US embassy cable - 04HOCHIMINHCITY1238

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HO CHI MINH CITY 001238 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR CA/OCS/CI AND CA/VO 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: CASC, CVIS, KFRD, KOCI, VM 
SUBJECT: VIETNAM ADOPTIONS BASELINE STUDY -- Danang 
 
REF:  A) HCMC 1187 
 
1. (SBU) Summary: ConGen HCMC extended its baseline study of 
Vietnamese orphanages to Danang during a recent visit by CG and 
Consulate team.    We found that one Danang orphanage has 
continued to receive funding from an American adoption agency, 
despite the suspension of adoptions and in return is "reserving" 
potentially adoptable children.  Conversations with an American 
NGO director confirmed information given to Post from other 
sources regarding some of the in-country costs associated with 
international adoptions.  End Summary. 
 
2. (SBU) On October 1 Conoff paid an unannounced visit on the 
Rehabilitation Center for Malnourished Orphans in Danang and spoke 
with Ms. Nguyen Thi Anh Dao, director of the orphanage.  Dao 
stated that Americans had adopted from her orphanage in the past 
and that her orphanage was the only one in the Danang region 
licensed to process international adoptions.  Dao stated that the 
orphanage was responsible for 26 children at the orphanage plus 11 
other children who were living in foster care with Vietnamese 
families.  All of the children were under five years old and 12 
were under one year old.  Once the children at the orphanage 
reached age six, they were moved to a nearby boarding school for 
orphans.  However, on a tour of the orphanage, Conoff directly 
observed only 14 children: five healthy children between the ages 
of 12 months and 24 months old; eight healthy children under 12 
months old, including four infants under two months old; and one 
special needs child age seven.  Dao stated that three children 
were currently at a local hospital receiving treatment for birth 
defects.  When Dao was later asked to account for the other nine 
children, she changed her statement and said there were actually 
six children currently at a local hospital and added that the 
remaining six children stayed in foster homes each morning. 
 
3. (SBU) Dao stated that the orphanage sought first to return 
children to their natural parents.  If this is not possible, then 
they preferred to arrange domestic adoptions by Vietnamese 
nationals.  Finally, international adoptions were the last option. 
Regarding international adoptions, Dao stated that she only worked 
with American adoption agencies, despite the fact that Amcits had 
not been able to adopt Vietnamese orphans in nearly two years. 
She stated that she had worked with Danish, Canadian, and French 
agencies in the past, but they refused to provide annual follow-up 
reports about each child, which the Americans had agreed to do. 
Therefore, she had ended her relationship with other agencies and 
only worked with American agencies. 
 
4. (SBU) Dao stated that her orphanage had a "commitment" to work 
only with Holt International, an American adoption agency.  When 
pressed about the exact nature of their "commitment," she stated 
that Holt had signed an agreement to provide 470 million Vietnam 
dong (nearly 30,000 USD) to the orphanage this year.  They had 
signed similar agreements since 1992 and expected to receive 
support in the future.  Dao emphasized that the money was actually 
given to the local People's Committee and was used to support her 
orphanage and a local community center for senior citizens.  She 
must submit receipts for actual expenses to the People's Committee 
to receive reimbursement.  Any excess money not spent on actual 
expenses remains with the local Department of Finance at the end 
of the year.  The annual budget for the orphanage ranges from 
300,000,000 to 470,000,000 VND.  Dao was adamant that none of this 
money was ever given to birth mothers and stated that the majority 
of the children under her care had been abandoned at birth at 
local hospitals. 
 
5. (SBU) As part of the "commitment" with Holt, the orphanage 
continues to send referrals and pictures of orphans to Holt to 
distribute to PAPs in the U.S.  Currently, Dao had identified nine 
children who would be adopted by named Americans as soon as the 
moratorium on adoptions is lifted.  Some of the PAPs had already 
visited their prospective children, and they regularly send 
birthday and Christmas cards to the children they have agreed to 
adopt.  Conoff verified that these "agreements" were entered into 
after the moratorium on adoptions was announced in mid-2002 and 
both the Department and the Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City 
had issued announcements urging PAPs not to enter into agreements 
with adoption agencies to adopt in Vietnam. (NOTE:  Since 
adoptions by Americans were suspended on January 1, 2003, Post has 
received notification from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration 
Services that they have approved 12 orphan petitions for Americans 
to adopt named children.)  Dao stated that she would hold the 
children for the Americans to adopt until they reached age ten. 
 
6. (SBU) Dao appeared to be a credible interlocutor who believed 
that she was doing right by the children under her care.  Although 
she did not reveal the exact dollar amount given to the orphanage 
by Holt International until pressed to do so, she readily 
disclosed the relationship and did not seem to feel it was in any 
way inappropriate.  She expressed confidence that she was working 
within the framework of current Vietnamese law.  However, she was 
unable to explain why she had agreed to hold nine children 
indefinitely for American parents when her orphanage's stated 
policy was to place children domestically first. 
 
7. (SBU) In a separate meeting, the Consul General met with Mr. 
Mark Conroy, former USAID officer and current Director of the East 
Meets West (EMW) Foundation working in Danang, Vietnam.  Conroy 
has over ten years of experience working in Vietnam and his 
organization has founded several orphanages in central Vietnam. 
While EMW does not facilitate international adoptions, Conroy is 
familiar with the issue and has experience managing orphanages in 
Vietnam. 
8. (SBU) Conroy stated that EMW budgets 300 to 400 USD per year to 
support each child living in its orphanages.  They budget 
approximately 250 USD per year to support a child to remain with 
her/his family or with relatives; this money then supports all 
those living in the child's home.  Conroy strongly favored 
spending funds to keep children with their families as opposed to 
spending more money to support the same child deposited by the 
family for care in an orphanage.   Comment:  According to Conroy's 
figures, the 30,000 USD given to the Danang People's Committee to 
support Dao's orphanage is far more than the amount actually 
required to support the 26 children living there and the 11 
children in foster care. End Comment 
 
9. (SBU) Conroy stated that birth mothers often received money 
from adoptive parents or agencies in the U.S. when they give their 
children up for adoption.  He stated that the money was given "to 
help get the mother on her feet again" and was often only a few 
hundred dollars.  We pressed him for his views on this issue since 
he has both years of experience in the region and no direct 
interest in overseas adoptions.  Conroy thought that the dividing 
line between assistance and "baby buying" was somewhere between 
USD400 and USD500, the latter figure being about twice the annual 
income in the region. 
 
10. (SBU) Conroy told us that colleagues in the region working for 
the International Red Cross said that the Red Cross received about 
1,500 USD to process international adoptions for Canadian 
citizens.  Of that amount, roughly 500 USD was spent obtaining 
required paperwork from GVN authorities and 100 to 500 USD was 
given to the birth mother, if identified.  Conroy emphasized that 
this was only a small fraction of the 10,000 to 30,000 USD total 
charged to PAPs by adoption agencies in the U.S. and Canada. 
Conroy's views were consistent with what post has heard from other 
sources regarding the costs associated with international adoption 
and the fees charged to PAPs by adoption agencies. 
 
WINNICK