HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam — Vietnam, where growing numbers of Americans have turned to adopt a baby, announced Monday that it is halting all U.S. adoptions following allegations of baby-selling, corruption and fraud.
The abrupt cutoff cast a cloud of uncertainty over pending adoptions in the Southeast Asian country, which have surged in the face of tightened restrictions in China, Guatemala and elsewhere.
The announcement came days after The Associated Press published details of a U.S. Embassy report that outlined rampant abuses, including hospitals selling infants whose mothers could not pay their bills, brokers scouring villages for babies and a grandmother who gave away her grandchild without telling the child’s mother.
“It is tragic for children that the U.S. government has not been able to find ways to work with the Vietnamese government to prevent adoption abuses while at the same time processing legitimate adoptions,” said Tom Atwood, president of the National Council for Adoption, a research and advocacy organization.
U.S. adoptions have boomed in Vietnam, with Americans — including actress Angelina Jolie — adopting more than 1,200 Vietnamese children over the 18 months ending in March.
The U.S. Embassy said questions arose after routine investigations turned up widespread inconsistencies in adoption paperwork.
Vu Duc Long, director of Vietnam’s International Adoption Agency, called the U.S. allegations “groundless.” On Monday, he said Vietnam was scrapping a bilateral agreement with the United States that sought to regulate the adoption system.
In a letter to the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi, Vietnam said it would stop taking adoption applications from American families after July 1 but would continue to process applications of families matched with babies before that.
