TNAG-2067-FCO40-2945-Vietnamese-boat-people-unaccompanied-minors-in-Hong-Kong-1990 — Page 44

Committee is likely to be asked to consider some 5000 cases. Very

few orphans have been identified. Those who have no parents tend to

be absorbed into family groups, usually of relatives. In such

circumstances, adoption is not usually considered to be the

best option for the child. There has only been one case of adoption of a Vietnamese child in recent years. [I am sorry therefore to

disappoint you with the news that there are no children available

for adoption. If you are nevertheless interested in adopting a

child from abroad, you should write in the first instance to the

Immigration and Nationality Department of the Home Office (address

Lunar House, 40 Wellesley Road, Croydon, CR9 2BY) who will explain

the various steps involved.]

Children whose parents are already in the West would rejoin them under family reunion arrangements. Those whose parents are still in

Vietnam have often been sent out in the hope that they will be

resettled in the West and will thereby establish a foothold from

which the rest of the family can be drawn in. If they have no

genuine claim to refugee status, they will be returned to their parents: the practice of sending children out of Vietnam (alone' carries high risks for the child and is something we would wish to

discourage. Ultimately, we hope that all people who wish to leave

Vietnam will choose to do so by means of the Orderly Departure

Programme, rather than by making the journey to Hong Kong.

I hope it will reassure you to know that much thought has been put into arrangements for unaccompanied children among the boat people.

no We are confident that there is no chance that Children will be sent

back to Vietnam unless they have a family to return to; and that the

in the best interests of the children right solution will be carefully sought in all cases, We will nevertheless be monitoring closely the work of the UNHCR Committee.

thenadors.