The Special Needs Child - “It is an ill wind that bringnobody any good!”
Such is the
case with Vietnamese adoptions.
A few years
ago our Vietnam international adoption program was processing a reasonable
stream of healthy orphaned infants.
Due to a
vigorous campaign by UNICEF and the US State Department, the program was thrown
into turmoil. Vietnam was forced to rewrite its adoption laws and then to
restructure its adoptive infrastructure. At this point the system functions
very slowly and there are very few healthy orphaned infants adopted from
Vietnam.One of the provisions of the law allows a slightly faster processing of
children with Special Needs (SN), as defined by the system. TDH has operated
under these new laws as well as it could. The results of these new laws have
been extremely negative for normal orphaned infants and children. The results
have been seriously harmful to the adoption agency system in general; many have
closed. Orphanages have suffered financially and materially under the new
rules; many have simply stopped accepting orphaned infants and children. And
that has been very negative for healthy infant orphans. But, these same rules
have been unexpectedly good for orphaned infants and children with Special
Needs (SN); under normal conditions they would hardly have been considered at
all. “Its an ill wind...”
The
Vietnamese government regards the adoptions of Special Needs children taking
place from Vietnam during the two years 2011 and 2012 as a Pilot Project under
the new adoption law.
Vietnam
recently had a conference on intercountry adoption and publically reported the
results of their Pilot Project in intercountry adoption over these two
years.The general picture is that within these two years there have been 352
adoptions from Vietnam to families in 14 countries.Those countries include 5
that have bilateral agreements with Vietnam and are Hague compliant (France,
Italy, Spain, Denmark, and Switzerland). One country operates as Hague
compliant: Canada.Vietnam has recognized several agencies that have worked to
place SN children in families; they are:
NAME
|
COUNTRY
|
SN
ADOPTIONS
|
Terre Des
Hommes (TDH)
|
Canada
|
33
|
COFA
Cognac (COFA)
|
France
|
28
|
La
Providence (LP)
|
France
|
17
|
(NAAA)
Network Aiuto Assistenza
|
Italy
|
14
|
Asociacion
para el Cuidado de la Infancia (ACI)
|
Spain
|
11
|
Azione per
Famile Nuove (AFN)
|
Italy
|
06
|
Medecins
du Monde (MDM)
|
France
|
06
|
The report
presents a certain amount of data regarding the children in terms of their
numbers and Special Needs.
The
Department of Adoption (DOA) maintains 2 lists.
On list 1:
normal children
Over a
2-year period there have been a total of 73 adoptions.
·27 adoptions were processed under the old law including 11
adoptions to the US from Bac Lieu province
·7 adoptions by relatives of the child
·Thus only 35 adoptions were
processed under the new law, worldwide, over 2 years, divided among 27 agencies
On list 2:
children with Special Needs There have been a total of 161 adoptions
· 13 adoptions of children older that 5 years
The website
of the Ministry of Justice of January 28, reporting on a conference to review
the implementation of the new law over this two year period, reports that the
implementation of the law remains slow and uneven at the local level, and that
inter-sectoral coordination at central and local levels was not really
effective. To overcome these limitations, DA has developed a specific work plan
focusing on 5 key sectors:
1)
establishment and maintenance of an inter-sectoral working group to insure
implementation of the Hague Convention;
2)
implementation of adoption registration;
3)
continuation of the program for Special Needs adoptions;
4)
direction and guidance of foreign adoption organizations;
5)
assurance that humanitarian assistance remains separate from adoption.
Addressing
the conference, Deputy Justice Minister Dinh Trung Tung praised the achievement
of the DA in 2012, noting their coordination efforts and completion of the
designated tasks. However, he also frankly pointed out that progress over the
two years of implementation of the Law on Child Adoption, remains slower than
hoped; that understanding of the implementation of the Law on Adoption and the
Hague Convention is not uniform from central to local authorities, and that one
of the principal tasks of 2013 should be to enhance coordination between all
the actors, and to obtain realistic and appropriate policy responses when
necessary. He also noted that the focus of the Department must remain on the
priority of domestic adoption, while ensuring the consistency and continuity
between international and domestic adoption.
The March
conference that is the subject of this article, which included the Ministry of
Justice, the Ministry of Public Security, orphanages, accredited agencies,
embassy representatives, and UNICEF, reported that in general the Vietnam
intercountry adoption program placed orphaned children in permanent families in
14 countries, served by 27 accredited agencies in Vietnam over two years.
The
majority of these Normal and Special Needs children were adopted to 6
countries:
COUNTRY
|
NORMAL
|
SN
|
TOTAL
ADOPTED
|
France
|
29
|
59
|
88
|
Canada
|
11
|
41
|
52
|
Italy
|
15
|
33
|
48
|
Spain
|
19
|
28
|
47
|
Denmark
|
4
|
0
|
4
|
Switzerland
|
2
|
0
|
2
|
Total
|
80
|
161
|
241
|
The SN
adoptions during 2011 and 2012 came mostly from 4 cities/provinces designated
for the Pilot Project:
Ho Chi Minh
City (HCMC).....62
Ba Ria-Vung
Tau...................37
Hanoi.....................................21
Da
Nang.................................03
Unspecified...........................38
The
criteria by which ‘Special Needs’ are determined by the Department of Adoption
(DA) in Vietnam. The general characteristic of the children with Special Needs
who are presented for adoption is that the Special Needs are regarded as either
reversible or manageable under the normal medical conditions of the country in
which the adopted child will reside. [We would like to note here that between
Ontario and Quebec there are approximately 80 families waiting for healthy
(only) children. While it is possible (and to be hoped) that the system will
adjust to the new reality and that more “healthy” children will be placed for
adoption in the near future, we are currently awaiting proposals for families
whose dossiers were ready in 2008. Realistically, we cannot expect those whose
dossiers were deposited in 2010 or later and who do not feel themselves able to
consider a child with minor Special Needs to receive a child proposal in less
than 3 or 4 years.]In the case of a Special Needs adoption TDH makes every
reasonable effort to provide the adoptive parent with a full medical review of
the child’s needs, insofar as that is possible given the child’s circumstances.
TDH considers that it is essential that the adoptive parents have as clear an
understanding of the child’s problems as is possible within the actual limits of
the child’s situation. Often there is very little, if any, background
information. On the basis of that understanding, the prospective parents need
to have some sense of a plan for dealing with the child’s problem in their home
country. It is TDH’s expectation that the child’s problem can either be
corrected or the child can be taught to manage their problem in such a way that
they can reasonably be expected to live a full and satisfying life as a
self-sufficient individual. The following list reflects the conditions of the
children actually adopted but does not reflect the whole list of conditions
that are recognized as a ‘Special Need’ by the DA. Many of the problems are
congenital, that is, they are conditions present at birth, whether inherited or
caused within the pre-natal environment. Others are caused by infection of one
type or another.
#
|
SPECIAL
NEED
|
CHARACTER
|
PROGNOSIS
|
39
|
HIV
|
Viral
infection
|
Manageable
|
20
|
Hepatitis
B & C
|
Viral
infection
|
Manageable
|
10
|
Heart
Disease
|
Congenital
|
Correctable
|
8
|
Arthrogriposis
|
Congenital
|
Correctable
|
7
|
Cleft Lip
and Palate
|
Congenital
|
Correctable
|
6
|
Hernia
|
Congenital
|
Correctable
|
5
|
Eye
problems
|
Congenital
|
Manageable
|
3
|
Deaf and
Mute
|
Congenital
|
Manageable
|
2
|
Alagille
Syndrome
|
Congenital
|
Manageable
|
1
|
Hydrocephaly
|
Congenital
|
Manageable
|
1
|
Down
Syndrome
|
Genetic
|
Manageable
|
1
|
Thalassemia
|
Genetic
|
Manageable
|
38
|
Unreported
|
Manageable
|
As serious
as some of the Special Needs are, these problems do not mean the same thing
when they occur to a child within the medical system of the receiving country,
such as Canada, as they do when they occur in Vietnam.
The
adoption of children with Special Needs is not for every family. The decision
to accept a child with Special Needs requires a particular attitude and a
particular sense of commitment. The couples who adopt these children are
themselves very special people. Having made that point, these children, except
when specifically requested by an adoptive family, are not mentally challenged.
All of them are projected to be able to live fully functional lives with
adequate medical attention and support. At the same time, each case is unique.
The track record of TDH Canada in selecting and matching these Special Needs
children with special parents has been positive.
Any
potential adoptive parents who thinks that they might be able to accept a child
with Special Needs is invited to contact TDH and discuss the matter
further.Brendan Cavanaugh (brendan@tdh.ca)
