Yee Haw

My dossier went off to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam today. It takes about a week to get there then it is certified again and translated then taken to the Department of International Adoption (DIA) in Hanoi. That process takes a couple of weeks. Once at the DIA my dossier will go through a few other steps as it makes it way to a referral. Once I receive and accept a referral I will wait 4-6 months before traveling to bring Baby N home. I will talk to my coordinator (case worker) when she gets back from vacation about the time frames once the dossier is at the DIA or how many steps there are. I know I've been told, but I cannot remember. Part of me thinks it could be as few as 4 months to go through the steps, but I can't be certain. There is one big step, STEP 2, that everyone talks about and I think it's kind of the turning point for the dossiers. It's the hump to get over and everything seems to move along quite quickly afterwards. Of course, with everything that is going on the whole process may take longer than it has in the past.

We learned today that the MOU will be allowed to expire on September 1, 2008. We did not hear a definite cut-off date for dossiers. Rumors are that VN will accept them until September 1 however, my agency will stick with the rumored May 1 deadline until they hear for sure.

There was nothing new on the Hague issue. Apparently letters have been drafted and presented or will be presented to the US by VN regarding the unfairness of NOT being allowed to work with non-Hague accredited agencies since VN isn't part of the Hague treaty. This is not new news. It has been rumored before and I'm hoping that the rumors are true. My agency is very hopeful, so that makes me comfortable. What is all means in the end IF VN is forced to not work with non-Hague accredited agencies, I don't know. I believe that many non-accredited agencies have applied for Hague accreditation and several agencies have been in the process, prior to this issue, of obtaining their accreditation or renewing it, so hopefully everything will work out fine for all involved. I believe the Hague issue is NOT just a US problem it will have a world-wide effect since many other countries work in VN as well.

I'm hopeful that everything works out just fine, that the MOU won't take too long to get resigned and that the Hague issue fades into the sunset.