Sophie (centre) walking in Saigon Streets (ABC News)
“If you think about it too long it could make you cry because it’s such, there aren’t words that could convey it.” – SOPHIE ENGLISH, adoptee.The pain of not knowing and not belonging is deep - it’s haunted Sophie for much of her life. She is grateful for the opportunity of growing up in Australia, but something is missing. She wonders about what life might have been.
“I might’ve been on the boats fishing, and I would be working really hard like them, but I would have that sense of family. I would probably have grandchildren by now, and I would have that deep need in me fulfilled.” – SOPHIE ENGLISH, adoptee.
| Bridge to reunite families of Operation Babylift At the request of our readers, Dantri/DTiNews will act as a bridge to help reconnect relatives of Vietnamese children who were part of the historic 1975 Operation Babylift, in which more than 3,300 infants and children were airlifted out of southern Vietnam to the United States, Australia, France, Canada and other countries, and were adopted by families there, in the final days before Reunification. If you have stories or information about Operation Babylift, please contact us at thegioi@dantri.com.vn. Thank you. |
As the fortieth anniversary of the fall of Saigon approaches, Sally Sara travels with Sophie into the Vietnamese heartland to meet a mother who relinquished a child during the war. It’s a conversation she has waited years to have.
“I hope you understand that it’s not your fault … We understand, it was the war and you did your best. We hope that we have done something good in our lives, so that our mothers would feel proud of us.” SOPHIE ENGLISH, adoptee
More than four decades after she was adopted, she’s making peace with her past, but Sophie worries about future children who may be adopted into Australia from overseas.
The Federal Government is taking steps to re-open adoptions from several countries, including Vietnam. It’s an historic chance to address the trauma and mistakes of the past.
International adoption advocates like Deborra-lee Furness, who speaks to Foreign Correspondent in New York, say it’s time to get adoption right.
“We have to change a whole culture and we have to make people step up and go okay let’s do this and you know when we need to do it by? Yesterday. Because every minute that that child is institutionalised or without a forever family they are being damaged.”
DEBORRA-LEE FURNESS, Adopt Change.
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Further Information
Contact Le My Huong via VUNG TAU ORPHANAGE:
Phan Boi Chau Centre
1 Phan Boi Chau
Ward 2
Vung Tau City
VIETNAM
Website: http://www.vungtau-orphanage.com
Email: info@vungtau-orphanage.com
Contact Deborra-Lee Furness via ADOPT CHANGE:
Website: http://www.adoptchange.org.au
Email: enquiries@adoptchange.org.au
