Vietnam adoptions banned for Americans

Julien — Thu, 01 May 2008 13:10:42 +0200

Go Vap Orphanage in southern Vietnam. Photo: Kerrilee Barrett

Claims that babies were being unlawfully removed from their natural mothers and sold to agencies in Vietnam have caused a ban on all Vietnamese adoptions to the US from July.

Leaked by The Associated Press last Thursday, the US Embassy document cited cases of fraud, corruption and baby-selling in the Vietnamese adoption system. Days later, the Vietnamese authorities announced that it would be stopping all adoptions to the US from July onwards. The United States has been a major adoptive country, having relocated around 1,200 Vietnamese children in the past 18 months.