Unknowns in Vietnam

Today the U.S. Department of State made an announcement warning prospective adoptive parents (PAPs) about the uncertain future of Vietnam adoptions. The statement below was posted on Ethica's website, and they do a great job of explaining the current situation in Vietnam if you are interested in learning more. You can also read the warning statement from the Department of State's website. We are really struggling with what to do at this time. We feel really invested in Vietnam already, and we hope and pray that the MOU is resigned. We'll keep you updated on anything we learn.

USDOS Announces Advisory and FAQ on Vietnamese Adoptions
The U.S. Department of State(DOS) has issued the following statement about adoptions from Vietnam.

http://travel.state.gov/family/adoption/intercountry/intercountry_3939.html

At meetings with adoption service providers attended by Ethica personnel, DOS has noted that approximately 2000 people have indicated to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services that they intend to adopt from Vietnam. Many agencies have stopped adding people to their waiting lists, but the lists are long—with many agencies reporting waits of 12-15 months to 2 years for a referral. In light of the long wait times, and the significant number of people in process, the Department felt it was wise to inform people who have not already begun an adoption from Vietnam that it was possible that a new Memorandum of Understanding(MOU) will not be concluded by the Sept. 1 deadline and that when a new MOU is concluded, it might be different from the one currently in place.

The U.S. does not require an MOU; the Vietnamese government does. Thus, while the U.S. will certainly continue its processing past Sept. 1, 2008, it is impossible to predict what the Vietnamese government will do with cases in process when the MOU expires. Because it is impossible to predict, it is the responsible thing to do for the Department to make families aware of the possibility that cases not completed by September 1, 2008 could face significant delays. Families should be aware that no agency can promise you that you will receive a referral after September 1 (as some families have reported), or that a case in process is guaranteed to be completed.

Additional information on this situation can be found here:
http://travel.state.gov/family/adoption/intercountry/intercountry_3940.html

Home Study Visit

After no progress for some time, we are moving in the right direction again! We had our home study visit with our new home study agency today. Since it's just an update, we'll only need to have one visit. It went well, and we are happy to be moving forward. Our social worker gave us the following timeline: Home study sent to immigration in 2-3 weeks. Then about 4-6 weeks to get our approval from USCIS. So this will take us to March, which is a key month in the Vietnam adoption community. The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), which is the agreement between Vietnam and the US is due for renewal in September. Apparently we should know by March if the two countries are going to be renewing the MOU. Please pray with us that this will happen. We're waiting to choose a placing agency after we see what happens in March.