Norman Adoption Blog

I am not as knowledgeable of Vietnam as I want to be. I am still researching and even trying to refresh myself on the history of the Vietnam War. It is a Communist country. The Northern tip is still pretty strongly influenced by that type of Government. Vietnam, according to our friend Rebecca, still has a good many underground churches. It is also beautiful country.

There is a bit of information that we feel is important to consider for this adoption. Patrick read in the Fodor’s Exploring Vietnam book that in the south of Vietnam there are still lasting traces of Agent Orange. This was a chemical used during the war that the US used to kill their agriculture and forests. A consequence of using this chemical was that a lot of children were born with birth defects. Even today, 30 years later, there are still birth defects found in babies because of this chemical. Apparently the earth in these areas is still unusable and dead today.

The children that are in Vietnam are mostly in orphanages, not foster homes. That means that there are more babies per caregiver then there would be in a foster home, which would have one or two per worker. Patrick read that for every 2 months a child is in an orphanage, statistically they are behind developmentally 1 month. However, that is a pretty quick fix with a little bit of time and one on one attention.

We learned that there is still a lot of poverty in Vietnam, even though it is not like a 3rd world country. Poverty is a main reason mothers might drop off their children. Some families may have a couple kids already and cannot afford anymore. Or it could be a case of teen pregnancy, where the mother feels she would not adequately be able to provide for her child.

To learn more yourself please check out some of the following websites:

Adopt Vietnam This site provides great info about the culture, music, names, cooking, and more.
Families with Children from Viet Nam This site provides pictures of babies that were adopted. You can see the pictures that are given at the time of referral and then see how the child grows. They are very precious children!!!