Some updates but not really

Here's a summary of an email from our agency executive director, Jennifer Kelman...

Press Release From US State Department:

For those not familiar, the Memorandum of Understanding on Intercountry Adoptions was signed by the US and Vietnam on June 21, 2005 as a beginning step towards an intercountry adoption program that would meet international standards such as those established by the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoptions. The convention contains a number of protections and safeguards for the ethical placement of children. The agreement entered into force on September 1, 2005. There is a deadline of March 1, 2008 for the US and Department of Intercountry Adoptions in Vietnam to reach an agreement regarding the renewal of the MOU. It is evident that the US Department of State and Vietnam Department of Intercountry Adoptions are negotiating this agreement now. We hope that the expected press release will shed some more light on the status of these negotiations.

A copy of the agreement can be found here:
http://travel.state.gov/pdf/vn_final_agreement.pdf

Adopted Children Immigrant Visa Unit at U.S. Embassy in Hanoi revamps website

The Embassy recently launched a newly revised version of their website for the Adopted Children Immigrant Visa Unit (ACIVU). The ACIVU is responsible for processing all the adoption cases that pass through the Embassy. You can visit their new site here - http://hanoi.usembassy.gov/orphan_visas.html. They have added a great deal of information about the process, the requirements, and updates on the status of the program.

Meeting at Embassy for Adoption Service Providers on Thursday, January 24^th

On Thursday, January 24^th the staff at the U.S. Embassy held their quarterly meeting with Adoption Service Providers. The meeting was hosted by Mary Ann Russell of USCIS and Eric Alexander of the Department of State. The majority of the discussion focused around the new I-600 process. USCIS is continuing to streamline their process for handling the I-600s. Here are the highlights from the discussion:

· The estimated time frame for processing the I-600 applications is still 60 days. However, CIS warned that it could be longer due to the high number of applications. In additions, CIS is doing an increasing number of investigations, which is time-consuming and takes their staff out of the office for a time.

· When determining if a child meets CIS’ legal definition as an orphan, CIS staff must complete a form called the I-604. (This is a standard part of adoptions from any country in the world. You can find the form here - http://guangzhou.usembassy-china.org.cn/uploads/images/Oq45THmvcwMSU0Ntx_Hf-w/i-604_pdf__for_visas_37.pdf.) The I-604 can be completed based on the paperwork submitted with the I-600, through telephone interviews with relevant parties, or through on-site visits within Vietnam. If CIS is not able to gather the information needed then they cannot complete the I-604 and, as a result, cannot issue the preapproval.

· CIS is changing slightly the process for notifying families when the preapproval is issued. Thus far, CIS in HCMC has been notifying families directly. From this time forward, CIS will notify the Adopted Children Immigrant Visa Unit (ACIVU) of the Embassy in Hanoi. Embassy staff will then send one email to the family notifying the family of the approval. The email will include the letter of approval from USCIS, as well as an invitation to travel from the Embassy. The Embassy is strongly recommending that families do not travel to Vietnam before receiving this email.

· CIS clarified that when the I-600 is submitted, the family’s CIS approval and fingerprints should be valid for at least another 60 days.

· The USCIS office in HCMC has been receiving a tremendous number of phone calls from adoptive families. Many families have urgent issues and personal concerns and are requesting special consideration. This has been taking them away from their work of processing the I-600 applications. The ACIVU’s new website has additional information about the I-600 processing and it can be found here - http://hanoi.usembassy.gov/preadoption.html. It is important to note that the website says, “For security reasons, USCIS is not able to inform petitioners of the status of their case between the time the receipt e-mail is issued and the time that a decision is made on the case.” The Embassy has also indicated that, “In the rare event that a case requires more than 60 days to process, petitioners will receive an e-mail apprising them of the outstanding issues in their case.”

JCICS Standards of Practice (SOPs)

The timeline for the release of the Standards of Practice from the Joint Council on International Children’s Services (JCICS) has been updated. For those not familiar with JCICS, their website is http://www.jcics.org/. ICA is an active member organization of JCICS. They now expect to release the SOPs on January 27^th. JCICS staff have been actively advocating with DIA, USCIS, and the Department of State regarding the state of the bilateral agreement or MOU and the contents of the Standards of Practice from JCICS.

Log in date for China!

We are now officially logged in as a couple waiting for adoption from China. Our date is December 12, 2007. Which still means we are three years away from adopting our little girl, but at least the process is in place. People are still waiting for little girls with log in dates from as long ago as 2005!

No new news on the Vietnam front, it looks to be a long process of waiting and waiting ahead. So we are focusing our efforts on house hunting, starting in Arlington, Va, where cheap homes start at half a million dollars. Our lease runs until July, so we hope to find something by then. So our weekends are filled with home searches. I think we found our real estate agent, a helpful man that is giving us advice on what to look for on the outside as well as in the basement.

Homes are wicked expensive, even the ones near busy roads but some of the houses we've looked at have reduced their prices further. It's an overwhelming process and feels like much more of a commitment than marriage, plastic surgery or a tattoo. We've just started and a friend of mine looked at more than 100 houses before she found her cute little bungalow. Every house seems to have something wrong with it, like a weirdly configured kitchen, or one with a refrigerator that was literally on an angle (interesting). Tiny, tiny rooms or major roads next door, really right outside your front door or as it says in the listing...."convenient to major highways". I'm a sucker for a cute front porch. The house I've liked the best is still a breath-taking $605,000 with need for a major kitchen renovation. And I'm not just talking granite counter tops, it means pulling out walls. All of this, to take our minds off of the fact that we don't have a little one yet. But if we can find a house, we can fix it up and be ready when we finally get Milo.

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!