Tougher adoption regulations needed

As luck would have it, I found a piece written by Marcie Picklesimer, an adoptive mother addressing, "Vietnam corrupts adoptions?"

The US Embassy is reporting that Vietnam is “allowing” corruption, fraud, and baby-selling”.

The new report is a nine page report detailing brokers who “scour villages for babies, hospitals selling infants whose mothers cannot pay their bills, and a grandmother giving away her grandchild-without telling the child’s mother.”

Vietnam is denying these claims stating that orphanage directors possibly take bribes but baby-selling is not an issue.

What happens in several cases is that adoption agencies provide donations to orphanages in return for referrals. If referrals are scarce orphanages will then go “scouting” for children to refer to the adoption agencies. This, unfortunately, is where the fraud comes in to play.

However, perhaps the entire system is somewhat fraudulent? If the adoption agencies were not funding the orphanages through donations (the main source of income) then the orphanage would not feel pressure to find children?

At this time Vietnam adoptions are very popular among US families, especially after Angelina Jolie’s adoption of Pax. Adoptions were up over 400 percent last year.

The current Vietnam/US adoption agreement expires on September 1. The US is suggesting a similar DNA test to Guatemala to help prevent fraud.

The US has also recommended that US adoptive parents not begin any new paperwork with Vietnam.

http://www.achildchosen.com/vietnam-corrupts-adoptions/

[What are the chances I just posted a piece discussing the same problem taking place in Guatemala? ]   

In terms of urging Americans wishing to adopt NOT to begin any paperwork with "corrupt countries", please read the following, and learn how these sort of "recommendations" go:

In 2004, UNICEF singled out Guatemala as "the worst country in the world" for adoption irregularities and lack of legal controls. In 2006, UNICEF identified Guatemala as fourth in the world in providing babies for adoption. As a proportion of total population, the country ranked first. The business has grown over the years such that, in 1996, 427 adoptions were recorded. In 2005, the number had grown to 3,783; in 2006, the number was 4,135.

About 90% of the adoptions are by people from the US. As a group, these voracious prospective parents seem entirely unconcerned with how their babies are obtained. When the US finally issued Guatemala an ultimatum on the adoption racket and threatened to cut off visas, the number of applications actually grew, as prospective parents pressed to gush through a loophole that would allow any adoptions in process to continue. In the last six months, 2,136 visas for Guatemalan babies have been issued. http://poundpuplegacy.org/node/21139

Clearly, the problem involves (or dare I say "revolves around") Americans wanting to adopt, regardless of the many warnings not to.  Now with Europe getting involved in the International Adoption Scene, the problems are going to only get worse before they get better, unless something radical changes this course of child trafficking.

Who's to blame for the corruption that has resulted from "too much demand and not enough and supply"?  One can only begin to question.

More importantly, who is going to pay for the aftermath all this deceit is creating... the governments, or the adoptees and their families?