Adoption Update from Vietnam

On October 15, 2008, Vietnam and the United States announced that new adoption cases would not be processed until an agreement between the countries was reached or Vietnam joined the Hague Convention on the Protection of Children and Co-Operation in Respect of Inter-country Adoption. Vietnam is in the process of joining the Hague Convention.

Vietnam signed the Hague Convention in December 2010. Signing the Convention means the Country supports the goals of the treaty, but is not necessarily obligated to follow all or part of it. Many countries sign and never join (or become a party) to a treaty. However, Vietnam has indicated their intent to become a party to this treaty, making them legally bound to follow its mandates. Vietnam has stated that their goal is to ratify the Convention by July 2011, becoming a full party in November 2011.

However, this does not mean that the Country would open in November (even if all goes as planned). There would be an additional step before U.S. citizens would be allowed to adopt from the Country. The U.S. would need to approve as well. If and when Vietnam decides to become party to the Convention, our U.S. Central Authority on adoptions will need to verify that Vietnam conforms to the U.S. regulations regarding Hague. The U.S. will not be able to make this determination until after Vietnam fully becomes a party to the Hague Convention. This process could take some time.

We are thrilled that Vietnam has made great efforts to reform their adoption laws and have expressed intent to become a party to the Hague convention. We hope that all will progress smoothly and that the country will open again soon. However, there is no way yet to tell if/when Vietnam will be an option for prospective adoptive families. MLJ continues to monitor the progression of Vietnam’s status as far as adoption is concerned.