U.S. Rep. David Price said he is hopeful that the United States can soon finish an agreement with Vietnam on international adoptions in the wake of a breakdown between the two countries this year.
Vietnam ended its agreement with the United States this fall after the U.S. embassy in Hanoi said it had found cases of child trafficking and corruption in the country’s adoption processes, Barb Barrett reports. Vietnam denied any wrongdoing.
The decision left many American families in limbo waiting for children, including constituents of Price, a Chapel Hill Democrat.
"There are dozens of heart-breaking cases we’ve been working on," Price said.
The United States has said it wants to be sure that all children adopted from Vietnam are freely given up by parents or are true orphans, and not adopted through pressure or bribery.
Price traveled to Vietnam recently and spoke with officials there about a new agreement now being negotiated between the two countries. Immigration issues fall under the oversight of Price’s congressional spending subcommittee on Homeland Security.
He said he and the other members of Congress on the trip did not try to negotiate details of the agreement, but that he wanted to reiterate his support.
"We heard expressions of goodwill and a willingness to work this out," Price said. "I don’t want to be critical of the Vietnamese government. I know this is a difficult issue for them, but we need assurances that these adoptions are on the up and up."
He said he thought a new agreement could be worked out within a few months.
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