Congressional letter to Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung

Dear Mr. Prime Minister:

We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your stated commitment to the development of a Vietnamese system of child welfare that protects children from exploitation, and supports domestic and international adoption as viable alternatives for children whose families cannot care for them. We appreciate your direct and active involvement in this important issue and look forward to working with you as you continue these efforts.

We applaud your country’s goal to accede to the Hague Convention on lntercountry Adoption and understand that some steps have already been undertaken to move towards that goal. We know from our own experience that Hague accession requires a complete review of adoption procedures at the national and local level, and thus may take several years to complete. lt is with this in mind that we express our interest in continuing progress toward a new bilateral agreement on international adoptions between the United States and Vietnam that will serve the interests of Vietnamese children in need while the Hague process is completed. We remain hopeful that it will be possible to re-establish an adoption program between the United States and Vietnam in the near future. We share the belief that systematic reform and procedural safeguards must first be established to ensure a safe, effective, and ethical international adoption system in Vietnam that protects children, birth parents, and prospective adoptive parents alike.

You can rely on our full support as your government works to design and establish these reforms.

Sincerely,

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