Status of Vietnam adoptions

Vietnam adoption is in flux. Many agencies involved with VN adoptions met at a summit in Washington, D.C., with about 30 agencies in attendance.

Some of the following issues were discussed:

A record number of Noids (notice of intent to deny) have been issued by the US Embassy. Noids are issued when a child does not meet the USCIS (US Customs and Immigration) criteria ranging from something minor, such as a paperwork error to something more serious such as when the means of referral is questionable. Evidently, Noids were issued to 4 agencies involved in the Northern region of VN. The US gov't went randomly into villages to investigate which caused a political uproar in VN and tensions between the two countries.

An employee of the US Embassy in VN is not pro-adoption and is impeding the process for families undergoing adoptions there. Many agencies have reported problems working with this person.

There is always the possibility that VN will shut down adoptions - although the State Department and VN gov't have both said they don't want this to happen. The process is unpredictable.

Referral wait times: VN does not have a centralized system or way to monitor how many families are waiting for a referral. Most agencies tell families that the wait is 12-18 months or longer from the time the dossier is submitted. In fact, some agencies are no longer accepting applications. Many families switched to Vietnam from China adoptions because of lengthy wait times (now at three years). VN can not accommodate all of these new families and now there is a back log.

Some agencies are engaging in bidding wars over kids. The agencies at the Summit agreed to come up with common stands of practice to prevent this from happening.

Referrals from Ho Chi Minh City (aka Saigon) have slowed due to a "six month rule" that some orphanages are using and others are not, since it is seen as a guiding principle rather than an official rule. This seems to apply to children under 18 months of age.

More paperwork needs to be completed prior to arriving in VN in the form of I-600, so any potential problems are known about before travel. It used to be that you could travel to VN and then complete this form in country. This is a new change and some families traveled to VN without this form which led to long stays in VN.


Our agency is looking to work with an orphanage in another city in addition to HCMC.

We believe our agency is ethical and honest. We are interested in adopting a child who has been abandoned or left without parents--certainly not taking a wanted child from anyone. It's discouraging that the process is taking longer, but hopefully the adoptions will improve in the next few months.

Sources (not in APA format):

http://vietnam.adoptionblogs.com/weblogs/what-exactly-is-a-noid

International Children's Alliance email from December 11, 2007.

Me without coffee

Yesterday I was shopping for Greg, little items for his stocking. I was nearing the end of my day and needed one last thing so I stopped at the little European grocery store near our house. The only problem was - I needed money for change and only had two dimes - this involved some searching for my coins, ahhh, one in my pocket. I get out of the car, with my Christmas presents in the front seat, cause I'm only gonna be one minute. Fill up the meter with some change and double check for my keys. Too late!

Guess where they are - in the ignition of the car. No problem, there are some workmen at the house and if I can get there in time they can let me in the front door. So I rush to my house to catch him. We do keep a spare key in our shed, but I never remember the combination and I don't have Greg's new work number. Time was of the essense.

I rush back home and find my friend the workman and ask him to let me in. We talk a minute and load boxes of shipped presents from the front porch to inside the house. Then I had only a few more minutes cause the money's gonna run out of the meter.

Get to the car, guess what, not only are the keys in the ignition, but the car is running. On impulse I open the door and would you know it, it was open the whole time. With the car running, and Christmas presents in the front seat.

I still went into the market, but instead of a present for Greg, I bought a bottle of wine. For myself. Clearly I needed it.

Some potential good news?

I talked with our agency today, regarding our referral, and while it's unknown exactly, she seemed to think it would be a total of nine months (like a pregnancy). Our dossier is currently at the Ministry of Justice and from there goes to the orphanage to see if there is an available child. Since we submitted our dossier in October (2007) we may get our Milo referral in July. Then it will be about three months before we can travel.

July has always been one of my favorite months so maybe that's a good sign? Greg and I got married on July 31st. We always go on our annual beach trip in July. I'm grasping at straws, aren't I?

Some hopeful news at least!

A bit of the stomach flu

Sorry I haven't been posting but was knocked off my feet by a severe bout of gastroenteritis. Had a horrible night in the hospital - poor Greg was exhausted and with no where to sleep. I've been in a sleep haze for the past four days and I gotta go to work in the morning. No rest for the weary...hope to get some posts up soon explaining all of the changes happening in Vietnam adoptions. In short, more delays but hopefully they won't close the country to future adoptions, after all, they only just reopened the process. Hope all are well!

China Ghosts

My sister asked me for the name of this book and it led me to find the website and thus this video, which is one parent's perspective on adoption and from the father's point of view, which is not often discussed. Enjoy!

Dossier on the way to China!

We are also planning to adopt from China but it's taking a few years for each adoption to be processed. So while we are waiting for our Vietnam adoption to go through, we also put in our paperwork to China. We expect to wait a least two years...sigh...sometimes I think we'll never actually be parents. But I gotta be patient. So we are on our way to waiting some more.

Happy Holidays!

Ross loves to drink from the tree stand - something about the pine-y scented water makes him really thirsty. This tree didn't look so large on the lot, in fact, it seemed kinda puny. I keep getting us more ornaments and managed to break only one. We'll be home this year since I don't have much time off and Greg will have just started his new job. Advantages of staying - no travel. Downside...I don't get to spend time with my brilliant and sweet nieces.

Flight Of The Conchords - Jenny

This video is hilarious and has been cheering me up after our disappointing news.

Some disappointing news...

We got an email from Jennifer, the executive director of our agency, with some disappointing news about our timeline. It looks like it’s going to take a lot longer than our last estimate.

Here's an excerpt:

Your dossier is currently in the process of being translated in Vietnam and will be submitted to the Ministry of Justice next week. From there it will go to an orphanage and will await assignment of a child. The referral process for a healthy baby boy could take 9-12 months from that point, but this is just a guess at this point. We are seeking licensure in two additional provinces right now, so if things are not moving quickly enough in HCMC, we could decide to switch your documents elsewhere. If so, we would consult with you first.

Starting our site!

Our dossier is in Vietnam (as of 10/01/07) and we are still months away from receiving a referral, let alone traveling to VN for our little one. And we have nothing to do now but wait...so unfortunately all we can do is shop.


We did take a parenting class, for me a review of the growth and development of a baby and some information about attachment. The class was taught by a nurse practitioner that has worked with international adoptees and their families for the past twelve years. http://www.adoptionclinic.org/ We'll be working with them when we get our referral to make certain that there are no major medical problems, not that this would stop us.


So we have a crib, courtesy of Scott and Amanda (Greg's brother and his wife). We also have a dresser and bedside table from our neighbor's garage sale.


And today, today we bought mega-sized luggage from Macy's on Christmas sale ($50) and using the gift card from Larry and Kathe (Greg's dad and wife). Three gigantic suitcases...I don't even want to think about dragging those through many major airports. But we are supposed to bring many types of formula, bottles, nipples, clothes, presents for the orphanage directors, wipes, toys, etc.


Our other major purchase? Why a laptop computer on sale from Circuit City, so we can keep in touch once we are finally in VN and can send updates about our journey. Hence the blog! That's why I'm starting it now, so we can learn how to use it by the time we actually go.

Most folks want to know when we'll get information about our referral. Greg believes we'll get one in December or January, but I don't think we'll hear anything until March. Tet, the largest holiday in VN happens in February for one week, so I'm more conservative about the date.

Hopefully we'll travel in April or May! That too might be very optimistic.

But we'll post the updates here for you to see and try to make it as interesting as possible.

Feel free to comment...looking forward to hearing from you!

Jill (not Greg, but he's made this post more grammatically correct)