Minister seeks to reopen Vietnam adoption links

MINISTER for Children Frances Fitzgerald is to visit Vietnam as part of talks aimed at establishing a safe inter-country adoption system between the south-east Asian nation and Ireland.

In a statement last night, Ms Fitzgerald said she will be “accepting an invitation extended to her” to visit to help ensure adequate adoption practice standards are in place.

Between 1991 and 2008, Vietnam was one of the top three nations in the world from which Irish inter-country adoptions took place. However, Ireland chose not to renew its bilateral agreement with Vietnam in 2009 due to concerns raised by a major Unicef international social services report into inter-country adoptions from that country.