Vietnam: What actions are taken in the case of finding an abandoned child?

Vietnam: What actions are taken in the case of finding an abandoned child? (Illustrative Image)

1. Protect the child and report to the competent authorities

The person who discovers an abandoned child is responsible for protecting the child and immediately informing the People's Committee or the police station at the commune level where the child was abandoned. In the case of a child abandoned at a medical facility, the head of the medical facility is responsible for reporting.

Afterward, the Chairman of the People's Committee at the commune level or the Head of the commune police station is responsible for organizing a record of the abandoned child and assigning the child to an individual or organization for temporary custody. (The record should be made in two copies: one retained at the issuing agency and one given to the individual or organization temporarily caring for the child.)

2. Search for information about the child's parents

After making the record, the commune-level People's Committee will publish a notice at its office for 7 consecutive days about the abandoned child.

At the end of this period, if no information about the biological parents of the child is available, the commune-level People's Committee will inform the individual or organization temporarily caring for the child to proceed with the child's birth registration.

3. Carry out the procedures for birth registration for the child

The procedure for birth registration is carried out according to the provisions of Clause 2, Article 16 of the Civil Status Law, and Article 14 of Decree 123/2015/ND-CP:

- The person registering the birth submits a form as prescribed and a record of the abandoned child made by the competent authority;

- Immediately after receiving all the above documents, if the birth information is complete and appropriate, the judicial-civil status officer will record the birth information in the Civil Status Register; update it in the electronic civil status database and the national population database to obtain a personal identification number.

- The judicial-civil status officer and the person registering the birth sign the Civil Status Register together. The Chairman of the commune-level People's Committee issues a Birth Certificate to the person registered.

Note: The child's surname, middle name, and first name are determined according to Article 26 of the Civil Code 2015. If there is no basis to determine the date, month, year of birth, and place of birth of the child, then the date, and month the child was discovered is taken as the date, month of birth; the child's year of birth is determined based on their physical condition; place of birth is where the child was discovered; place of origin is determined according to the place of birth; the child's nationality is Vietnamese. The sections about the father, mother, and ethnicity of the child in the Birth Certificate and Civil Status Register are left blank; in the Civil Status Register, it is noted as "Abandoned Child."

4. Find a family for the child

- The commune-level People's Committee has the responsibility to find an individual or organization to temporarily care for the child.

- If someone wishes to adopt the child, then the commune-level People’s Committee where the abandoned child was discovered will consider and resolve it according to the provisions of the Adoption Law 2010 and related guiding documents; if no one adopts the child, a dossier for putting the child in a care facility will be prepared according to the provisions of Decree 103/2017/ND-CP.

Legal Basis:

- Civil Code 2015;

- Civil Status Law 2014;

- Adoption Law 2010;

- Decree 123/2015/ND-CP;

- Decree 103/2017/ND-CP.

Hai Thanh

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