Most of us in the adoption world have heard of the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption, but I for one, was confused by it. The term ‘Hague’ is thrown around regularly when international adoption is discussed, but I never really understood what that meant, other than it had something to do with regulating international adoption. On Wednesday the United States ratified the Hague Convention. In an effort to find out what all of this means, I did some research because I’m tired of being confused and wanted to know how/if this ratification would affect my family and all the others currently in the process of adopting from Viet Nam.

Here’s what I’ve learned about the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption:

• The Convention is basically a contract that’s goal is to regulate adoption agencies and strive to make the international adoption process transparent and ethical.
  


• It provides a set of standards and practices for adoption service providers and will require all US agencies working in other member countries to be certified by the US.


• The US will be organizing a complaint system that will track complaints made against adoption service providers.
  


• Some people are concerned that it will increase the length of the adoption process and cause more hurdles in an already time consuming process.



• The Convention applies only in cases where both the sending and receiving countries are members. Since Viet Nam has not signed the Convention, it will not apply in the case of US-Viet Nam adoptions.

The bilateral agreement between the US and Viet Nam of 2005 includes the wording :

(the US and Viet Nam) Desiring to confirm that the adoption of children who are citizens of one Party, by citizens of the other Party, take place on the basis of respect for the fundamental values and principles of each Country and consistent with the principles of the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption signed at the Hague on May 29, 1993 (hereafter the Hague Adoption Convention), and, in particular, its provisions on protecting the best interests of children and respect for their fundamental rights, and with a view to preventing the abduction, sale, and trafficking in children and improper financial gain from the adoption process, as well as protecting the rights and interests of adopting parents and birth parents

In June of 2005 Maura Harty made statements at the signing of the international adoption agreement between the U.S. and Vietnam including:

The United States welcomes indications from the Government of Vietnam that it intends to accede to the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption.

The US Embassy in Hanoi’s statement regarding adoptions in Viet Nam that was issued in November of this year stated that:

We continue to urge Vietnam to pass a new, responsible, comprehensive law regulating adoptions, one that puts in place a process that protects the interests of all parties involved in and adoption and one that meets the standards of the Hague Convention. We look forward to the day when both of our countries are full participants in that convention.

What is still unclear to me is the future of Viet Nam-US adoptions now that we have ratified the Convention. Will anything change? It appears that there will not be changes because Viet Nam is not a member of the Convention, but I'm still curious. I have emailed the Department of State with my concerns and questions and am eagerly awaiting their response.

More Reading:
US Ratifies Hague Convention
Ambassador Harty Speaks on Adoption
US Signs on to Hague