Setback for adoptive parents as Vietnam talks stall
Monday July 06 2009
HUNDREDS of prospective parents will have to wait at least another month to find out if they will be able to adopt children from Vietnam after talks between the two countries failed to secure a new agreement.
Adoptions from Vietnam to Ireland were halted in May after a five-year agreement between the two countries came to an end without a new procedure in place.
Up to 350 parents, who had already been approved for adoption after undergoing a lengthy assessment, have been left in limbo and do not know when their adoption can go ahead.
Minister for Children, Barry Andrews, said good progress has been made during talks on the introduction of a new bi-lateral agreement in Hanoi this week. He has met the Vietnamese justice minister and, on Friday last, met the new director of the Vietnamese Department of Adoptions.
While the possibility of an interim arrangement was raised, the Vietnamese said this was not an option. A further round of talks is due to take place next month.
"Adoptive parents will want to know if, and when, adoptions between Ireland and Vietnam will resume. However, it is not possible to be definitive on this as a number of processes on both sides are required before a new agreement can be brought into force," said a spokesperson for Mr Andrews.
"Both parties are clearly committed to prioritising the work and agreeing a new bilateral adoption agreement as quickly as possible," she added.
Shane Downer, chief executive of the International Adoption Association, said he is hopeful a new agreement can be reached.
"To date over 650 children have been adopted from Vietnam into Ireland so it has been a very positive and very effective agreement and we hope the new agreement will enable Irish families to continue these adoptions.
"We have had a very good relationship with Vietnam and the Vietnamese and Irish authorities are working well. I imagine significant progress has been made and I hope that by August we'll be nearly there, if not there already," he added.
Corruption
Vietnam is due to adopt the Hague Convention on Inter-Country Adoption, which sets minimum standards for overseas adoptions, early next year.
Concerns have been raised about corruption within the adoption system there with the US suspending adoptions from Vietnam late last year.
An investigation by the US Embassy in Hanoi found examples of orphanages paying destitute parents the equivalent of almost a year's salary to hand over their children. These children were subsequently put up for inter-country adoption.
Foreign couples were also told to make cash donations to orphanages. This money was later spent by the orphanage directors on cars and jewellry for themselves.
- Breda Heffernan
