Vietnam Opens
Adoption and Paves Way to Better Life for Children
Minneapolis, MN – For
the past four years, the Vietnam government closed child adoptions to the
U.S. so that it could develop and implement consistent standards across
the country and do away with corrupt adoption practices. The Vietnamese
government has now re-opened U.S. adoption, and that is good news for
thousands of waiting children in orphanages.
Lutheran Social Service is
among the first adoption agencies to be licensed and ready to place
children from Vietnam in adoptive homes. With five offices statewide,
Lutheran Social Service will be working closely to facilitate adoptions
and provide aid to orphanages in Vietnam in partnership with the Catalyst
Foundation, a humanitarian aid organization based in Northfield, Minn.
“We are thrilled at this
news and are very excited to start the adoption process for families who
want to build their family through adoption,” said Therese Bartlett,
coordinator of the new Vietnam adoption program at Lutheran Social
Service.
Bartlett, who has two
adopted children from Vietnam, has written a book called, “When You Were
Born in Vietnam” and knows the struggles of children and families in the
country.
“There is so much need,”
explains Bartlett. “Many families live in extreme poverty and literally
thousands of children are living in orphanages waiting for a family. Most
children have been abandoned by their families who live on less than a
dollar a day and simply have no way to care for them.”
The children in need of
adoption in Vietnam are infants ages three to 12 months, along with
toddlers and older children. Children are cared for in clean and
well-maintained orphanages with supervision by trained nannies. Bartlett
said that adoption fees are expected to be lower than many other
international programs and should process quickly. The first group of
adoptive families is expected to travel to Vietnam in the fall.
Lutheran Social Service,
which has been building families through adoption for more than 140 years,
will hold an information session on Vietnam adoptions on Tuesday, July 18
at 2414 Park Avenue in Minneapolis at 6:30 p.m. For more information,
please call Lutheran Social Service at 612.879.5230 or toll-free at
1.888.205.3769, or visit their web site at
www.minnesotaadoption.org
Lutheran Social Service (LSS)
is among the largest social service organizations in Minnesota and offers
a wide variety of human support services relating to the basics of life
food, shelter, safety, physical and emotional well-being. The non-profit
organization, headquartered in St. Paul, serves over 100,000 Minnesotans
yearly with operations in 300 Minnesota communities, and employs over 2300
people. Comprehensive information about statewide services can be found
through the agency’s web site at
www.lssmn.org
