On the morning of 19/10, Minister of Justice Hoang Thanh Tung, authorized by the Prime Minister, presented the draft Law on Adoption (amended) to the National Assembly. One of the new points is the draft law's addition of a "child-matching" mechanism, where competent authorities select suitable adoptive parents for each child, rather than allowing prospective parents to find children themselves, as is currently the practice.

According to the government, allowing individuals seeking to adopt to find children independently can lead to opaque agreements between birth and adoptive parents. This practice may also create opportunities for intermediaries to engage in illegal brokerage for profit.

To mitigate this situation, the draft law mandates that competent authorities assess the economic conditions, family circumstances, social environment, nurturing capabilities, and aspirations of prospective adoptive parents. These factors will be matched with the child's needs, circumstances, gender, ethnicity, religion, and language to select an appropriate family.

The proposed child-matching mechanism applies to both domestic and intercountry adoptions.

For abandoned children, the police must conduct verification before the child-matching process. If a child has siblings, the draft law prioritizes placing them together in one family or in families within the same locality or country, to maintain family ties and facilitate reunification between siblings.

The National Assembly delegates listened to the presentation and verified the draft Law on Adoption (amended). *Photo: National Assembly E-portal*

The current law regulates the registration of adoption requests, the search for alternative families, and child introductions. However, it does not mandate a comprehensive assessment of the suitability between the prospective parents' conditions and capabilities and the specific needs and circumstances of each child, as the current draft law proposes.

The draft law also prioritizes ensuring children live within their birth families. Adoption will only be considered when a child cannot or is unable to live with their birth family. Intercountry adoption will only be processed when no suitable alternative family can be found domestically.

**Stricter conditions for adoptive parents**

In addition to changing how adoptive parents are selected, the draft law adds cases where individuals are ineligible to adopt, ensuring children live in safe family environments.

Under the proposal, individuals facing criminal prosecution, serving non-custodial sentences, on conditional early release from prison, or sentenced to imprisonment with a suspended sentence will not be permitted to adopt.

The prohibition also applies to individuals who have not had their criminal records expunged for certain offenses. These include crimes against human life, health, dignity, and honor; illegal arrest, detention, or imprisonment; incest; mistreatment or abuse of relatives; and some other offenses.

Upon reviewing the draft law, the National Assembly's Law and Justice Committee generally supported the proposed amendments but suggested further tightening conditions for adoptive parents.

For individuals sentenced to imprisonment with a suspended sentence, the review committee proposed clarifying that the adoption prohibition applies during the probationary period. This ensures consistency and prevents the risk of adoptive parents having to serve prison sentences.

The committee also proposed considering prohibiting adoption for individuals who have been administratively sanctioned for domestic violence or have committed acts of child abuse, as these actions could directly affect a child's safety.

The review committee additionally noted that adoption conditions must not be lower than the conditions for alternative care under the Law on Children.

According to the provisional agenda, the National Assembly will discuss the draft Law on Adoption (amended) in the plenary session on 2/11.