We have a referral!

Our journey began over a year ago. We have gone though a mountain of paperwork, waited and waited some more. Throughout this journey, I have been very active in researching thanks to the Internet. A year ago when we were researching agencies, we gathered all the information we could. As we looked at agencies and selected our agency, I was fortunate enough to have been given photos of children in an orphanage in one of the Provinces where the agency works in Vietnam. These photos were taken on a trip by a staff person who was working at the sponsorship summer camp. One of the photos caught my eye. The children in the photo where stunning, girls. I kept a copy of that photo on computer as my wallpaper to keep me going during the long wait.

These children where no longer infants and I knew that they would be harder to place as they aged in the orphanage. Most families want infant girls. Not us, we entered this adoption wanting to adopt a girl that possible was caught up in Vietnam’s 3 year long moratorium and destined to stay in an orphanage long-term due to age. These children came into the orphanage after Vietnam shut down adoptions and these children were growing older in the orphanage with little hope of finding a family.

As the year went by, this photo of the children in this Province inspired me to continue to fight for ethical adoptions for the children of VN. At one point, I even inquired about the children in the photo and was told that these children have been referred and will be traveling to their new home soon. I was really glad they had finally found a forever family. As Christmas neared I was told that the Province where the photo of the children was taken was going to open soon. Of course, I began to research to see if any of the children in the orphanage would fit our home study and hope the Province would open soon.

The Province has opened and there are 13 older (up to age 6) children in the orphanage. Some of the children have called this orphanage home for five years. My thoughts go back to the photos of the children I had seen at the beginning of our journey. Some have been referred out and some have not. Which ones are still there?

I found a mom who took her child on a homeland tour to the orphanage. This orphanage was the same orphanage my inspirational photo came from. Would she have information about the children remaining in the orphanage? I contacted her through email and she instantly replied with a phone number to call. Yes, she was at the orphanage less than a year ago and was able to see the children in the photo. She also told me the children in my photo were to have been referred out to another agency. Because the officials felt it may look inappropriate the children where not referred. She expressed her sorrow for the children. She knew that if they didn’t get referred soon the chances are slim that they would find a home.

So here I now had a photo on my computer of two lovely children who inspired me throughout the adoption process, who were still stuck in VN. Could one of these children be our adoptive child? The answer is yes!! We received a referral on May 24th. I saw the photo over a year ago and it is burned into my memory. The photo I saw a year ago was of a set of 2 year old twin girls.

We have been given a referral of the twin girls in the photo. They are now beautiful 3 year old girls. They have been waiting and waiting for their forever family only to be caught up in the moratorium and politics of the agency and government. They have had very little; nothing to call their own except for each other. But now they have a family. A mother, a father, and 3 big brothers who will care for them, protect them and love them forever. They will have a bed with a mattress to sleep on. They will have food to eat when they are hungry. They will have warm, clean clothes to wear. Most of all they will have a family! So with all that said I would like to present our daughters

Thanh Van and Thanh Vy