The decision came after US investigators found “evidence of baby trafficking and corruption in Vietnam's adoption system,” reports Reuters. According to US embassy spokeswoman Angela Aggeler: "The [US Embassy’s] survey reflects findings from investigation of hundreds of cases" (Reuters). The survey reportedly details “brokers scouring villages for babies, hospitals selling infants whose mothers cannot pay their bills, and a grandmother giving away her grandchild — without telling the child's mother” (Associated Press, AP).

The US Embassy began the investigation after officials’ “routine investigations turned up widespread inconsistencies in adoption paperwork,” reports the Washington Post.

Vu Duc Long, the director of Vietnam's International Adoption Agency, has denied the accusations and has criticised the US report for including “a lot of distorted information,” quotes BBC. According to Thanhien News, Long has said that “Vietnam’s adoption regulations were strict and transparent and that current supervision mechanisms were enough to prevent the abuse of child adoption.” Although he has conceded that there were cases in which papers had not been done in the right way, notes the Vietnam News Agency.

According to AP, US adoptions have boomed in Vietnam, with Americans “adopting more than 1,200 Vietnamese children over the 18 months ending in March. In 2007, adoptions quadrupled from a year earlier.”