An epidemic of measles ravaged the Friends of Children of Viet Nam Nursery in October and November of 1974, claiming the lives of forty of our babies, one-third of our nursery. The psychological impact of this loss was severe for our Vietnamese and American staff, yet we knew, that in spite of this tragic loss, our babies faced a better chance of survival in our center than in the orphanages where the infant mortality rate was often as high as eighty per cent.

If our initial struggle for life was won, the infant would be placed in the care of one of our Vietnamese foster mothers, thus isolating the baby from massive exposure to communicable diseases, which was ever present in our nursery.

A referral photo and information sheet was prepared for each infant and sent to our agency in the United States.  The information transmitted presented the infant by "nursery name", approximate age, general health, racial background, sex, and included any information pertinent to the infant.  The infant was then offered to a family approved by our agency. When the family accepted the infant, the family's dossier was forwarded to the staff in Viet Nam.

During the interim, the Delta Orphanages would give us birth certificates they had secured for groups of infants that they had entrusted to our custody. The method used co obtain these birth certificates was for the orphanage to randomly select names for a group of infants who were born at approximately the same time; in some instances, fictitious mothers' names were also furnished. This information was then filed with the Provincial Court by the orphanages and after varying lengths of time certificates would be issued.  Me would then bring these birth certificates to our office in Saigon.