t Portland Observer Vietnamese mother seeks child’s return by Itaxa Guataitia SAN FRANCISCO. (PNS) Hao Thi Vo searched for months through bureau critic mazes before she learned that her three year old son was in the rare of one of the "orphan Baby lift" agencies. But when at last she found him, she was told she could not have him: He might be better off with his new American "pa rents." Vo is one of more than a dozen refugees in this country known to be seeking return of children shipped here in the panic of the last days of the war. She is one of several who must fare court action if she expects to be permitted a reunion. Like many other Vietnamese mothers with half American children, Vo feared for the lives of her three sons when the Saigon regime was collapsing and sent them to the U .S. for their safety. Through a friend, she said, she met an American named Dick who agreed to lake her oldest sons, Vo Huy Khanh, seven, and Vo Anh Tuan, five, if she signed a release for them. She did. A neighbor bound for the U.S. agreed to take Vo Huy Tung, then two, as her own son, under an assumed name. For him Vo signed nothing, she said. Vo herself managed to fly out shortly thereafter. From Travis Air Force Base she called Bill Popp, a Flying Tiger pilot she'd met in Saigon. He had offered to help if she managed to get to this country. Popp derided to sponsor Vo, her twenty year old sister, a cousin and the cousin's six year old. All came to live in his home near Los Angeles, found jobs and, together, put a down payment on a house. (In Saigon, Popp said, Vo had been head of household for an extended family of thirteen.) With Popp's help, Vo sought her sons. After many expensive long distance phone calls, Popp said, they learned through the International Bed Cross where the two oldest boys were and discovered that the youngest was with Friends of Children of Vietnam. The neighbor who had brought him, Vo said, had given him to the agency, expecting that he'd be cared for until his mother could claim him. But the agency, armed with a release paper Vo never signed, had placed the youngster in a home for adoption. A Letter And A Viaii Through FCVN, a letter arrived for Vo from "Bob and Joan." who had had her child for ten months. It told Vo that her son was not Vo Huy Tung now but Bruce Donovan, that he loved going fishing with his "daddy." that his good behavior "still gives us great pride," that "he can count to nine, he knows all the basic colors." "We think you should see Bruce," the couple wrote. “That way we both could see his feelings. If by chance he does not remember you, we think it would do him great harm to leave us. We can't help but feel that he would think we had rejected him. Then, on the other hand, if he did remember you. we feel it would be wrong for us to keep him from you even though it would hurt greatly." Vo flew to Denver and was taken to a room where five strange adults fared her, with her child. After a few minutes in a highly tense situation, the authorities now in charge of the boy decided he did not recognize his mother. "They don't give him to me," Vo said in an interview. "I ask, give me a chance to see the boy. A few minutes. To play with him. They say, maybe the kid get hurt. I say, I don't hurt the boy." She was not permitted to hold him, she said. "They say. he has good home now, good mother, good father. I have good home, gJ VAUGHN ST. STORE 27th and N.W. Vaughn Open Mon and Fri 9:30-9 00 Sun 11 00-5.00; Other day». 9:30-5 30 BARGAIN ANNEX Across et. from Vaughn St. store Open Mon and F n . 9 30-9 00 Sun . 11 00-5 00. Other day«. 9 30-5 30 WALNUT PARK STORE Union Ave. at Killingsworth Open Friday night 9 30-8 00 Sun . 11 00-5 00; Other day«, 9 30-5 30