Helping Hands defends its role in Vietnam Adoptions
Sharon O’Driscoll, chief executive of Helping Hands in Ireland, this week defended her agencies use of funds and the process by which monies are distributed in Vietnam. According to the article, Parents who have adopted from Vietnam in recent years paid $11,100 (€7,400) to Helping Hands. Of that, $9,000 was paid as ‘‘humanitarian aid’’ to regional authorities [...]

Dept. of State Posts New VN Adoption Notice
“Nearly all cases for which an official referral was issued before September 1, 2008, have now been processed to completion.” So says the U.S. Department of State in a new Adoption Notice posted today on the Office of Children’s Issues Vietnam adoption page. The Notice goes on to say that under no circumstances should any [...]

Guilty Verdicts in Nam Dinh Case
Than Nien News reports that all sixteen defendants in the adoption corruption case in Nam Dinh province have been found guilty. Six were sentenced to jail sentences of two and a half to four years. The six were found guilty of “abuse of power in public duty,” said Nguyen Tien Hung, vice-president of the [...]

16 On Trial For Falsifying Paperwork in Nam Dinh
The Earth Times reports, Sixteen Vietnamese medical and charity workers went on trial Tuesday for committing fraud in 266 adoptions of local children by foreign parents. The accused allegedly took money from adoption agencies to create fake documents enabling foreigners to adopt the children, said Ngo Tien Hung, vice president of the People’s Court in the [...]

Adoptions from Vietnam may not be recognised, says board
From the Irish Times: The Adoption Board has warned prospective adoptive parents that any planned foreign adoptions from Vietnam have no special status here and may not be recognised under Irish law. The board sent out the notice last week, warning prospective adopters that any application to adopt from Vietnam would be examined to ensure it complied [...]