"Of the $3000 brought to Vietnam for the orphanage Faith kept $1000. You did not get a receipt for the whole amount either. Another 500-600 was charged for driver fee's as well as being asked to tip large amounts to orphanage directors, assistant directors and nannies. It was considered embarrassing to give them gifts of shirts or hats, chocolate." This is ridiculous. Other programs did not work like this. There were agencies that disclosed each fee and were upfront about how they would be used. Orphanages receiving $2,000 for each child is an incredible sum. Remember, agencies also signed MOUs with orphanages which outlined other "humanitarian" projects. (Some of these were legitimate, others less so.) Cash donations like these were not necessarily included in MOUs. Many believe that they were the result of bidding wars between agencies, not reflecting an actual need or official program. Vietnamese adoptions never came to a point where a fee schedule was ever established or published (unlike China), so that left a lot of room for improvisation. It's a shame when families are held hostage like this and led to believe that large amounts of cash and tips are somehow cultural phenomenons. If countries are unable to, or unwilling to, create their own standards and oversight over enormous sums of money then agencies certainly shouldn't take advantage of that. Also consider that different government agencies have different standards and missions on how they work with orphanages. Ethica is working with the National Fund For Vietnamese Children, a government office that oversees funding to orphanages, poor children, to underwriting heart surgeries. They are not involved in adoptions but the day-to-day care of children in need. They are accountable to donors including individuals, organizations such as Ethica, the Vietnamese government, its citizens, and other partners such as foreign governments and NGOs who've donated. Despite spending a fair amount of time with us on developing a needs assessment survey, driving supplies out during the first Blankets for Babies fundraiser, and devoting other valuable staff time, we were never expected to "tip" or outrageously enough, give anything near the $500 "driver's fee" noted in this thread. We might celebrate the fundraiser's (hopeful) success with a lunch for staff and volunteers, but even that won't come near what adoptive families were paying. Additionally, the NFVC outlined what the costs would be to assist infants, children, and seniors at the centers (not just orphanages). For a month's worth of formula we're looking at $30/baby. (I understand agencies are charging $150/month/child.) When we asked if staff needed funds, they responded that staff were hoping for skills training in child development, controlling infection rates, and HIV/AIDs awareness. They did not request cash because THAT would be embarrassing. For me, what's embarrassing is that agencies have pulled out of Vietnam now that adoptions are closed, reneging on their humanitarian MOUs, and leaving when times are especially difficult. In northern Vietnam, we have another season of unusually cold weather, poor crops, and rising inflation rates. Hopefully, Ethica will be about to round up a remaining $8,000 for 700 kids by Wednesday. It's important to show that the adoption community cares about feeding children as much as they do adopting them, don't you agree? More details on our fundraiser are at: http://ethica.ning.com -- Linh Song, MSW |