File Photo: National flag of the United States of America
The United States says Vietnam will soon allow Americans to adopt certain Vietnamese children, six years after a ban was imposed amid allegations of widespread baby-selling and babies offered without parents' consent.
The US Embassy said in a statement Tuesday that under the new agreement, Americans will be able to adopt children with special needs and those over five.
It said adoptions would resume "soon" once the Vietnam government announces which US -based adoption service providers are authorized to represent American parents.
A UN-commissioned report into adoptions in Vietnam in 2009 said the demand from prospective parents, most of them in the United States, had essentially created a supply of young babies that unscrupulous people were procuring for them from impoverished Vietnamese families.