Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Memorandum of Agreement

The Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the U.S. and Vietnam allows U.S. citizens to adopt from Vietnam. There are provisions in the agreement that each country was required to meet, and unfortunately, not all have been met. This agreement is set to expire September 1, 2008, and the U.S. Department of State has indicated that they will not renew the agreement because of the commitments that were not met. However, they are still willing to work with Vietnam to negotiate a new agreement.

What does this mean for parents waiting to adopt from Vietnam? No one knows yet. Those who already have a referral and are waiting to travel should be fine. Those who should be receiving referrals soon may also be ok if they can travel and complete the adoption before September 1. For those of us who are waiting for a referral that will come later, especially after September 1 (like us), the future is very murky. The Dept. of State is advising that no one begin the process to adopt from Vietnam at this time. Many believe that this is just to be open and honest about the fact that there is a chance that adoptions will be halted when the current MOA expires.

As I see it, there are many things that can happen now:

- The U.S. can change their mind and renew the current agreement.
- The U.S. and Vietnam can negotiate a new agreement in time to keep adoptions going without interuption, or with an interuption (who knows how long that could be).
- The two countries could fail to come to any agreement and all adoptions not completed by September 1, 2008 will not happen.
- They could fail to agree, but Vietnam could allow anyone with a referral as of Sept. 1 to complete the adoption.
- They could fail to agree, but Vietnam could allow anyone currently in process to complete their adoptions.

There are probably a few other options in there that I just don't know enough about it all to think of. For now, we are just hoping for the best.

You can read the statement from the Department of State here:

http://www.travel.state.gov/family/adoption/intercountry/intercountry_3939.html

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Huge Month for FTIA Vietnam!

Two more referrals were made last week, which means SEVEN families have received referrals in the month of January! I can't hardly believe it, after how slow (and non-existent for awhile) referrals were last year. February will likely be slower due to Tet celebrations (Feb. 6-11), but the coordinators expect referrals to continue to be steady in the coming months.

Additional news from FTIA is that the age of infants coming home from Vietnam will be older than in the past. Vietnam has put more procedures in place to allow family members or other Vietnamese families to adopt the children before they become eligible for international adoption. In addition, USCIS has changed the Procedure for filing the I-600, the determination of a child's orphan status. You used to file it at the U.S. embassy in Hanoi while you were there completing your adoption. Now, they require you to file this before you travel, which has cut in-country time by about a week, but increased the wait to travel after referral to 3-5 months. These are important safeguards -- and I support anything that makes international adoption more transparent and ethical -- it just means that the youngest children coming from Vietnam will be 9-12 months old.

I've been "nesting" lately. Maybe it's because we finally have a room that will be hers. I've bought some cute clothes (size 2T so it doesn't matter when her birthday is -- I don't have to worry about buying long sleeves that will end up fitting her in summer, she'll have a year to wear 2T), downloaded a bunch of patterns for cute boutique-style little girl clothes (now I just have to find that inner bobbin for my sewing machine...), and bought the wall coverings to decorate her room. I bought a product called Tatouage, a dry rub transfer, that you just rub onto the wall. I got a ton of stuff to make a garden scene on 2 walls, including a picket fence and gate, lots of flowers, a shade tree that will go from floor to ceiling, birds, butterflies, and lots of fairies to play among the flowers. I can't wait to do it, but I need to prime and paint first. I'm hoping to talk John into painting fluffy clouds in a blue sky like he did for J's nursery.

We sent in our application to a new home study agency and received word today that they will be working with us. I talked to the director there last week and really liked her. The agency is based in Keene, NH, but they have a couple social workers who live in our area, so we won't need to travel over an hour to work with them. I'm certain our experience with this agency will be a million times better than our last experience! It would be hard to get worse (though I'm sure there are worse stories out there!).

As I mentioned, Tet is coming up. This is the Vietnamese New Year. I thought I'd share some information I learned today while reading my Chao Ban newsletter (an excellent newsletter for families of children adopted from Vietnam that is put out 4 times per year by a couple who've adopted). This year is the year of the Rat, which is the beginning of the twelve year cycle of the Asian Zodiac calendar. The Rat symbolizes acquisition, industry, and prosperity -- just think of the hard work these animals do to hoard their food. So this is a year for hard work and abundance, but also one to practice being humble about one's achievements.

One difference between the Vietnamese and Chinese calendars is that the Chinese includes an Ox and a Rabbit, and in place of these the Vietnamese calendar has a Water Buffalo and a Cat.

More on Tet later!

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Soooooooooo Cute!

First, I've got some referral news. On January 2 FTIA Vietnam referred FOUR babies! Three boys and one girl! What a great start to the new year!

Now, to the cute part: one of my fellow FTIA PAPs (Prospective Adoptive Parent) posted a link to a website with THE CUTEST little handmade dresses at unbelievable prices! I believe this is a fund raiser done by another adoptive parent, and she has such adorable styles, as well as awesome fabrics. I wish I knew where she found such great prints. I'm tempted to order a whole closet full (and at those prices I probably could!). The link is: http://redthreadstitches.blogspot.com/2007/12/product-selection.html I'll also add it to my list of links on the right.

Just had to share this. Oh, and speaking of cute -- I woke up this morning when J grabbed my face with both hands and announced, "Hi! My name is J!" Lest I forget... LOL