Agency Update

We met with our agency today - a much anticipated meeting since hearing about the new changes. We spoke with the CEO of the agency for about an hour. She had previously not been involved directly with our case, but due to the delays we have been experiencing, she has now stepped in.

Some of the time was spent discussing the overall status of Vietnam adoptions. Unfortunately, not all adoptions that take place in Vietnam are completely ethical. This is not only the case in Vietnam, but in other very poor countries, such as Guatemala. Birthmothers who live in poverty have been approached by "child finders", basically soliciting them to give up their child for a set amount of money. This situation is, of course, devastating to hear about. It really confuses things in international adoption, because the orphanages are filled with true orphans, who have no parents, and no home. However, when the birthmothers are paid to relinquish their children, the U.S. and Vietnamese governments have the responsibility of figuring out which children are truly orphans, and which children have arrived at the orphanage illegally. Much of the responsibility also falls on the adoption agencies. The agencies must be 100% committed to working only in legitimate orphanges, and not participating in bribing the orphanage officials and government agents in order to falsify the paperwork, or move the paperwork along more quickly.

Not all cases of problems with adoptions are based on unethical situations, however.
To read a story about a family who had to return home without their daughter click here Bring Home Eden.

Anyway, more about the agency meeting.
We didn't get a whole lot of new information quite yet. What we did find out is that we will definately not be able to travel this month, under the old I600 rules. We will need to submit the paperwork under the new rules. Unfortunately, the paperwork is not quite ready to be submitted. The in-country facilitator has flown from Saigon to Thanh Hoa (where Juneau's orphanage is) in an effort to gather all of the required documents for the processing of the I600 (there are about 10 documents required). Hopefully this will be completed in the next week or so. We will then begin the 60 day wait to recieve approval. There is a chance the approval could take much less time, but we are planning on the full 60 days. Realistically, we believe the I600 can be completed, translated, and arrive in Saigon by Dec 1. In that case, we will be travelling sometime in February.

The new concern that we have is that the US Government will be concerned enough about the current state of adoptions in Vietnam that they will again close the doors to Americans. The current agreement is valid until March 2008, at which time there will be a re-evaluation of the current system, and possibly no renewal of the agreement. We never imagined that we would not have Juneau home by Christmas, and the delays have been terrible. Now we are hoping and praying to have her home before March.

We should be getting updated information on the status of our I600 and the required paperwork within the next few days, since the in-country coordinator has flown to Juneau's orphanage specifically for that purpose. Hopefully this means new pictures too!