Vietnam has failed to police its adoption system, allowing corruption,
fraud and baby-selling to flourish, the U.S. Embassy says in a new
report obtained by The Associated Press.

Five-month-old baby girls, are held by workers at an orphanage in Bac Ninh province, near Hanoi,Vietnam, Wednesday, April 23, 2008. Vietnam has failed to police
its adoption system, allowing corruption, fraud, and baby-selling to
flourish, according to a new report from the U.S. Embassy. (AP
Photo/Chitose Suzuki)

Five-month-old
baby girls, are held by workers at an orphanage in Bac Ninh province,
near Hanoi,Vietnam, Wednesday, April 23, 2008. Vietnam has failed to
police its adoption system, allowing corruption, fraud, and
baby-selling to flourish, according to a new report from the U.S.
Embassy. (AP Photo/Chitose Suzuki)

(AP)

The nine-page document describes brokers scouring villages for babies,
hospitals selling infants whose mothers cannot pay their bills, and a
grandmother giving away her grandchild — without telling the child’s
mother.

"I’m shocked and deeply troubled by the worst of the worst cases," said
Jonathan Aloisi, deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi.

Vietnam’s top adoption official called the concerns "groundless."
Bribery of orphanage officials may occur, but serious offenses such as
baby-selling or kidnapping are not a problem, said Vu Duc Long, director of the Department of International Adoptions.

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