Adoption In Viet Nam

I. Conditions for adoptive parents

Overseas Vietnamese or foreigners permanently residing abroad who seek to adopt a Vietnamese must meet all conditions required by the law of the country in which they permanently reside and:

a/ Having full civil act capacity;

b/ Being 20 years or more older than the adopted person;

c/ Having health, financial, and accommodation conditions for assuring the care for and nurture, and education of the adopted child.

d/ Having good ethical qualities.

The following persons may not adopt a child: a/ Having some of the parental rights over a minor child restricted; b/ Currently serving an administrative handling decision at an educational institution or medical treatment establishment; c/ Currently serving an imprisonment penalty; d/ Having a criminal record of commission of any of the crimes: intentionally infringing upon another's life, health, dignity and honor; maltreating or persecuting one's grandparents, parents, spouse, children, grandchildren or caretaker; enticing or compelling a minor to violate the law or harboring a minor violator; trafficking in. fraudulently swapping or appropriating children, which has not been remitted yet.

II.Conditions for Adoptees:

- Children under 16 years old;

- People from 16 years old to under 18 years old can only be adopted if they fall into one of the following cases: adopted by a stepfather or stepmother; adopted by biological aunts, uncles, aunts, uncles

III.Application of adopting persons

Application of an overseas Vietnamese, a foreigner permanently residing abroad must comprise papers, documents.

1. Copy of marriage certificate of stepfather or stepmother with natural mother or father of adopted children.

2. Papers, documents proving that adopting persons are natural aunt, uncle of the adopted children.

3. Copy of Vietnam competence agency’s decision allows such person adopting Vietnamese children and papers, documents proving that such adopted children with the children introduced to be adoptees are biological siblings.

4. Papers, documents proving that adopted child is belong one of the cases provided in clause 1 Article 3 of adoption Decree.

5. Confirming document of the Commune-level People’s Committees or Public Securities of the adopting persons’s Vietnam residence and the other papers, documents proving that the adopting persons are the foreigners working, educating uninterruptedly in Vietnam for an at least 01 year period, counted to the date of application of dossiers at the Department of Child Adoption.

IV.Application of children to be adopted

Application of the adopted children must comprise papers, documents as follows:

1. A summary of children’s characteristic, hobbies, habit. Have to write truthly information about health, disease status (if any), hobbies, daily habit need to be paid attention must be written faithfully to give an advantage to adopting persons in caring for, nurturing, educating child after being adopted.

In case stepfather or stepmother adopts their step child not comprising the above mentioned paper.

2. For children belong to the List 1, must have the following papers:

a) The Departments of Justice’s official letter enclosing with papers, documents of evidencing made notification to find a domestic substitute family for children;

b) The Department of Children Adoption’s verification official letter for terminating the notifying time but there is no domestic person adopting child.

V. Procedures for adopting child:

- Place to submit adoption documents: Adoption Department under the Ministry of Justice.

- Within 30 days from the date of receiving the adopter's dossier, the Department of Justice shall consider and recommend the child for adoption. In the case of adoption by name, as prescribed in Clause 2, Article 28 of the 2010 Law on Adoption, there is no need to carry out procedures for introducing children for adoption.

- Within 10 days from the date of receiving the dossier from the Department of Justice, if the Provincial People's Committee agrees, it will notify the Department of Justice to carry out procedures to transfer the dossier to the Ministry of Justice. If the Provincial People's Committee disagrees, respond in writing and clearly state the reason.

- Within 30 days from the date of receiving the report on the results of introducing children for adoption, the Ministry of Justice checks the introduction of children for adoption and, if valid, prepares an assessment of the adoption of Vietnamese children. The male is eligible to adopt a foreign child and notifies the competent authority of the country where the adoptive person resides.

- Within 15 days from receipt of the document from the competent authority of the adoptive country informing the adopter of the adopter's consent to the introduced and confirmed children. Children will be allowed to enter and permanently reside in the country where the child is adopted, the Ministry of Justice notifies the Department of Justice.

- After receiving notice from the Ministry of Justice, the Department of Justice submits a decision to let the child be adopted abroad to the Provincial People's Committee. Within 15 days of receiving the dossier submitted by the Department of Justice, the Provincial People's Committee shall decide to let the child be adopted abroad.

- The Department of Justice notifies adoptive parents to come to Vietnam to adopt children. Within 60 days, the adoptive person must be present in Vietnam to directly adopt the child. In case a husband and wife apply to adopt a child but one of them, for objective reasons, cannot be present at the adoption ceremony, they must authorize the other person and can extend the adoption time, but not more than 90 days. At the end of the above time limit, if the adopting party does not come to adopt the child, the Provincial People's Committee will cancel the decision to let the child be adopted abroad.

Note: In fact, the time may be longer if the authorities require the adoption applicant to explain or supplement documents to be resolved

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