What's Next???

Now that our dossier has been logged in....what happens now? Fortunuately, Dillon provides us with a clear picture of what is going on in Vietnam with our paperwork and with Drew's paperwork. There's a lot of sending paperwork back and forth. Here's a look at what's happening now and what will be happening over the next few weeks / months:

Steps 2-6 will happen after your dossier has been logged in and can take approximately 6 weeks or longer for these steps to be completed.

2. After receiving the acceptance papers, the Dillon staff will send a letter to the Department of International Adoption (DIA) in Hanoi. The letter explains your desire to adopt a child from Vietnam. This process can take about 7 business days or longer for the letter to be sent and received.

3. The DIA will then send a letter to the local justice department of the province in which the child you were referred is residing. The letter is explains that your family is desiring to adopt the child that you have been matched with. This process can take about 7 business days or longer for the letter to be sent and received.

4. Once, the local justice receives the letter from the DIA, they will then send a letter the center (orphanage) telling them which child your family is desiring to adopt. This process can take about 7 business days or longer for the letter to be sent and received.

5. Once the letter is received by the center (orphanage), the center then has to respond with a letter back to the local justice stating that yes this child is available for adoption. This process can take about 7 business days or longer for the letter to be sent and received.

6. Once, the local justice department receives the letter, the local justice department will then send a letter to the Department of International Adoptions (DIA) that yes this child is available for adoption. This process can take about 7 business days for the letter to be sent and received. When the DIA receives the letter from the local justice department, the DIA will then send our staff in Vietnam a letter requesting them to send your acceptance papers of the child that you have been referred. This process can take about 7 business days for the letter to be sent and received. Step 6 can take about 2 weeks or longer to complete.

*After step 6, you can anticipate an update after each step

7. Dillon staff will send the acceptance papers to Hanoi. This process can take about 7 business days or longer for the acceptance papers be sent and received.

8. Once, the DIA receives the acceptance papers from the Dillon staff, the DIA will then send a letter to the local justice department asking them to start compiling the legal docs (child’s dossier). This process can take 30-45 business days or longer to complete.

9. After the child’s dossier has been compiled, the center will send the legal documents to the local justice department. Once, the local justice department receives the dossier, they will then review the dossier. After they have completed the review process, they will then forward the legal documents to the DIA. The review process can take 1 week or longer.

10. The DIA will review the child’s legal documents and your family’s dossier. After the DIA has completed the review process, they will send the child’s legal documents and the family’s dossier back to the local justice department. The review process can take 1 week or longer.

11. The local justice department will then review the family’s dossier. Once, they have reviewed the family’s dossier, they will then send the family’s dossier and child’s legal documents to the people’s committee. The Dillon Vietnam staff will at this time also submit the commitment forms and power of attorney forms that you signed at time of acceptance. The review process can take 1 week or longer.

12. The people’s committee will then review your family’s dossier and the child’s legal documents. Once, they have completed the review process, the chairman of the people’s committee will give an approval (decision). After, the approval of the chairman, the child’s legal documents and your family’s dossier are sent back to the local justice department for your GNR date to be issued. This process can take 1 week or longer.

Families should have approximately two weeks notice before travel.


It's a long process and one that's evolving. There are potential changes on the horizon. We're hoping and praying they do not delay our process. We're also praying that we would travel in January. If we don't travel in January, it's likely that we will not travel until at least March. It's holiday time in Vietnam in February with TET and everything shuts down for several days / weeks.

There is a summit on November 28th in Washington, DC concerning the future of Vietnam adoptions. We all need to pray that legal and ethical adoptions will continue in Vietnam.