More info

I have just had a conversation with my agency, and with the International Adoption Doctor.

This little girl is located at the Danang Rehabilitation Center for Malnourished and Abandoned Orphans. Husband and I wanted to know more about it, since the little girl is not in foster care. I was afraid that she was with 700 other children or something.

My agency reports that this center is "owned" by the government, as are all orphanages in Vietnam, but, that my agency has been "supporting and working with" this orphanage for decades. I asked how many children were there, and I was told that the number of children was "around 30 at the center, and other children in foster care, who are associated with the center." Evidently my agency provides social workers and physicians to the center. I was then told, "this is not a fancy or luxurious place, but, the children are cared for, the center is clean, the nannies are often employed for many many years, the children are given the food they need, and the medical attention they need. The nannies care very much. Any children coming out of Danang from H~ (our agency) are coming from this center - either they are living at the center, or their foster families have been arranged through this center."

So, I felt better knowing that she is only with 20 to 30 other children, as opposed to hundreds of other children.

The doctor had some reassuring things to say about her medical condition, but, she was deeply distrustful of the two sets of numbers they have provided regarding this child's height and weight. She said, "these simply cannot be correct. These numbers cannot belong to the child in these photos. The first set of numbers describe an incredibly malnourished child, and the second set of numbers describe a child in the 90th percentile for height. These numbers are only four months apart. At least one of them is clearly clearly wrong. The first numbers describe a child who would be near death, and the second describe a child who is incredibly long and fairly thin." Our photos describe a very average looking child for weight - she is not thin, she is not chubby, she just looks "normal".

So, I have asked my agency to provide me with that info, along with the info I requested last Friday...

We wait and wait some more.

LM