that US law doesn’t necessarily allow for this). The US needs to be able to regulate adoption agencies - currently that is left up to each state, and in international adoption there is even less oversight. The Hague convention solves this issue to a large degree, but since Viet Nam is not a Hague member that does not really come into play for most of the agencies facilitating adoptions from Viet Nam. There have also been reports of very rude treatment by some embassy/consulate officials during interviews with PAPs. I can’t personally corroborate that as I was treated in a professional and very polite manner in all my interactions; but, if that is happening then those employees need to be disciplined, as there is no need or use for rude or bullying behavior. In part I blame these actions on the Bush administration - management precedence is set from the top down. From just about day one the Bush administration has been reckless, callous, dishonest, and had a “with us or against us” mentality both domestically and internationally. That is no way for a US government to act. And, if you think politics isn’t involved at all, please stop deluding yourself.

So, at this point in time it seems all but certain that no renewal or renegotiation of the MOA will take place - though private, proper-channel negotiations have not ceased. Indeed, sometimes a public airing of dirty laundry actually leads to more intensive negotiations. Nothing would save face for the Vietnamese more than if they could say “well, we got a new agreement signed - we stood up for ourselves and worked out a deal with the Americans”. Viet Nam is upset at the US for its public report and the US is finally going to insist that things change. Hopefully, all referrals that are received as of September 1 will end in completed adoptions as Viet Nam has previously pledged. I hope that Viet Nam does not change its mind in regards to this.

However, it is likely that adoptions from Viet Nam to the US will cease this year - even if only temporarily. It’s very upsetting. It infuriates me that these illegal activities take place. It saddens me beyond what any words can express that there may be some children who now reside in the US who were never intended to do so - their rightful mothers and fathers wondering why they will never see their precious child again. I know exactly how it feels to give up a child voluntarily, and know that someone else is raising and loving them. I cannot imagine the pain of an involuntary separation.

I feel even more sad for the children themselves whose identities have been stolen long before they would ever know what that even means. Every adopted child will have lifelong questions about who they are, where they are from, who their birth families are, why they ended up not living with their birth parents…these children will have even more questions. I am also extremely sad for the true orphans who will now not know the love and security of a family because a few adults from two governments refuse to act in an honest, mature way, to set aside their differences and work together to get things working as they should.

I am sad for myself and for Parker An - I had hoped to start a second adoption from Viet Nam in the next year. I would love another son and I’m sure Parker would love a little brother. I feel terrible for all those families who are tangled up in this chaos, hoping to bring home their child-to-be - they deserve much better.

In the meantime referrals will still be given out (I know of 3 so far this week) and adoptions will still process, albeit with increased scrutiny from the US and hopefully from Viet Nam as well. Perhaps the state department will be able to come to a new agreement with Viet Nam and Viet Nam will live up to its pledges. If not, perhaps with the next President coming in less than year there is hope for an agreement under what will undoubtedly be a better administration than the current one. Perhaps Viet Nam will somehow come into compliance with Hague regulations and accede to the convention - allowing adoptions to restart. I hope for everyone’s sake that some agreement is reached in the near future - a lapse helps no one, especially the children. And, yes, I am even still a little optimistic that now that each side has made its public punches that a new deal will be reached and a new MOA reached in the next year or so.

I am filled with great sorrow about this situation, but also with great hope. I am confident that at some point in the future things will improve and adoptions will continue. I will not lose hope for that - the children of Viet Nam who need families at the very least deserve our hope and our striving to make things better for them. As I’ve already expressed, I’m also very angry - at Viet Nam’s DIA, at their complicity with the depravity that is child trafficking, with the unscrupulous individuals in agencies and orphanages that would dare to deceive birth parents or forge documents or steal identities from children.

Most of all right now, and always, I am filled with love for my son, my family, my country, and my son’s birth country. I have criticized Viet Nam a lot in this post, but I do not want to give the impression that Viet Nam is a bad place or that it is filled with bad people. I have never felt so in love with a place and a people as I do with Viet Nam and its people. I went there knowing few of the customs and none of the language, and yet I felt more comfortable and at-home there than I usually do in my own country. I have never in my life encountered such a warm and welcoming people, such a beautiful culture, or a more wondrous landscape.

Again, sorry for the disjointed writing - thoughts don’t usually present themselves in a nice neat order And, this isn’t college so I’m not going back to edit!

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