Hold Your Breathe -- No Wait -- Don't.

Ok, so how badly does this suck right now? Oh, so, so badly! For those who haven't seen CNN or Yahoo News lately, Vietnam has announced that they will stop logging in dossiers from the U.S. on July 1 and anyone who does not have an official referral by Sept. 1 will have their dossier returned to them and will not be allowed to complete their adoption.

Our dossier has been logged in since last May, but only a miracle will get us a referral by Sept. 1. I'm talking Heavens splitting open, choir of angels singing Hallelujah, blinding celestial light shining down, and God himself demanding that VN give us a referral.

Yeah. Something tells me God has bigger problems to focus on.

Soooooooooo, here we are. Our agency is holding on to the slimmest glimmer of hope that Dr. Long will change his mind and allow anyone with a logged in dossier to complete their adoption, so we are leaving our paperwork where it is on the off chance Dr. Long will take pity on us poor saps. But, the embassy really, really pissed him off (and I do NOT blame him one bit -- they really made it sound like VN is just rampant with the most heinous kinds of corruption and baby selling/kidnapping, etc., when really the vast majority of adoptions have been completely ethical, and Dr. Long has worked very hard to make adoptions more transparent and centralized). Obviously unethical practices should not be tolerated in any way, but it's a shame that the embassy and media chose to paint the whole program in such a horrible light. And I am wondering where the report is that names the American agencies that are taking part in the unethical practices? How are PAPs suppose to avoid unethical agencies when they are not being held accountable? This really highlights the fact that there is no federal regulation of adoption agencies, so even if one is found to be bad in one state, they can just move to another and open back up with no-one the wiser. I read somewhere that someone said it is easier to open an adoption agency than it is to open a donut shop. Truly frightening.

Anyway, back from the Vent tangent. We are now looking at alternatives. We are not at all sure what we are going to do yet, but hopefully we will have a Plan B very soon and we can focus on that while Plan A sits and waits for answers that will not come until August.

Sigh. This is so disappointing, shocking, sickening for us, but what truly breaks my heart is the thought of all the humanitarian aid that will be leaving when the U.S. agencies are no longer allowed in. There will still be other countries that are allowed to adopt from VN, so I hope that every child in need of an adoptive home is able to find one somewhere in the world. But many who are unable to be adopted, and their communities, will be left without the aid they once had. Heartbreaking.