1. Meet your Adoption Team and Begin the Paper Chase

Once your application documents and fee are submitted, you will be introduced to our Vietnam team. These staff members will serve as your primary contacts throughout the adoption process, answering questions and providing support. You’ll also receive a New Client packet that includes step-by-step instructions for the adoption process, information on the home study, pre-adoption training requirements, guidance on the US immigration application, and instructions for preparing your dossier.

2. Complete Pre-Adoptive Training

At Gladney, training is a key part of preparing families for a successful adoption. All prospective parents complete pre-adoptive training that covers the adoption process, common needs of children, and practical parenting tools. You’ll also participate in Gladney’s Pathways training | New Window — our in-person, trauma-informed program held at the Fort Worth campus — which offers deeper guidance and preparation.

These trainings, as well as child specific training, ensure you are well-equipped, supported, and ready to provide a safe, nurturing home for the child you will welcome.

3. Complete an International Home Study

If you live in a Gladney-licensed state, a home study worker will be assigned to your case. The home study department will then contact you directly to schedule appointments. Gladney provides home study services to hopeful adoptive parents in Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and Texas. If you live in one of these listed states and are ready to start your home study, fill out our home study form here | New Window.

If you do not live in a Gladney-licensed state, you will need to choose a home study provider who meets Gladney’s criteria. Check with your adoption specialist to ensure the specific home study provider you identify will be eligible.

4. Preparing Your Dossier

Families create a dossier detailing the characteristics of the child (or children) they are eligible to adopt. The dossier to be submitted to Vietnam must include the necessary documentation required for an international adoption into the U.S. and by the Vietnam adoption authorities, all of which must be notarized, certified, and authenticated per Vietnam’s requirements.

5. Receive Official Referral

After your dossier is completed, Gladney submits it to the Central Adoption Authority in Vietnam for review and approval. Once your dossier is approved, it will be entered in the pipeline for a match. The Central Adoption Authority forwards the family’s dossier to the Provincial Adoption Authority for a potential match based on the chronological order of their dossier approval, family’s openness, and the list of children needing a family through international adoption. Children eligible through this regular process are generally over 5 years of age and without identified medical special needs.

Once matched, Gladney will receive the child’s file, including medical and social histories, and provide it to the family. You are strongly encouraged to have an international adoption medical specialist review the child’s file in order to better understand the child’s health condition and care involved. Upon your decision to accept the referral, acceptance paperwork needs to be completed and submitted to Vietnam.

Waiting Child List

The Central Authority in Vietnam issues a list of Waiting Children on a regular basis. Families may express interest in a specific child from the Waiting Child list by submitting commitment paperwork. Children of all ages with moderate to significant special needs, or older than 9 years of age, or in a sibling group are commonly seen on these lists. Families adopting a pre-identified waiting child are matched directly by the Central Adoption Authority and tend to have a much shorter wait time.

6. Adoption Travel

Families can travel to Vietnam once they have completed the Hague process post-referral acceptance, along with confirmed appointments with relevant authorities.

Vietnam requires one trip, typically around ten days to two weeks, primarily in Hanoi and the province in which the child resides.

For married couples, both parents are required to travel to Vietnam to meet and pick up the child. A rare exception for only one parent to travel may be approved on a case-by-case basis.

Children will enter the US on an IH-3 VISA, with adoptions finalized in Vietnam.