Children’s Hope
families who adopted from Vietnam attended a reception at
Children’s Hope for two top adoption officials from Vietnam on
July 19. Dr. Vu Duc Long, the Director of DIA (Department of
International Adoption) and Mr. Dang Minh Dao, legal expert for
the DIA, made Children’s Hope their first stop in a visit to the
United States. The 25 families showed off their children adopted
from Vietnam and heard the two men speak glowingly about the
Children’s Hope Vietnam adoption program.
Friday, the
Children’s Hope development /sponsorship team met with the
delegation to explain current and projected development aid
projects in Vietnam in addition to working at establishing a
strong orphan sponsorship program.
Although Children’s
Hope was their first stop while in the United States, Dr. Long
and Mr. Dao, will visit one other adoption agency before meeting
with adoption officials in Washington D.C.
Referrals: Due to
their visit to the US, families waiting to travel could be
affected while the Vietnamese delegation travels. They are set
to return in early August.
Two families
received referrals in mid-July, one for a healthy infant boy
from Vinh Long orphanage that is 6-weeks-old and, the second,
for a 3 ½-year-old female waiting child from GoVap orphanage in
HCMC. Congratulations to all the new parents!
Four families are
traveling in Vietnam currently to complete their Vietnam
adoptions. Two of the families have travel journals.
The Paulsen family
travel blog:
www.lennahabigailpaulsen.blogspot.com
The Crow family
travel blog: http://www.vietnamjolea.blogspot.com.
Please feel free to
follow along with them as they take their wonderful journey to
Vietnam.
These traveling
families waited 2 months, 3 months and 7 months from referral to
travel. As you can see the wait times for travel approval really
vary. Those families adopting healthy children with no special
needs are still waiting approximately 4-5 months to travel.
One additional
family will travel in the beginning of August, hopefully with
more families joining them.
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Children who were adopted from
Vietnam gather around Mr. Dao, on the left holding a
child, and Dr. Long, in the light yellow short-sleeve
shirt, at Children’s Hope home office in St. Louis.
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VIETNAM PROGRAM UPDATES