The Joint Council on International Children’s Services (JCICS) has just announced that referrals from Phu Tho province have been suspended temporarily by Viet Nam's Department of Intercountry Adoptions (DIA). On their website they state that it is their belief that parents who have been referred children from Phu Tho prior to November 5th will not be affected by the current suspension.

Adoption agencies that are licensed in Phu Tho are A.D.O.P.P.T., Carolina Adoption Services, Children’s Home Society and Family Services (CHSFS), Children’s House International, Plan Loving Adoption Now, Small World Adoption Foundation of Missouri, Vietnamese Orphans Relief Fund (VORF), and Wasatch International. It is my understanding that VORF withdrew from Phu Tho prior to this controversy and has not been referring children from the province for some time. Please read about the US Embassy in Hanoi’s statement here regarding their concern with the increase in the number of NOIDS that have been issued recently.

The JCICS also announced today that there will be a summit meeting in Washington DC to discuss adoptions from Viet Nam. On Wednesday November 28th, adoption agency professionals, representatives from the US Department of Homeland Security, and the JCICS will meet in an effort to aid adoption agencies into ethical practices in Viet Nam. They are advocating for an ethical adoption program and are hoping that this forum will help establish clear ground rules for all working in Vietnamese adoptions. The JCICS has opened this forum to member as well as non member organizations and I am extremely anxious to hear what comes of the forum.

I was informed by my agency (Asian Children Services) that they would be attending the forum, and knowing our executive director will be there on behalf of the children in Viet Nam brings me a sense of comfort. One of the JCICS’s goals for the summit meeting is to create a “unified standard of practice” to ensure ethical adoptions from Viet Nam. I hope that representatives from every licensed agency attends and unification can truly be reached.

photo credit - Rebecca Hess