"Operation Babylift"

After Vietnam, hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese people fled the country--fearing for their lives. Humanitarian groups urged President Ford to help evacuate the orhpans living in Vietnam--Operation Babylift. $2 million dollars for 30 flights to evacuate 1,300 children. The first flight actually killed 154 out of 330 passengers, which included adults.

Controversy:
Because the airlift was so disorganized, many of the "orphans" rescued still had parents. There was not much documentation on the children, so adoptions were often sketchy. In later years, Vietnamese parents immigrated to the U.S. and fought for custody of their children-which is completely reasonable.

Today, many birth parents and adoptees are searching for their roots. Some children were only babies when evacuated, and since no paperwork on the children were saved, tracing parents and children has become a difficult process.