Senator: U.S., Vietnam close to adoption deal

HANOI, Vietnam - Vietnam and the United States are close to an agreement allowing Americans to adopt Vietnamese children again, five years after a ban was imposed amid allegations of baby-selling and babies offered without parents' consent, a visiting U.S. senator said.

Vietnam was a popular destination for prospective adoptive parents before Washington imposed the ban in 2008 following a U.S. investigation.

Senators and adoption lobby groups have been urging Vietnam to pass stronger laws and better monitor the process so that adoptions can resume. A leading advocate, Sen. Mary Landrieu (D., La.), said Vietnam now has safeguards in place to resume adoptions, including a central authority overseeing the process.

"The government of Vietnam seems to be willing to restart, and there are just some final details to be worked out with the government of the United States," Landrieu, who was among four senators visiting Vietnam, told reporters late Wednesday in Hanoi. "We hope that it will be in the near future."

Demand for inter-country adoptions has risen in recent years, especially by prospective U.S. parents. For singles wanting a child, or couples unable or unwilling to conceive, the idea of adopting a foreign baby from an orphanage in a poor country is attractive. But programs in several developing countries have been beset by scandals and allegations of baby-selling.

Vietnamese government spokesman Luong Thanh Nghi said that "Vietnamese law has had clear regulations on the process and procedures on Vietnamese children adopted by foreign families." Asked whether an agreement with the United States was close, he said that "the two sides were continuing to consider."