Vietnam Adoption - International Child Foundation, Inc.

Vietnam adoptions International Child Foundation is pleased to assist families adopt from Vietnam. ICF assists families with their entire Vietnam adoption journey. If you live in AZ, we can start with your home study. If you live in another state, we assist with all of the Vietnam dossier documents, with the referral process, and with your travel arrangements. Our Vietnam program is excellent -- we have a relatively short list of waiting families and our referrals arrive fairly quickly, within about 5-10 months.

Families working with International Child Foundation receive the benefit of personalized service and oversight provided by two state licensed, experienced agencies. ICF works in conjunction with Adoptions Together, our sister agency in Baltimore, who is directly licensed in Vietnam. We conscientiously prepare families for Vietnam adoption in accordance with all foreign requirements, and with the requirements of USCIS and your state.

Both International Child Foundation and Adoptions Together are in process for Hague Accreditation and the Director of ICF is a Hague Site Evaluator.

Vietnam adoptions Infant boys and girls are in need of adoption. Most children are relinquished at birth and each child is given a physical examination upon entry to the orphanage. Each child is tested for HIV and for Hepatitis B. The babies are in orphanages and the level of care is relatively good. Families receive child referrals for Vietnam adoption from Hoa Binh, Thanh Hoa and Yen Bai provinces. For families who wish to adopt older or special needs children, we will try to match a child with your family.

Prospective parents must be at least 20 years old to adopt; single women should be age 25 or older. Couples married for at least one year and single men and women are eligible to adopt from Vietnam. There should be no more than 45 years age difference between the youngest parent and the child; thus, we do not make referral of infants to adoptive parents over the age of 45.

We provide very thorough and detailed guides for preparing your dossier and for when you travel, and we encourage families to connect with other adoptive families, both in your communities and via our Vietnam family list-serve.

Vietnam adoption The adoption process takes about 5-10 months from dossier submission at the Vientam Department of Intercountry Adoption to referral. After the DIA presents a referral, the photos and lab tests or medical report is sent to the family. From the time you accept your referral, an additional 2-4 months are required to finalize the documents and arrange your Giving and Receiving Ceremony. After your child has had a medical exam you will have an interview at the US Embassy, recieve your child's visa, and be on your way home!

International adoption is an uncertain and stressful experience, more so for those who are not fully informed. International Child maintains excellent communication with families and is dedicated to providing consistent support and information throughout the process. We look forward to answering your questions and helping with your adoption needs.

ADOPTION FEES & ESTIMATED EXPENSES

International Child Foundation offers among the most affordable adoption fees and we are dedicated to keeping families as current with costs as possible.

An overview of Vietnam adoption fees is below. We look forward to answering your questions.

International Child Foundation Adoption & Home Study Services

Application Fee: $300

Home Study: ICF Home Study Fee is $1,000; or as set by your home study agency

USCIS Fees: I-600A fee is $750 for applicant including his/her fingerprints; fingerprints for the spouse or other adults living in the household are $80 per person

Agency Fee: $6,200 total; this is broken into two payments; the 1st is $2,800 and is due with the adoption agreement; the 2nd payment of $3,400 is due with the dossier.

Foreign Fee: $12,000

Fees paid with submission of Dossier

2nd payment Agency Fee: $3,400
Dossier Vietnam Consulate Certification: Approx. $770 for 10 documents @ $77 each
Foreign Program Fee 1st Payment: $2,400 (of $12,000 total)

Fees paid upon acceptance of Referral

Foreign Program Fee 2nd Payment: $2,400

Fees paid in Vietnam

Foreign Program Fee: Balance of $7,200
US Embassy Fee for Child Visa: $380 (paid in cash)
US Embassy Medical Fee: $75 (paid in cash)
Gratuities for Driver & Guides: $25 per person
Gifts for Orphanage: $35 per family

Post Placement Fee: ICF $300 for one child; $350 for two or more children; 3 are required; other agencies fees vary; translation costs are between $50-90 per report.

The airfare portion of the travel cost is estimated at $1,200-$1,800. Lodging, meals, and in-country transportation varies with the type of accommodations. Most families stay at the Heart Hotel in Hanoi. We assist with all in-country travel arrangements.

VIETNAM ADOPTION

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Do you have a Coordinator who works specifically with Vietnam? Who helps us when we are in Vietnam and where do we stay?
Yes, we do. While you are working on your dossier, your contact is Jackie Semar, the Director at International Child. Jackie is available Mon-Sat. The program was established by Sandy Rappeport and Xuimin Overall. One of Sandy's daughters is adopted from Vietnam and Sandy is a very experienced program manager. Xuimin directly oversees the Vietnam staff, who were selected because they have excellent, untainted reputations. Some families may recall that Vietnam was closed by the US Dept of State due to corruption in the past. We have been scrupulous in making sure our program maintains the highest ethical standards.

While you are in Vietnam, you stay in Hanoi. The principal in-country facilitator is Ms. Phuong and her assistants provide translation and arrange appointments for you. If you stay at the Heart Hotel, there is wireless internet and in-room phones, and you will be able to contact Jackie at any time if you have questions. Her cell number and that of the facilitator, Sandy and Xiumin are all provided when you travel.

2. What age will the child be when she/he comes home? We'd like an infant/baby.
The babies are referred between about 8-20 weeks old, after they have been in the orphanage long enough to observe they have no apparent health issues. Families travel for the Giving and Receiving Ceremony about 3-4 months later.

3. How soon after applying can we start our home study?
It makes sense to start the home study right away. Unless there are undisclosed issues, your application will provide the information needed to determine if there are any hurdles to adopting from Vietnam.

4. Do we need a minimum of high school education?
No, not for Vietnam. That is a China requirement.

5. Do we need both health and life insurance?
You must have health insurance for the child, which usually assumes that there is a family policy.

6. If we collect air miles will this greatly reduce the final cost?
It will sure help offset the cost for your airfare; it all depends on your miles, and the carrier. We have no specific airline for you to use; we offer several travel agents to contact or you may make your own arrangements.

7. What are the agency and foreign fees? Can you give us a travel estimate?
ICF Agency Fee $6,900 for administration, case management and adoption education; plus Foreign Fee $12,000 totals $18,900. Dossier certification is about $770 and registration is $90.

Other costs include your I600a application to USCIS $830 (for two parents) and your Home Study, typically about $1200; together this is $2,030
Embassy Fee $380 and Medical $100; together this is $480
Plus travel, about $4,000
Added up, the total estimate is about $26,270

8. What does the agency do to ensure the child is a documented orphan?
We do no refer orphans who are not relinquished legally. The provincial authorities investigate relinquishments and abandonments and the US Embassy now reviews the reports before families travel, which ensures that if questions arise about the thoroughness of the provincial investigation they can be addressed before you travel.

9. How many children were adopted using your agency recently?
Our first group of families completed their adoptions from Vietnam in January, 2007, arriving home Feb 13th. Group 5 arrived home with their babies Nov 16th. We have about forty families in various stages of the process -- with referrals, waiting to travel, or preparing their dossiers.

10. May we have a list of references?
Yes!

11. Must we attend any adoption seminars or classes?
You must provide evidence of participating in at least 10 hours of pre adoption education. Lots of families use on-line courses. ICF does provide seminars, but most are offered in Arizona.

12. How long have you been placing children from Vietnam? Is the agency you work with licensed?
Some of our staff worked with another agency previously and supervised Vietnam adoptions, then Vietnam closed. ICF has been helping families with Vietnam since Vietnam re-opened. Adoptions Together is directly licensed in Vietnam.

13. Do you have any kind of payment plan? If not, what would you suggest?
We don’t, other than that the fees are paid over the course of the adoption. Otherwise, we always suggest a home equity loan; they have the lowest interest rates.

14. Will there be someone we can call or contact any time or will we need to usually wait a few days for answers?
You have the office line, the Director's personal and cell phone, and, of course, email. Most calls or emails are answered either immediately or within a couple hours.

15. Is the wait time longer for a girl then boy?
The wait time is the same for baby girls and boys. We can also place older children; most of them will be school-age. It would be rare to match a family with a child age 2-4, as those children are not usually relinquished by their families.