MINISTER OF State for Children Barry Andrews has reported “good progress” in talks with Vietnam on the resumption of an adoption agreement between the two countries. However, there is still no firm date for when adoption will resume.
The State’s five-year bilateral agreement with Vietnam on adoption expired in May this year, causing anguish for many prospective parents who were in the process of trying to adopt children.
Officials say a decision was taken to renegotiate the agreement due to concerns within Government about adoption procedures in Vietnam. This was influenced by the publication last year of a highly critical report by the US government.
A statement released by the Government at the weekend said Mr Andrews met Vietnam’s minister for justice on June 30th and there were further discussions with Vietnamese officials last week.
It said work on the draft text of a new agreement, previously circulated in March and discussed in April, continued during the week.
“Good progress was made and during the course of the discussions a clear path towards resolution on outstanding issues was identified. It was also agreed that further face-to-face discussions to finalise these issues would take place in August,” the statement said.
The statement did not say when adoptions between Ireland and Vietnam are likely to resume.
“Adoptive parents will want to know if and when adoptions between Ireland and Vietnam will resume. However, it is not possible to be definitive on this as a number of processes on both sides are required before a new agreement can be brought into force.
“Both parties are clearly committed to prioritising the work and agreeing a new bilateral adoption agreement as quickly as possible.”
Latest figures show that children from Vietnam account for the majority of inter-country adoptions in Ireland. Of the 498 declarations of eligibility for adoption issued by the Adoption Board last year, 286 were for Vietnam, followed by 125 for Russia.
The Minister’s statement noted that Vietnam intends to accede to the Hague Convention on Inter-Country Adoption in early 2010.