Ha Long Bay (which means Bay of the Descending Dragon in Vietnamese,) is a popular day trip for adoptive families staying in Hanoi. Located in the Quang Ninh province on the Vietnamese coast of the South China Sea, the area is made up of fishing villages where the locals live in floating houses. It is comprised of over a thousand islands and inlets, many of which are uninhabited, lending to their overwhelming beauty. The limestone pillars in the seascape are said to be breathtaking.

The journey to Ha Long Bay starts with a car or bus ride to the site where you will board... more

Finally, we’re on the last step of the series of posts detailing each step of the Viet Nam adoption process. Of course, this isn’t really the end. Adoption education for us as parents, and for our children needs to continue and post placement reports only mark the end of the process in terms of paperwork and working with outside agencies.

When you adopt a child from Viet Nam, you agree to send post placement reports to Viet Nam for eighteen years to let them know how your child is doing in their new home and with their new family. Viet Nam requires only one post placement... more

We are continuing on with posts detailing the steps in the Viet Nam adoption process. Once your child has been adopted and you’re settling in to life at home, you will move on to the step dealing with the post placement medical exam. Shortly after coming home with your new child, you will need to take them for a complete medical exam with their new pediatrician. It’s a really good idea to find a doctor before you leave, so you can just call and make the appointment once you’re home. There are many pediatricians who now specialize in international adoption, but that doesn’t mean that’s who you need to, or should, go to. Any physician who you are comfortable with and is good with your child... more

We’re going through the steps in an adoption from Viet Nam, and now that you have traveled home, you’re onto the step of adjusting to life at home with your new child. It is a surreal and amazing experience to leave Viet Nam and step back into your life pre-child. Some family members and friends may expect you to be “back to normal” right away, but it will likely take a period of adjustment to get used to being a family in your home environment. Being in Viet Nam, with the house keeping, restaurants, laundry service and nothing to do but dote on your new cutie gets quiet addictive and it can be hard to... more

Now that you have had your Giving and Receiving Ceremony and have spent a couple of weeks in Viet Nam, your child’s visa will be issued and you will all be free to fly home! Traveling home with an infant, toddler or child will be a unique experience, and has the potential to be lovely and shockingly easy or so horrid and difficult that you will wonder how you can arrange it to just stay in Viet Nam.

Now that your hands will be occupied with a child and all their paraphernalia, try to check as much luggage as possible. It’s very easy to buy luggage in Hanoi if you need more space.... more

After the Giving and Receiving ceremony, your son or daughter is now officially adopted and your child in all contexts of the Vietnamese law. Your life together as a family will begin in Viet Nam, and the time you spend in country will be an extremely memorable experience. Hopefully your adoption agency will take care of all the paperwork and appointments necessary for you all to be able to come home, and you can spend your time bonding and getting to know each other.

If possible, try... more

In continuing on with our detailed posts about each step in the Vietnamese adoption process, we’re now on to the Giving and Receiving. The Giving and Receiving ceremony is one of my favorite aspects of Vietnamese adoptions. It is essentially the giving of a child to their new family. The Giving and Receiving, or G&R as it is often called, is when your child legally becomes your child in the eyes of the Vietnamese government. You will walk away from your G&R ceremony with your child who is now officially adopted.

Giving and Receiving ceremonies vary... more

I am excited to be seeing a couple of places online that have recently been dedicated to letting Viet Nam adoption agencies speak about their practices and on their own behalf. There are now two websites that are tracking adoption agency information and as they continue to grow, will be indispensable resources for anyone thinking about adopting from Viet Nam and researching adoption agencies.

The premise behind these projects is that the site owner contacted every adoption agency that is licensed in Viet Nam with a list of detailed questions. Each agency was informed... more

The next step in the Viet Nam adoption process is traveling to Viet Nam to adopt your child. Boarding the plane that will ultimately bring you to your child is an amazing experience. But once that euphoria wares off and you have over a dozen hours left in the air, the travel can be a bit grueling, but it doesn’t have to be. Your positive or negative experience will have a lot to do with your airline carrier and the amenities provided to you.

We flew on Thai Air and it was a good trip, for the most part. The one negative was that my husband and I were seated in the middle of a middle row, so to... more

This post is continuing on with our series of Steps in the Viet Nam Adoption Process.

Most adoptive parents share the sentiment that the wait from referral to travel is the hardest part of the entire adoption process. Now that the I600 petition submission policies have changed and that wait time has been extended, there will be many families trying to positively bide their time when they’re feeling completely impatient and fed up inside.

I wish I had some magic secret that I could share that would make this wait easier, but no such thing exists. If it does, someone really needs to share it with all of us here! What helped me was reminding myself that the wait was a means to... more