Vietnam tightens rules on child adoption
HANOI - Vietnam's Prime
Minister Phan Van Khai has ordered the
justice ministry to tighten child adoption rules to prevent any
potential abuse, given increasing demand from foreigners, official
media reported on Friday.
The Nhan Dan (People) newspaper quoted Khai as telling a
cabinet meeting on Thursday that Vietnam needed to establish a
special unit to supervise the process properly.
"We have to organise this (adoption) work well in order not to let
it be abused," Khai was quoted as saying.
He said the new unit, to be controlled by the justice ministry, should keep records of all
adoptions and supervise adoption processes.
Khai said the unit's establishment would be part of Vietnam's preparations for the signing of
the Hague Adoption Convention.
Many childless families outside Vietnam are keen to adopt Vietnamese children, but the
process can be slow and quite bureaucratic. Some have sought shortcuts.
In January 2000, a court in southern province of An Giang sentenced 14 people to prison
terms ranging from 13 months to 20 years for involvement in a major illegal adoption ring.
Last November, official media reported that another 16 people were due for trial in Ho Chi
Minh City for alleged involvement in a ring that bought 39 babies from poor mothers in the
city and nearby provinces and sold them to foreigners in the late 1990s.
According to media reports, Vietnamese children have been adopted by people from 10
countries around the world, with American couples accounting for the largest number, taking
some 600 out of a few thousand adopted each year.
Reuters - April 05, 2002.
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