Mark and I recently went to see the movie "The Abolitionists" which is about child trafficking. There was one part of the movie that particularly stood out to me. During one of the missions of "The Underground Railroad", the team was in Haiti searching for a kidnapped child. They suspected that an orphanage was involved in trafficking children and went to investigate. They received some tips as to where they might go to get some additional information. Posing as prospective "buyers" they negotiated the purchase of two children. The entire process took less than 2 weeks, and they paid $15,000 per child. Of course this is completely illegal, but part of me was thinking "Wow, that would be so nice!" Then I actually thought about it, and said "That is why we are doing what we are doing."
Prior to 2010, Vietnam was not a participating country in what is known as the Hague Convention. Here is a little information on what this is:
The Hague Convention on the Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (Convention) is an international agreement to safeguard intercountry adoptions. Concluded on May 29, 1993 in The Hague, the Netherlands, the Convention establishes international standards of practices for inercountry adoptions. The Unites States signed the Convention in 1994, and the Convention entered into force for the United States on April 1, 2008. Read the full text of the Convention here.
While it would be nice to stroll into an orphanage and find our children, not everyone is in it to become parents. Some people walk in looking to pay nominal "fees" to purchase a child in order to enslave them and profit from their prostitution. While the waiting is completely terrible, protecting these children is worth every second we have to wait to bring Quinn home.
Assuming many people are like us when it comes to understanding adoption fees, let me give you an idea what these fees are, and what they are for:
Agency Application - Fee to review our initial application to adopt
Adoption Home Study - Lots of questions, and more questions, and a visit to our home
U.S. Processing - Facilitation of adoption with agency and government officials in the US and Vietnam.
USCIS - Application for approval from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to bring a child to the U.S. for adoption.
Adoption Education Classes - Pre-parenting classes
Dossier Preparation - Collection of lots of paperwork that must be notarized and triple authenticated.
Program Fee - Legal services and communication working with government and agency authorities. Legal fees. Passport and US visa fees.
Travel expenses - Fees associated with traveling to Vietnam, as well as expenses during our required stay.
Adoption Finalization - Legalization of the adoption
Vietnam Adoption Estimated Total: $28,165-$38,010
We are going through this long drawn out and very expensive process so that these children end up in good loving families instead of in the hands of child predators. And just to be clear, we don't pay for Quinn. We pay attorney and agency fees, but we don't buy a child. We are happy that Vietnam is now a Hague Convention country, and facilitates in the safe adoption of kids like Quinn!
I encourage everyone to go out and see this movie! It was very eye opening and helped us understand and even appreciate the process we are going through to get Quinn. But, even more this movie is spreading the word on this absolutely horrific and prominent problem in our world. Watch it!
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