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The Order of Priority for Selection of Surrogate Families is as follows:

1. The order of priority for selecting a replacement family is as follows:

a) Stepfather, stepmother, paternal aunt, paternal uncle of the adopted person;

b) Vietnamese citizens permanently residing in the country;

c) Foreigners permanently residing in Vietnam;

d) Vietnamese citizens residing abroad; e) Foreigners permanently residing abroad.

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2. In case there are many people with the same priority level applying to adopt a child, the person with the best conditions to raise, care for and educate the adopted child will be considered and resolved.

The Order of Priority for Selection of Surrogate Families is as follows:

For the best interests of the child being adopted, Article 5 has set out the priority order for choosing a replacement family for the child with the desire that the child will live in the highest love: that is, choosing a replacement family in order of blood relationship with the child first, then families in Vietnam (country of origin) and finally choosing a foreign family for the child.

- The principle that children have the right to learn and know about their origins after being adopted : is stipulated in Article 11 as follows:

1. Adopted children have the right to know their origins. No one can prevent adopted children from knowing their origins.

2. The State encourages and creates conditions for adopted children who are Vietnamese people living abroad to visit their homeland and country.

1.3.4.2. Cases of adoption involving foreign elements


The 2010 Law on Adoption has stipulated cases of adoption involving foreign elements to specify this relationship as well as the application of the law in practice. Article 28 stipulates three cases of adoption involving foreign elements as follows:

1. Vietnamese people residing abroad and foreigners permanently residing in countries that are members of the International Convention on Adoption with Vietnam may adopt Vietnamese children.

2. Vietnamese citizens permanently residing in the country adopt foreign children.

3. Foreigners permanently residing in Vietnam adopting children in Vietnam.

In addition, Article 28 also stipulates cases of specific adoption for adoption relationships with foreign elements in the following cases:

Vietnamese people residing abroad and foreigners permanently residing abroad are allowed to adopt children in the following cases:

- Is the stepfather or stepmother of the adopted child.

- Is the biological aunt or uncle of the adopted person.

- Having adopted children who are siblings of adopted children.

- Adopt children with disabilities, HIV/AIDS or other serious illnesses as their children.

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- Foreigners working or studying in Vietnam for at least 01 year.

The 2010 Law on Adoption regulates specific adoption cases in the following cases:

In cases involving foreign elements, it shows that Vietnam has created favorable conditions as well as demonstrated the spirit of international cooperation and integration in the field of international adoption in Vietnam.

In addition to the above principles, prohibited acts in adoption are stipulated in Article 13:

1. Taking advantage of adoption for personal gain, labor exploitation, sexual abuse; kidnapping, and child trafficking.

2. Forging documents to settle adoption.

3. Discrimination between biological and adopted children.

4. Taking advantage of adoption to violate population laws.

5. Taking advantage of the adoption of war invalids, people with revolutionary contributions, or ethnic minorities to enjoy preferential policies and regimes of the State.

6. Grandparents adopt grandchildren or siblings adopt each other.

7. Taking advantage of adoption to violate the law, customs, ethics, and fine cultural traditions of the nation.

The above regulations are intended to avoid negative consequences that may occur to children when they are adopted. Minimize risks to children during the adoption process.

1.3.4.3. Conditions for adoption involving foreign elements


a. Age requirements for children to be adopted


The age of children to be adopted is stipulated in Article 8:


1. Children under 16 years old

2. Persons from 16 years old to under 18 years old if they fall into one of the following cases:

a) Being adopted by stepfather or stepmother;

b) Being adopted by an aunt or uncle.

In addition, Article 8 also stipulates in Clauses 3 and 4 as follows: "A person can only be adopted by a single person or by both husband and wife" and "The State encourages the adoption of orphans, abandoned children, and children in other special circumstances".

The above age regulations are suitable for the psychology of children, because for children from newborn to under 16 years old, they really cannot do without a family home. Because children have not fully developed physically and mentally, they need to be nurtured and educated by their families to have positive development orientations for them. In addition, the law also stipulates that people from 16 years old to under 18 years old, if they fall into the cases specified in Clause 2, are still eligible to be adopted.

b. Child status: Children are living in a legally established foster care facility in Vietnam or with their biological parents or guardians.

c. Conditions for foreigners adopting children


This issue is regulated in Article 29 and Article 14 as follows:


+ Conditions:


- Have full civil capacity.

- 20 years or older than adopted child.

- Have health, economic and accommodation conditions to ensure the care, nurturing and education of adopted children.

- Have good moral character.

+ The following people are not allowed to adopt children:

- Restricting some rights of parents over minors.

- Currently serving an administrative handling decision at an educational institution or medical facility.

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- Serving a prison sentence.

- Has not had a criminal record cleared for one of the crimes of intentionally violating life and health

health, dignity, honor of others; abuse or torture grandparents, parents, wife

Husband, children, grandchildren of the person who raised you; entice, force or harbor a minor who violates the law; buy, sell, swap or appropriate children.

d. Other cases: In cases where a stepfather adopts his wife's stepchild, a stepmother adopts her husband's adopted child, or a paternal aunt or paternal uncle adopts a nephew or niece, the provisions at Points b and c, Clause 1, Article 14 shall not apply.

1.3.4.4. Consular legalization of documents and papers


Article 30 stipulates: Papers and documents in the adoptive parent's file and the file of a foreign adoption organization established, issued or certified by a competent foreign authority must be consularly legalized when used in Vietnam, except in cases exempted from consular legalization according to international treaties to which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a member or according to the principle of reciprocity.

1.3.4.5. Authority to register adoption


Clause 2, 3 Article 9 stipulates:


- The provincial or centrally-run city People's Committee where the person introduced for adoption permanently resides decides on adoption involving foreign elements; the provincial or centrally-run city Department of Justice registers adoption involving foreign elements.

- Representative agencies of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam abroad register adoptions of Vietnamese citizens temporarily residing abroad.

1.3.4.6. Authority to resolve requests to terminate adoption


This case is stipulated in Article 10 : The provincial People's Court has the authority to terminate the adoption relationship.

1.3.4.7. Foreign adoption organizations operating in Vietnam are regulated in Article 43 with the following contents:

- Regulations on operating conditions in Vietnam.

- Define rights and obligations.

- Regulations on cases of revocation of operating license.

- Other regulations of the Government of Vietnam.

Currently, there are 25 licensed adoption offices operating in Vietnam, which have contributed to promoting adoption relations between Vietnam and other countries (refer to Appendix 1.1).



1.3.5. The implementation of foreign adoption in Vietnam


Immediately after the 2010 Law on Adoption came into effect, the Ministry of Justice organized training in the three regions of the North, Central and South for all relevant parties in the process of implementing the Law on Adoption, especially in the field of adoption involving foreign elements.

In the process of implementing the 2010 Law on Adoption, the Ministry of Justice said that localities have not yet clearly understood the practical significance and mandatory nature of the procedure for finding domestic surrogate families as prescribed in Article 15 of the Law on Adoption; they have not yet realized that this is the obligation of foster care facilities to make a list of children needing to find surrogate families for children living in foster care facilities. Therefore, the list of children needing to find domestic surrogate families compiled by localities and posted by the Ministry of Justice on the Ministry of Justice's electronic information portal is still cautious, fearing that if someone in the country adopts them, there will be no more children left for foreign adoption. After more than a year of implementing the Law on Adoption, the Ministry of Justice has received 11 lists of 170 children from 20 provinces and cities sending requests to find surrogate families nationwide before being able to be included in the list of children eligible for foreign adoption. By April 2012, nationwide, there were only 132 children whose 2-month notification period had expired without anyone in the country registering to adopt them, which is a condition for inclusion in list 1 (DS1). Currently, there are only more than 80 children who have been confirmed by localities to be eligible for international adoption to move on to the stage of introducing children to foreign adoptive parents.

One of the fundamental reforms in the implementation of the 2010 Law on Adoption is to maximize transparency in the procedures for handling adoptions involving foreign elements. The methods for assessing adoptive parents' records, child records, and operating license records in Vietnam of foreign adoption agencies are all thoroughly discussed and discussed at the Appraisal Advisory Council of the Department of Adoption. Clearly assign responsibilities and tasks in the stages related to receiving and assessing adoption records, licensing records, checking child records, and checking the results of introducing children for adoption to foreigners sent by localities. Publicize the criteria for evaluating the operations of foreign adoption offices, on that basis, decide on the number of records for adopting children from list 1.

Since the Law on Adoption came into effect on January 1, 2011, an issue that the Department of Adoption has paid special attention to is focusing on finding alternative families for disabled and sick children who have little chance of being adopted but are in great need of special and timely medical care to increase the children's chances of reintegrating into the community. Based on that policy, the Department of Adoption has proactively implemented a pilot program to resolve adoption for disabled and sick children in 4 key locations: Hanoi, Da Nang, Ho Chi Minh City and Ba Ria Province.

– Vung Tau.


By the end of February 2012, 40 children in the program had been adopted by foreign families, including children with serious illnesses that require lifelong treatment such as blood diseases, HIV, blindness, and mental retardation; 22 children are in the process of completing procedures; the list of children with special needs currently held by the Department of Adoption is 95 children and the Department of Adoption is continuing to search for adoptive families. Currently, the Department of Adoption has compiled a list of 250 foreign families willing to adopt children with special needs.

The current difficulties in implementing the program to settle adoptions for children with special needs for foreigners still face some difficulties: the participation of localities is still reserved, even some places do not fully recognize the profound humanitarian significance of this activity, so they have not actively completed legal documents for children, prolonging the time children have to wait in foster care centers while they need to have more modern medical treatment and care as soon as possible. In addition, in the records of sick and disabled children, the assessment of the child's special health status, characteristics, preferences, habits, and child care methods is still sketchy and perfunctory, causing the process of introducing children for foreign adoption to be prolonged. Foster care centers have not paid due attention to preparing this mandatory document. In addition, coordination between sectors related to foreign adoption is still ineffective, and the relationship between foster care facilities not under the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs and the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs in reporting List 2 before sending it to the Department of Justice is still difficult.

In addition, after the Law on Adoption 2010 took effect from January 1, 2011, there were still many backlogs of foreign adoption applications. The Department of Adoption has focused on resolving the backlog of applications due to the transition from the provisions of Decree No. 68/2002/ND-CP to the implementation of the Law on Adoption. These are cases where adoptive parents submitted their applications to the Department of Adoption before September 30, 2010 and the children were matched before January 1, 2011. The backlog has been resolved in

In 2011, there were nearly 1,000 cases. Notably, among these children, 11 cases were pending at the Bac Lieu Social Protection Center that were resolved in a humanitarian spirit because they were cases that had been introduced to American citizens before the Vietnam-US Adoption Cooperation Agreement ended in 2008.

To effectively implement the 2010 Law on Adoption in resolving adoptions for foreigners, by the end of February 2012, the list of children eligible for introduction for foreign adoption (DS1) that the Department of Adoption had was 84 children (thus there were still 86 cases that, although the procedure for posting a notice to find a replacement family nationwide for 2 months on the electronic information portal of the Ministry of Justice had been completed, had not been confirmed by the local authorities as eligible for introduction for foreign adoption). Currently, based on the number of children eligible for international adoption, the Department of Adoption has announced to call for applications from licensed foreign adoption offices for evaluation and send them to localities to conduct the first child introduction in 2012. It can be said that the call for applications from licensed organizations to resolve adoption based on list 1 has been conducted carefully and publicly through the appraisal advisory council mechanism before the Director of the Department of Adoption makes a decision.

In addition to the above-mentioned cases of adoption by foreigners, in 2011, the Department of Adoption completed 36/36 cases of citizens residing permanently in countries that do not have bilateral cooperation agreements with Vietnam such as Germany, Australia, Taiwan, South Korea... requesting to adopt children who are relatives or are their spouse's own children.

Thus, in the process of implementing the Law on Adoption, the Department of Adoption has seen a fundamental change: there is no longer a collusion between some foreign adoption organizations and foster care facilities to create a source of abandoned children - an unusual way to adopt children abroad. The foreign relations on international adoption in Vietnam have improved significantly. However, since the termination of the Adoption Cooperation Agreement with Vietnam in 2008, the United States has continued to pursue a two-faced policy towards Vietnam in this area, specifically, many member countries of the 1993 Hague Convention have proposed cooperation with Vietnam since the Convention came into effect in Vietnam, while the United States is still reviewing every 3 months even though it really wants to resume cooperation with Vietnam.

However, the biggest difficulty at present is that localities are slow to change their awareness and ways of handling adoption according to the requirements of the Adoption Law and the Hague Convention. This

is a period that clearly shows a strong struggle in both perception and action between the old mechanism that has been ingrained in the way of thinking and doing for more than 10 years, which is: foster care facilities receive direct funding from foreign adoption organizations and introduce children for international adoption to the sponsoring organizations. To the new mechanism: openness, financial transparency and separation between humanitarian support and costs of settling adoptions. However, the transparency mechanism has been formed in terms of institutions and policies but there is not enough time to change in practice, even in some places, at times, there are people who still hope that the Adoption Law and the Hague Convention are not feasible in Vietnam and sooner or later, we will have to return to the old mechanism.

In response to the requirements of implementing the Law on Adoption, the Department of Adoption has fundamentally reformed the professional process for handling adoptions involving foreign elements. The new professional process and the Advisory Council mechanism have completely ended the closed mechanism in handling matters related to foreign adoptions in Vietnam before the Law on Adoption 2010, ensuring that each professional activity is transparent, clear, and public through the information portal of the Ministry of Justice (appraising dossiers for granting operating licenses to foreign adoption organizations, determining the number of adoptive parents' dossiers to be received, appraising adoptive parents' dossiers, checking the results of introducing children for adoption). In each stage, there are opinions from experts, specialists and opinions from the Advisory Council before the Director of the Department of Adoption makes a decision.

In the first year of implementing the Adoption Law (2011), the Department of Adoption organized 8 working groups to go to localities, specifically 11 provinces and cities to grasp the situation and guide localities in implementing the Adoption Law, especially adoption with foreign elements. In addition, during the working group's visit to localities, they met and discussed with local officials to remove difficulties and obstacles in the transition from the old law to the new law.

Typically, the Department of Adoption worked directly with the Department of Justice and relevant departments in Quang Binh province to resolve problems surrounding the adoption of 13 Ruc and Sach ethnic children adopted by Italian citizens from 2006-2008; coordinated and guided the Department of Justice of Bac Lieu province to resolve 16 cases of children who were introduced for adoption by US citizens since 2008 but could not complete legal documents before the Bilateral Cooperation Agreement between Vietnam and the United States ended on September 1, 2008; worked with the Department of Justice of Quang Nam to clarify the situation of a Vietnamese child who was resolved to become a US citizen but was returned to Vietnam without any exchange.

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