Operation Babylift: advancing intercountry adoption into Australia

Abstract

The Vietnam War played a significant role in the institutionalisation of intercountry adoption (ICA) in Australia. The fall of Saigon provided the leverage needed for proponents of ICA to engage the governments of Western countries in ensuring previously arranged adoptions were completed. The humanitarian discourse that surrounded the airlift of children from Saigon, Operation Babylift, precipitated private- and government-sponsored mass evacuation of ''orphans'' who were adopted despite the lack of substantive evidence of their orphan status with no attempts at supported reunification. Though adoption from Vietnam to Australia was short-lived, it opened the doors for other government-sanctioned adoption programs within two years.