Viet Nam Adoptive Family Interviews : An Introduction

Can you describe what it was like when you received your referral?

The Engelbrecht Family - I was very excited! We even waited up so that we could get the pics printed at WalMart and then take them to our families. It kind of seemed surreal.

Christina - Our referral sort of came in two parts … first there was the phone call... more

Viet Nam Adoptive Family Interviews : An Introduction How did you get through the wait to receive your referral? Was it easier or more difficult than the wait to travel after you saw photos of your child?

The Engelbrecht Family - I bought a lot of stuff (not the best idea). I think it was harder after we had her pic and then travel kept being postponed and that was really hard.

Christina... more

Viet Nam Adoptive Family Interviews : An Introduction

Was your home study experience a pleasant one? What is it that stands out in your memory about your home study? The Engelbrecht Family - Yes, we had no problems. I found it odd that they wanted to know information about our honeymoon.

Christina - We had a very good home study experience. We worked with Children’s... more

Viet Nam Adoptive Family Interviews : An Introduction

Did your family and friends support your decision to adopt? If they were unsupportive, how did you handle it?

The Engelbrecht Family - They were supportive for the most part. Some family members wanted us to try to have kids first, but we explained this is what we wanted. Others wanted us to go domestic, I chose to ignore them if they wouldn't listed... more

Viet Nam Adoptive Family Interviews : An Introduction

How did you choose an agency to work with/what was important to you when making your decision?

The Engelbrecht Family - Strong recommendations from past families. Easy to talk to and availability

Christina - The agency decision was extremely important to us after what we experienced in Cambodia. We were caught in the “pipeline”... more

Viet Nam Adoptive Family Interviews : An Introduction

When you decided to adopt, what was it that drew you to Viet Nam?

The Engelbrecht Family - The openness of the program- age/marriage length

Christina - We originally wanted to wait for Cambodia to re-open, so that R~ would have a sibling who shared her birth heritage. But after waiting 3 years we decided we couldn’t put off adopting... more

I am really excited to share this series of interviews with you! Over the past couple of months I have been working on interviewing four families who have all recently completed a Vietnamese adoption. When would be prospective adoptive parents (PAPs) come to me with questions about adopting from Viet Nam and agencies, I always encourage them to speak with families who have recently adopted to get their first hand perspectives. It is my hope that these interviews will help PAPs learn more about adopting from Viet Nam and give adoptive parents some... more