Happy Birthday

1st Day of 1st Grade!

All fresh, brand new school year! Watch out world!

What is your cross?

In life every single person is given a cross. Some are large, some small, some grow as we live and mature, some fade as we live and mature. However what do you do when the cross is so heavy? Lay it down and walk away? Try harder, pick it up and continue, continue to the end? What did Jesus do? A cross has been placed in your hands, an opportunity that you choose to see or walk away from. Then others pray they are never given chances have they ever opened up their eyes to the crosses that are placed in their hand?

Ok world, Here are the facts, what should we do?

We have been in process 2.5 years with our adoption from Viet Nam, second set of fingerprints have a few months left on them. We are #1 with our agency to review the next file of a child. Our agency has no other programs that we qualify for (just found this out TODAY!), so here are the options.

Stay with our agency and not loose the dossier fee of about $4000 hoping for a short closure.

Find another agency and country with a shorter list and loose the $4000 to start fresh

Our agency did not pass the Hague, so even if Vietnam opens what are the new twists going to be (only work with Hague agency's?), hopefully they can reapply this fall.

We are each having another birthday this year, so this make us age out of many options.

To come up with the dossier money:
We auctioned off a very old grandfather clock with an oil painting on the top of it.

Cleaned out a house of a very old lady that died, 70years worth of items, it took about 3mths to do this.

No Movies, No Dinners out, No out of state Vacations or unnecessary travels.

Kept the thermostat very low

Cleaned the snow out of the driveway, not hired done, planted a garden, put up food.

Can't remember the last time I purchased any personal items.

We accepted hand me downs, actually very nice ones, for kids clothes.

Can't remember the last time I used the clothes dryer, all laundry is hung on the line, winter included. I only wash in cold water, never hot.

Still driving the Blazer SUV into the ground, going semi-strong at 190K miles!!!

I am sure we are not the only family having such a hard time, but this is truly a kick in the teeth. No child, no money refunded. I am just sick.

Spring 2008 Local Pancake Breakfast

Photo of family with our Senator after discussions of our issues with adoptions in Vietnam. Not too bad for a family photo, just have to crop him out, Christmas cards already!

Positive talk!

To protect children, central agencies to manage adoption
22:06' 25/08/2008 (GMT+7)

Mr. Vu Duc Long
VietNamNet Bridge – Speaking to correspondents on the sideline of a meeting reviewing the implementation of the bilateral agreement on adoption between Vietnam and the US, Head of the Ministry of Justice’s International Adoption Agency Vu Duc Long said the management of adoption will be centralised.
The case in Nam Dinh revealed that state agencies, including the International Adoption Agency, respond too slowly and ineffectively, didn’t it?
Our difficulties were shortages of information and power.

What is the direction of this case?
There will be no change for the children who were adopted. The violators in Vietnam will be penalised, the adopted children will not be brought back to Vietnam.
Provincial Departments of Justice are in charge of checking and approving adoption files, so what is their responsibility if violations are detected?
It depends on the seriousness of violations. But it is very difficult to verify adoption documents if they are sophisticated counterfeits, because criminals begin forging documents when children enter orphanages.
So who will be sued by families who lose their children?
If their children are kidnapped, they have to sue the kidnappers or those who lend a hand to the kidnappers. We have the Law on Human Trafficking Prevention. In the case in Nam Dinh, it is very difficult to prove kidnapping.
What do you think about provinces permitting the establishment of orphanages which are very poor in facilities?
The happiness of an American couple who have a Vietnamese adopted child.
The orphanage in Nam Dinh is a district-level unit, while district-level management is very poor. This is a lesson. Some provinces have inspected local orphanages and closed down some units, for example the Viet Lam orphanage in Phu Tho province.
Some orphanages in southern provinces are being inspected. If district-level orphanages don’t have good facilities and are not managed well, they will be closed.
The recent US report on adoption in Vietnam said that some officials of the International Adoption Agency received money under the table or accepted overseas tours. What is your opinion about it?
They overstated officials demanding overseas tours or going shopping. The information is inaccurate. It is necessary and normal for officials to be invited to visit adopted children abroad to check and exchange information between related sides. They were voluntarily invited and Vietnam seriously observes regulations.
They said Vietnamese officials raised difficulties to seek profit. That’s not good. We have asked the US side to send us financial reports of Vietnamese delegations. If they overspent, they will be punished.
As an expert in adoption, what solutions do you think will help solve problems associated with international adoption?
The strongest solution is the issuance of the Law on Adoption. This law will basically change the management mechanism. Accordingly, the direct relations between orphanages and international adoption agencies will be abolished. Central agencies will directly manage adoption activities and relations with adoptive parents.
In addition, a national unified adoption assistance fund will be set up to diminish financial ambiguity and the ability to seek profit from adoption at grassroots agencies.
The power to make decisions currently belongs to orphanages and locations where the orphanages are located. This power will be centralised.
What about the experience of other countries in adoption?
One of the principles of the La Haye Convention asks member countries to control adoption activities, so centralisation is the best solution.
Vietnam should follow the model of China. They centralised everything and none of the power is given to local agencies.

Xuan Linh