American parents are now able to adopt Vietnamese children again after a six-year hiatus since inter-country adoption between the US and Vietnam went inactive in 2008.

Under a new agreement that took effect on September 16, the US will process Hague Convention* adoptions from Vietnam through a Special Adoption Program designed for children with special needs or those who are older than 5, are disabled, or have siblings.  

“The United States welcomes Vietnam’s efforts to enhance its child welfare and inter-country adoption system and has now determined that, through the Special Adoption Program, it will be able to process Convention adoptions from Vietnam,” the US Embassy in Vietnam said in a statement released on Tuesday.

“However, the United States will not process Convention adoptions from Vietnam that fall outside the parameters of the Special Adoption Program. We will continue to monitor the Vietnamese child welfare program to determine if the inter-country adoption program can be expanded,” it added.

Under this agreement, Vietnamese children adopted by US parents will be granted immigrant visas approved by the US Embassy to Vietnam. These children will benefit from welfare and health care services and other rights like full US citizens.

Moreover, adoptive American parents must participate in 20-30 hours of training before sending in their applications to adopt a Vietnamese child.

Tiffany Murphy, the Consular Chief at the US embassy, said the government of Vietnam has taken a number of steps to improve its implementation of the Convention, particularly in adoptions of children with special needs and for older children and biological sibling groups.

For instance, a new adoption law, implementing decree, and related circulars have been passed and are being put into effect.

Murphy elaborated that Vietnam has also made an effort to enhance its adoption system by giving professional training to employees working in inter-country adoption programs, as well as facilitating legal and apparent adoption programs.

In addition to attending the Hague Convention, Vietnam has passed a five-year project to improve child welfare.

From 2012 to 2014, Vietnam has implemented several steps to process Hague Convention adoptions.

The Central Adoption Authority under Vietnam’s Ministry of Justice announced at a press conference held in the US embassy in Hanoi on Tuesday that it has authorized two US adoption service providers to facilitate intercountry adoptions in Vietnam, namely Dillon International, Inc. and Holt International Children’s Services, Inc.

Nguyen Van Binh, director of the Central Adoption Authority, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) Newspaper by phone on Tuesday that the granting of licenses to the two above US agencies is not unique, as they have fulfilled the same requirements as other foreign organizations.

“They are the 33rd and 34th Adoption Service Providers granted the licenses, and the US is the 12th country involved in this cooperation program,” said Binh.  

According to Binh, all adopting programs must be implemented under Vietnam law, bilateral agreements, international conventions, and regulations involving the two nations.

Binh added that the US was one of three countries which halted inter-country adoption programs with Vietnam in 2007 and 2008. However, all three nations have since resumed their adoption programs with Vietnam.

There had been 42 US adoption service providers in Vietnam before the adoption program ended in 2008.

Bloomberg quoted U.S. General Accounting Office figures as saying that in 1987, the US Congress passed the Homecoming Act, which gave children fathered by U.S. servicemen born between 1962 and 1975, and their families, the opportunity to resettle in the US.

As of November 1992, about 66,000 of them had resettled in the U.S., according to figures.  

Meanwhile, according to Vietnam’s Ministry of labor and social affairs, there were 236,224 orphans in the country in 2013.

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