HO CHI MINH CITY, VIETNAM - Vietnam, where growing numbers of Americans have turned to adopt children, announced Monday it is stopping all U.S. adoptions after allegations by the U.S. Embassy of baby-selling, corruption and fraud.
The abrupt cutoff cast a cloud of uncertainty over pending adoptions in the country, which have surged after tightened restrictions in China, Guatemala and elsewhere.
"Part of what is so anxiety-provoking ... is that there are very few facts," said Richard Smith, director of adoption for Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota, which is working with about 20 families hoping to adopt children from Vietnam. "You just don't know if it's posturing ... or if they truly mean it."
In a letter to the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi, Vietnam said it would stop taking adoption applications from U.S. families after July 1. The State Department said Hanoi would allow adoptions to be completed in pending cases where prospective parents had been matched with a child and received an official referral before Sept. 1.
The U.S. Embassy said it respected Hanoi's decision but stood by its nine-page report outlining such abuses as hospitals selling infants whose mothers could not pay their bills.
It was not immediately clear how many U.S. couples were affected by the decision.
Kjersti Olson, director of international adoption for the Children's Home Society and Family Services, said her agency is working with about 40 families planning to adopt children from Vietnam. "It's just unfortunate in all this political back and forth that who is hurt the most are the children."
AP, RICHARD MERYHEW
