Question (A Vietnamese English): My family migrated to
England
when I was young. I was granted English citizenship ten years ago and want to
go home to adopt a Vietnamese child. What are procedures for foreigners to
adopt Vietnamese children?
Answer: Foreigners’s (including overseas Vietnamese) child adoption is regulated in Decree 69/2006/NĐ-CP,
dated July 21, 2006 on the implementation of the Marriage and Family Law.
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The Vietnamese law strictly forbids taking advantage of child adoption
for the purposes of exploiting labor power, sexual abuse or trafficking in
children – Illustration photo |
1. Adoptive parents
Adopters
have to meet necessary requirements stipulated in the Marriage and Family Law,
such as having full civil act capacity; being twenty
years or more older than their adopted children; having good ethic qualities;
having actual conditions to ensure the care for, support and education of their
adopted children.
They must not be people who have
certain parental rights toward minor children restricted or who have been
sentenced for one of the crimes of deliberately infringing upon the life,
health, dignity and honor of another person; ill-treating or persecuting their
grandparents, parents, spouses, children, grandchildren and/or fosterers;
inciting, forcing juvenile people to commit offenses or harboring juvenile
offenders; trafficking in, fraudulently exchanging or abducting children; or
the crimes of sexual abuse against children; committing acts of enticing and/or
forcing their own children to act against law or social morality, but have not
yet enjoyed criminal record remission.
Foreign adopters who are permanently
residing in the countries not yet joining any bilateral or multilateral
international agreement on child adoption cooperation with Việt Nam may also be
allowed to adopt Vietnamese children if they are one of the following cases:
a.
Having
worked or studied in Việt Nam
for 6 months or more;
b.
Their
spouses or parents are Vietnamese citizens or of Vietnamese origin;
c.
Being
next-of-kin or relatives of the to-be-adopted children or their current adopted
children are blood siblings of the to-be-adopted ones;
Foreigners’ adoption of disabled
children, child victims of toxic chemicals, or children affected by HIV/AIDS or
other dangerous diseases, who are living in lawfully-founded nurturing
establishments, can also be accepted.
2. Dossiers and procedures
Applicants have to submit their
dossiers to the International Child Adoption Agency or Việt Nam-based child
adoption agencies. The dossier for adoption of a Vietnamese child shall comprise
the following papers:
- The application form for adoption of a
Vietnamese child;
- The notarized or authenticated copy of the
applicant’s passport or substitute papers;
- The valid permit granted by a competent body
of the country where the applicant permanently resides, allowing them to
adopt children;
- Health certification issued by a competent organization
of the country where the applicant permanently resides;
- Certification of the applicant’s income, proving
that they can afford child adoption;
- The applicant’s judicial record, issued by a competent
agency of the country where they permanently reside.
A case of application for child adoption shall be settled within 60 days.
Foreigners
adopting Vietnamese children must make written commitments to notify once every
six months to the provincial People’s Committee and the International Child
Adoption Agency of the situation of the adopted children in the first three
years, then notify once a year in the subsequent years till the children reach
full 18 years of age.