HÀ NỘI — More social support establishments in Việt Nam should be allowed to perform intercountry adoption procedures, the Department of Adoption proposed on Wednesday.

A conference on amending some articles of the law on adoption took place in Hà Nội on Wednesday, with the participation of Deputy Justice Minister Nguyễn Khánh Ngọc and officials from the Ministry of Justice (MOJ)’s Department of Adoption.

Adjusting regulations through which the social support establishment is allowed to proceed with inter-country adoption procedures was one of the issues discussed at the conference.

At the moment, only the establishments that were appointed by provincial People’s Committees can screen foreign parents and give the orphans to foreign adoptive families, according to Nguyễn Thị Hảo, director of MOJ’s Department of Adoption.

“Thus orphans living in some social support establishments cannot be given to foreign adoptive families, because these establishments have not been empowered to do so,” she said.

The department proposed that the appointment policy be revoked.

Instead, stricter requirements and criteria should be developed, which the social support establishments are required to meet if they wish to perform inter-country adoption procedures, according to the department.

The department also proposed to abolish the requirement to submit copies of professional qualifications, certificates and relevant documents of heads of foreign adoption organisations.

It also proposed to simplify some administrative procedures and citizen paper requirements related to adoption.

Speaking at the conference, Deputy Justice Minister Ngọc said the orphans and adoptive families should be at the centre of all administrative procedures.

“Information about the children should be public, transparent and accessible,” he said.

He encouraged maximising the application of information technology to handle adoption procedures.

Regarding inter-country adoption, Ngọc said it should only be the last resort when all possibilities of domestic adoption have been exhausted. — VNS