unrest.
This evening I find myself horrified by yet another abrupt sweeping policy change imposed on the Vietnam adoption process by the USCIS. While the end goal seems to be an honorable one, the method is questionable.
As things currently stand, one of the last steps before going to VN to bring your child home is I600 approval. Now the US govt has decided that AFTER the I600 has been approved (a process that is currently taking between 60 and 120 business days) the child and the child's birth parents should be subjected to a DNA test. This testing is to be paid for by the adoptive parents and is expected to add at least a month, likely closer to three, to the waiting time. In addition, the testing seems to be focused on abandonment cases, but may also include cases of relinquishment.
So... lets say a child was left outside of an orphanage in the spring of 2004. According to the new policy said child's birth parent(s) would be tracked down, if that is even possible, four years after the fact, and asked to travel to either Hanoi or HCMC to submit a DNA sample. Yeah. As if that is going to happen.
You can read the full memo here.
If DNA testing must be performed, shouldn't it happen BEFORE the referral? This should happen before the I600 is approved. Before the family has accepted the referral of a child that may not even be adoptable due to the results of said testing. The potential emotional burden of this poorly executed policy change is almost more than I can comprehend.
I'm sure I'll have more to say as information trickles out. It is clear that I don't understand big government. At the moment my heart is heavy as I wait to see how this will impact my friends who have been waiting much too long already. Families in the Vietnam adoption world will not sleep easy tonight.
As things currently stand, one of the last steps before going to VN to bring your child home is I600 approval. Now the US govt has decided that AFTER the I600 has been approved (a process that is currently taking between 60 and 120 business days) the child and the child's birth parents should be subjected to a DNA test. This testing is to be paid for by the adoptive parents and is expected to add at least a month, likely closer to three, to the waiting time. In addition, the testing seems to be focused on abandonment cases, but may also include cases of relinquishment.
So... lets say a child was left outside of an orphanage in the spring of 2004. According to the new policy said child's birth parent(s) would be tracked down, if that is even possible, four years after the fact, and asked to travel to either Hanoi or HCMC to submit a DNA sample. Yeah. As if that is going to happen.
You can read the full memo here.
If DNA testing must be performed, shouldn't it happen BEFORE the referral? This should happen before the I600 is approved. Before the family has accepted the referral of a child that may not even be adoptable due to the results of said testing. The potential emotional burden of this poorly executed policy change is almost more than I can comprehend.
I'm sure I'll have more to say as information trickles out. It is clear that I don't understand big government. At the moment my heart is heavy as I wait to see how this will impact my friends who have been waiting much too long already. Families in the Vietnam adoption world will not sleep easy tonight.
