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American Morning

Parents Discuss Thwarted Vietnamese Adoptions

Aired January 29, 2002 - 09:40   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: They went to Vietnam to realize their dream of becoming adoptive parents, but this morning, eight American families are stuck in Ho Chi Minh City, living a legal nightmare. They have been marooned there since December, when they arrived to take custody of the Vietnamese babies they had adopted. The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, the INS, claims there are questions concerning the adoptions and is refusing to issue the babies' proper visas.

So why won't the INS let their babies come home?

Lisa Kombrink's husband, Jesse, is still in Vietnam with their baby, Gabriel.

She joins us now from New York. Welcome.

Good morning.

Jeff Heppner's wife is also in Ho Chi Minh City with their baby, Asia. He joins us from Fargo, North Dakota.

And in Washington, Lynda Zengerle, is the attorney for the families. She's joining us.

Thank you all for being here this morning.

Lisa, let me start with you. Your husband, Jessie, and baby, Gabriel, are still in Vietnam. Very simply, why will the United States not let them leave?

LISA HEPPNER: The INS has given a number of reasons why it feels it would be inappropriate to issue visas. Basically, they're technical reasons. And we feel that those allegations are baseless.

COOPER: A number of the families made a video, and I know your husband is in the video. We will show a little bit of that now. What is this like? You fully expected to adopt this child?

L. HEPPNER: Yes. It's been a heartbreaking and very stressful situation for all of our families. We hoped to be home before the holidays. And instead the families have now been in Vietnam over seven weeks, and some of us have had to return home to continue the fight here. COOPER: Jeff, let me bring you in at this point. Your wife in still in Vietnam with your baby, Asia. Basically, the allegations by the INS is that there's a problem with the Vietnamese adoption system. That the system is compromised. There have been allegations of baby selling. In Cambodia, there was actual evidence of baby selling. If, in fact, the system is compromised, what do you think should be done? You're caught in the middle here.

JEFF HEPPNER: I think whatever the problem is, it needs to be fixed. But we've got all the evidence and all the documents from the Vietnamese government stating that they are legal adoptions.

COOPER: Let me bring Lynda in right now.

The INS has made statement, which we will put on the screen here. I want to read it to you. It basically says that they are going to be reviewing the applications, that there's another step to be had. What comes next on your end?

LYNDA ZENGERLE, ATTORNEY FOR FAMILIES: Well, it's our understanding that the INS is sending a team over to Ho Chi Minh City to look into the adoptions, which are deemed legal and valid by the Vietnamese government. And we will be filing rebuttals to the notices of intent to deny or revoke that were issued by the INS.

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: The INS has said -- quote -- "The agency will conduct a review of the adoption process in Vietnam to address continued concerns with the orphan process there."

Have they presented evidence that there is a problem with the orphan adoption process there?

ZENGERLE: There were nine notices of intent to deny or revoke, and 90 percent of all of them were boilerplate language with allegations that we've found to be baseless and unfounded.

COOPER: You have found to be baseless and unfounded, but there have been -- in Cambodia, the adoption process has been stopped for U.S. citizens because of problems there. What were the problems in Cambodia?

ZENGERLE: I haven't been involved in adoptions in Cambodia, but there are allegations of baby trafficking and baby buying. I would like to say that we assisted three families bringing in babies from Vietnam starting last March, and their notices were replete with allegations of baby buying and baby trafficking. When we went to the INS with our rebuttals, they were not able to sustain even one of the many allegations that were made.

And given that experience, I feel that they're not going to be able to sustain the allegations that are being made in the nine cases that we are dealing with. There are eight families; one is adopting two children. COOPER: Jeff, you have actually already adopted a child from Vietnam. Seven years ago, you adopted a young boy named Cody (ph). Was there any evidence at that time or any indication that there was some problem with the Vietnamese adoption system?

J. HEPPNER: No, that process went very smooth. It was a very positive experience for our whole family.

COOPER: I guess I'm a little confused. Lynda, some 500 families have been allowed to adopt children from Vietnam. Why are these 10 families set aside?

ZENGERLE: Well, we keep asking ourselves the same question. The agency that these families are working with is one that is very well established. It's been in Vietnam for more than 14 years. It has placed over 2,000 babies. They've never had a whisper of any problem. In fact, the INS has led families to use this particular agency.

What I think we need to concentrate on is the fact that the families -- the U.S. citizen families and the adopted babies, because these babies are now legally adopted children of these U.S. citizens -- are victims here. They are not being charged with any wrongdoing at all. The solution is let them come home, and if there are indeed problems, do an appropriate investigation, but let the people that have finished their adoptions and gone by the book, done everything they're supposed to do, come home and have their children, especially before Tet, because once February 12 comes, these people will be stranded in Vietnam for another couple of weeks, because not only the Vietnamese government, but the U.S. government shuts down to celebrate this holiday. They will not be able to leave.

COOPER: Lisa, let me ask you: Your husband, Jesse, is still in Vietnam; how is he holding up?

LISA KOMBRINK: I think under the circumstances, he's holding up pretty well. But as you can imagine, it's been a very difficult situation with the uncertainty of when he will be able to come back to the United States. He's handling all of the childcare responsibilities on his own.

COOPER: Are you optimistic that he will come back?

KOMBRINK: I remain hopeful. But we really are pleading with our government officials to intervene and to help us so that our families can come home as soon as possible with our children.

COOPER: I mean, if there is a problem with the adoption process, if some of these babies are, in fact, stolen or not really orphans, what do you think should be done?

KOMBRINK: I would point out again that in our particular cases, there are no allegations that our children were involved in anything like that. And as our attorney has said, we feel we're on strong legal ground. There are no specific allegations of wrongdoing with respect to our children. And, in fact, the Vietnamese government has approved all the paperwork, and those children are now legally ours, and they're our responsibility, and we want to bring them back to the United States.

COOPER: The next move will be legal one, I'm sure, on your end.

I want to thank you for being with us.

KOMBRINK: Thank you very much.

COOPER: And Jeff and Lynda, thank you also both for coming in.

ZENGERLE: Thanks.

J. HEPPNER: Thank you.

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