Update and crazy story

There's nothing new concerning our adoption, so that's why there have been few adoption-related posts in the recent weeks. On Nov. 28th there was a summit between Vietnamese and US officials, basically saying Vietnam/US adoptions should continue, but here are the guidelines that should be in place. Even if they do not renew this bilateral agreement, it seems like Vietnam would be willing to negotiate a new agreement ASAP. Also, it would be up to them whether adoptions in progress could continue. Therefore, if they did not sign the agreement in March, the program closes in Sept, then Vietnam, not the US would decide if adoptions could continue.

Along those same lines, here's a crazy story for you to tell the next person you find out is adopting (people love to tell us their second-hand adoption horror stories when we tell them we're adopting--and I am joking, don't tell this story to a couple that tells you they are adopting. Trust me, they won't appreciate hearing yet another story about adoptions gone wrong). A woman that adopted through a different agency than us posted her adoption nightmare story on one of our Vietnam newsgroups. She is in the military, stationed in Japan. They adopted a little girl from Vietnam, but at their exit interview, the US denied their adoption because something was wrong with the girl's paperwork. But, this only means she can't enter the US. They were allowed to take her to Japan, and if they lived with her for more than 2 years, she would legally become their child. The story gets crazier. As it turns out, the girl was not even Vietnamese, she was brought in through Cambodia. Plus, she had a spinal tumor, which they had been told was benign. When they got her back to Japan, further testing showed the tumor was malignant. Tough break all around. That's why I do not mind waiting longer to make sure our adoption is legitimate and ethical.