Vietnam has announced that it is halting all US adoptions after the charges made by the US Embassy several days ago. They will stop taking adoption applications from American families after July but they will continue to process applications and “matches” that have already been made.
“It is tragic for children that the U.S. government has not been able to find ways to work with the Vietnamese government to prevent adoption abuses while at the same time processing legitimate adoptions,” said Tom Atwood, president of the Washington-based National Council for Adoption, a research and advocacy organization.
“Many hundreds, perhaps thousands, of children …read more

Apparently Vietnam has once again failed to police its adoption system (the US suspended adoptions in 2003). The US Embassy is reporting that Vietnam is “allowing” corruption, fraud, and baby-selling”.
The new report is a nine page report detailing brokers who “scour villages for babies, hospitals selling infants whose mothers cannot pay their bills, and a grandmother giving away her grandchild-without telling the child’s mother.”

I love days like this (Thursday, April 10, 2008); when you’re not thinking about getting an update because it’s not expected and then you get home from a hectic day, check your email, and there it is…an email from your social worker with pictures of the little guy.
The Bebe is three months old now and 12 pounds and 60 cm so it seems that he is just about 50% across the board according to US standards. Interestingly, this makes him a rather large Guatemalan baby.

Guatadopt has reminded me that for ALL international adoptions the US Embassy requires a current I171H and fingerprints.
I171H expires after 18 months and fingerprints expire after 15 months. Agencies do not always remind you that your paperwork has expired so make sure to check your own.

This morning we awoke to an email from our social worker stating that she had our DNA match in hand, exactly one week from when the birth mother and The Bebe took the DNA test.
 
The attorney presents all documents, photos, and medical test results to the US Embassy.

Number of Adoptions in 2006: 463
From US State Department
ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS FOR ADOPTIVE PARENTS: Married and single people may adopt from Ukraine. Prospective adoptive parents have to be at least 18 years old, and the age difference between the adopting parent(s) and adopted child must be at least 15 years, although this can be waived if circumstances warrant. If the child is adopted by a relative, the age difference is not considered.
According to the new Family Code of Ukraine (Article 213), if multiple prospective adoptive parents wish to adopt the same child, preference will be given first to …read more

If you have a registered Power of Attorney (before December 31, 2007) the US Embassy states the you MUST Register with the CNA before February 12, 2008.
From the US Embassy:
On February 8, 2008, Guatemala’s National Council for Adoptions (CNA) announced that adoption cases “entered” in Guatemala before Dec. 31, 2007 must be registered in the offices of the CNA, which are temporarily installed in the Secretary of Social Welfare (Secretaria de Bienestar Social or SBS) of the Presidency, located at 32 Calle 9-34, Zona 11, Colonia Las Charcas, by Tuesday, Feb. 12 (inclusive).  The office will be open during …read more

Number of Adoptions in 2006: 1381
According to the US Embassy the following list items are not legal requirements but administrative guidelines but local agencies should follow them.

We have now officially approved the US Embassy to conduct DNA testing on our future son and his birth mother. This, to us, is a huge step and it happened quite quickly after submitting our POA (Power of Attorney). The Child’s Dossier has also been completed and they are gearing up to submit everything to Family Court.
I have learned that Family Court and DNA happen concurrently so that the birth mother only has to travel to Guatemala City one time (she attends Family Court and at the same time she will go to the US Embassy to do the DNA …read more