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
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1 comment:
Hi Christine - It's been a while. I hope everything is going well in New Hampshire.
So, what's going on with the adoption? We just became DTV on April 2nd, so we still have a while until we hear about a referral, especially with everything that has been going on into Vietnam adoption world! We are heading to the U.P. for this weekend!
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