U.S. alleges baby-selling rackets in Vietnam

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Adoptions in limbo
Already, the U.S. Embassy concerns have left scores of Vietnamese adoptions in limbo, as American families wait for U.S. permission to bring the babies home.

Victoria Krebs of Chapel Hill, N.C., said that she and her husband have been waiting more than four months to find out if U.S. visas will be approved for the two girls they plan to adopt. They have pictures of the children and feel like they are already part of the family.

"They don't reply to my e-mails," Krebs said of U.S. immigration officials. "I don't have any specific information about my case."

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A suspension in Vietnamese adoptions would not only put families on hold, but also threaten humanitarian work in Vietnam that is largely funded by American adoption agencies, such as foster care and programs that help keep families together, Cox said.

That occurred when the U.S. suspended Vietnamese adoptions in 2003, Cox said. "Since there were no adoptions, the groups didn't have the means to stay and help," she said.

Many people involved in Vietnamese adoptions strictly adhere to adoption laws, U.S. officials say.

But others have been flooding the system with cash to get babies for American parents, who pay up to $25,000 for an adoption.

With 42 U.S. adoption agencies licensed in Vietnam, the competition for babies is intense.

Some agencies have been paying orphanage directors $10,000 per referral, the report says, and some have taken orphanage directors on shopping sprees and junkets to the United States in return for a steady flow of babies.

"Adoption service providers have reported that cash and in-kind donations have been diverted by orphanage officials and used to finance personal property, private cars, jewelry, and in one case, a commercial real estate development," the report says.

Ten egregious cases
Aloisi gave the AP a list of 10 particularly egregious cases, including the grandmother who gave away her grandchild.

The mother, working in another province for several weeks, had left the baby with her mother-in-law. She returned to discover the baby had been given up for adoption. Eventually, she got the baby back after U.S. officials uncovered the ruse during investigations as part of the U.S., visa approval process.

In another case, a baby was allegedly taken by hospital officials and turned over for adoption because the mother couldn't afford to pay her $750 hospital bill.

Hospital officials had inflated the bill, claiming the child had serious health problems. U.S. Embassy officials say they discovered the child was healthy. Again, the child was returned to its birth mother.

The report also says some orphanages have pressured birth mothers to give up their babies in return for about $450 — nearly a year's salary for many.

The problems have prompted U.S. officials to seek revisions before renewing the adoption agreement, including DNA tests for birth mothers and permission to conduct surprise investigations in provinces arranging U.S. adoptions.

Both of those conditions are unacceptable, said Long, the Vietnamese official.

Concerns aired
Vietnamese law requires that Vietnamese officials approve and participate in any investigations, he said. And requiring DNA tests is impractical in a country where adoption is considered a private matter.

"The American side is trying to make it seem like this agreement is ending because of violations by the Vietnamese side," Long said. "It's not fair for them to blame us."

U.S. Embassy officials began raising questions last year, after their routine investigations turned up widespread inconsistencies in adoption paperwork.

They also noticed a suspicious surge in the number of babies listed as abandoned on adoption papers. That makes it impossible to confirm the infants were genuine orphans, or that their parents had knowingly put them up for adoption, as required by U.S. law.

In adoptions before 2003, 20 percent were abandoned babies. Since they resumed under tighter rules, that has risen to 85 percent, the embassy report says.

U.S. officials believe paperwork problems and reports of abandoned infants have risen in part because corrupt adoption workers are trying to cover up baby-selling.

They say their efforts to investigate have been blocked in six provinces, holding up adoptions for about 70 American families who have been matched with babies.

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