Angelina Jolie to Adopt from Vietnam

Adoption Friends:

Angelina Jolie is going to be adopting internationally for the third time. According to press reports, papers have been filed on her behalf for an adoption from Vietnam.

Angelina Jolie previously adopted internationally from Cambodia and Ethiopia, and has a biological daughter with Brad Pitt. According to an article by E! Entertainment Television, "Word that the couple was planning to adopt from Vietnam was first reported by Us Weekly last week, when the magazine claimed to have learned from unnamed sources that Jolie and Pitt had their sights set on a boy from the Tam Binh orphanage in Ho Chi Minh City, a spot they visited in November [2006]." You can read the E! article for more information.

Vietnam reopened for international adoption relatively recently (2005, with placements beginning in 2006), and according to US Department of State statistics 163 children were adopted by parents in the United States in fiscal year 2006 (October 2005 through September 2006, the most recent period for which statistic are available), ranking Vietnam 14th on the list of US international adoptions.

However, US international adoptions from Vietnam were once much more popular. Between 1998-2002 US adoption from Vietnam number approximately 600-700 per year (ranking Vietnam as high as 5th and as low as 7th on the list during this period), and decreased to 382 in fiscal year 2003 when Vietnam closed for adoption. We've compiled the last 17 years of US Department of State data on our International Adoption Statistics Page for you to review.

According to data on FindingYourChild.com, Vietnam does not have an age limit for adoption, single women can adopt, and some provinces allow single men to adopt. Only one trip is required and the duration of the trip is generally two-three weeks. Children are in government orphanages and while the youngest age of children available for adoption are 6 months old, typically the children are between 10-12 months old. Of note is that post placement reports are required every six months for the first three years, then yearly until the child is 18 years old. I recommend that you go to FindingYourChild.com for more information.

I'm excited for Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt and I wish them the best on their adoption journey. While I'd assume, like many of us, they'd rather have kept their adoption journey private, I believe that many more will learn that adoption from Vietnam is an option and, as a result, more children will find their forever families. And for that I'm sure we're all thankful!

Robin Bartko

Visit ThinkingOfAdopting.com for independent information and inspiration for your international adoption journey.