U.S. alleges baby-selling rackets in Vietnam

updated 6:07 p.m. ET April 24, 2008

HANOI, Vietnam - Vietnam has failed to police its adoption system, allowing corruption, fraud and selling babies to flourish, the U.S. Embassy said in a new report obtained by The Associated Press.

The nine-page document describes brokers scouring 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'm shocked and deeply troubled by the worst of the worst cases," said Jonathan Aloisi, deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi.

Vietnam's top adoption official called the concerns "groundless." Bribery of orphanage officials may occur, but serious offenses such as baby-selling or kidnapping are not a problem, said Vu Duc Long, director of the Department of International Adoptions.

The dispute comes amid a boom in adoptions from Vietnam. Americans — including actress Angelina Jolie — adopted more than 1,200 Vietnamese children over the 18 months ending March 31. In 2007, adoptions surged more than 400 percent from a year earlier, with 828 Vietnamese children adopted by American families.

While China remains the most popular overseas country for adoptions, a growing number of Americans are looking to Vietnam, which has fewer restrictions. The wait for adoption approval has also gotten longer in China after authorities there tightened rules.

What's the Vietnam process, practice?
U.S. adoption agencies active in Vietnam said that despite some cases of wrongdoing, most adoptions in the country are ethical.

"Our experience has been a good one," said Susan Cox, vice president of public policy with Holt International Children's Services, based in Eugene, Ore., which has operated in Vietnam since the 1970s. "We are concerned about any unethical practices, but I would not agree that these cases are indicative of adoptions in Vietnam."

Another adoption agency, Families Thru International Adoption, of Evansville, Ind., said that corruption exists everywhere and it is up to the adoption agencies to screen who they work with in Vietnam and other countries.

"There's always somebody that is trying to do something under the table, and when there are children involved, the results are even more horrific," said program director Salome Lamarche. "As an agency, we have a responsibility to be very careful who we work with in a country and to only work with organizations that work in a morally responsible manner."

She said her group has recently stopped taking applications for families who want Vietnamese children — but not because of concerns about corruption.

"We stopped because our waiting list is getting long and we thought it wasn't ethical to accept applications from families when we didn't know if we could match them with children," Lamarche said.

The U.S. suspended all adoptions from Vietnam in 2003 over concerns about corruption. Adoptions resumed in 2006 under a bilateral agreement intended to ensure they were above board.

That agreement expires Sept. 1, and many adoption agency officials believe the Vietnam program will be suspended again, at least temporarily.

"I can't see any possible way that this agreement is going to continue," said Tad Kincaid of Orphans Overseas in Portland, Ore. "There's certainly going to be a lapse."

The U.S. Embassy report is based on a review of hundreds of adoptions since they resumed in Vietnam in 2006.

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