ADOPTED 'ORPHAN' MAY BE GIVEN UP
ADOPTED 'ORPHAN' MAY BE GIVEN UP
Woman Says 6-Year-Old Cir iššš Has Parents in Vietnam
Speci&I to The JCt* York Ttaiet SAN FRANCISCO, June 25— A woman testified in Federal Court here today that a 6-year-old girl she had received for adoption during the Vie:-namese babylift was not an orphan and indicated she would return her to her parents in the
Saigonš areaš if that couldš be arranged.
Lisa Brodyaga, a 1974 graduate of Catholic University Law School, said she had received the child in mid-April after being contacted by the Friends of Children of Vietnam, one of seven adoption agencies involved in the babylift effort. « Conversations with the child, | named My Hang, some with j the aid of an interpreter, revealed that she had parents in Vietnam and that she wanted to return to them, according to Miss Brodyaga.
"She has a paper bag of her favorite possessions she's ready to take with her when she returns to Vietnam/* said Miss Brodyaga, *4I don't know what to tell her* I would personally feel like a kidnapper if her mother wanted her back and had simply given her up in the hysteria just before the fall of Saigon."
Deadline Set in Inquiry
Miss Brodyaga, who is study* ing for the California bar exam* was here for the latest hearing in a class action suit filed two months ago by the Committee to Protect the Rights of Vietnamese Children after three children reportedly told a nurse that they had parents In Viet-
nam and had been brought to this country against their vrfll. The suit sought to stop completion of the adoption process until the status of the children had been determined.
Miss Brodyaga said that the Immigration and Naturalization
Service, one of the defendants in the case, and the Friends of Children of Vietnam, based in Denver, had declined to provide her with any documents demonstrating a "valid release" of the child from Vietnamese par* ents or guardians,
Carl Eklund, a lawyer for the Denver agency, said that "confidentiality — the cornerstone of the adoption system" — prevented the release of such information during the lawsuit-Today, Federal Judge Spencer Williams ordered the naturalization service to complete within three months in* vestigations as to whether the 2,600 children who came over during the babylift are, in fact, orphans.
He also ordered the service to give him monthly progress reports on the investigations* including documents, and said ? he would turn over some of ;the documents to the attorneys for the plaintiffs. He also said he would designate a Federal court master to review the records to ascertai n wh e th er a satisfactory job was being done.
A month ago, Judge Williams ordered the service to conduct exhaustive background checks on each Vietnamese child brought into the country as an orphan. However, John E. Matson, the assistant commissioner for investigations, said in court today that the agency only made these investigations a "highest priority" item last Thursday, Such investigations normally are "priority1' items.
Copyright ¿ The New York Times Originally published June 26, 1975