by Keith Wallace

I am preparing the update on Vietnam because I have had the occasion to be in Vietnam three times in the past six months. I have had the pleasure and honor of meeting the new Director of the Intercountry Adoption Department within the Ministry of Justice on more than one occasion. I have also discussed the status of the negations with State Department representatives in the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi. Although painfully slow, progress has been made and I expect the new agreement will soon be signed between the United States and Vietnam which will once again allow adoptions to begin. The six million dollar question is: "How do we define "soon"?" Because there are so many parties within each government involved in drafting and approving the agreement, nothing moves quickly. My best guess is it will occur sometime between June and October.

Once the agreement is signed, U.S. agencies will have to submit paperwork and documentation to the Ministry of Justice in Hanoi to be approved to work in Vietnam. In addition to federal approval, agencies must have established some working relationships and agreements with others on a provincial level. FTIA is working towards being able to begin our adoption program when the agreement is signed.

As we get closer to the summer months, we just want to remind our post placement families to begin thinking about this year's annual letter to submit to Vietnam on the progress of your child. We will send a more formal email reminder later, but wanted you to start thinking about preparing the letter, and collecting photos to submit along with it. This is always a wonderful opportunity for you to officially ‘brag‘! In addition, we love receiving the reports and photos, as a way to maintain our ongoing relationship with our post placement adoptive families.

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