NYHOMESTUDY BLOG

January 22, 2010

The Department of State is receiving  inquiries from American citizens deeply touched by the plight of children in Haiti in the aftermath of the January 12 earthquake.

As Secretary of State Clinton said on January 20, “Children are especially vulnerable in any disaster, especially those without parents or other guardians to look after them.

This devastating earthquake has left many in need of assistance, and their welfare is of paramount concern as we move forward with our rescue and relief efforts.”

Together with the Department of Homeland Security, the State Department is processing and evacuating as quickly as possible those orphans who were identified for adoption by American citizens before the earthquake.

We understand that other Americans, moved by images of children in need, want to open their homes and adopt other Haitian children who had not been identified for adoption before the earthquake.  The State Department advises against this course of action at this time.

Intercountry adoption involves strict safeguards and legal requirements that must be met to protect children from illegal adoptions, abduction, sale and child-trafficking as well as to ensure that any adoption is in the best interests of the child.

Before a child can be legally taken to the United States for adoption, the Governments of both the United States and the child’s country of origin must first determine that the child is indeed an orphan.  It can be extremely difficult during the aftermath of a natural disaster to ascertain whether children who appear to be orphans truly are eligible for adoption.  Children may be temporarily separated from their parents or other family members, and their parents or family members may be looking for them.  Moreover, it is not uncommon in an emergency or unsettled situation for parents to send their children out of the area, or for families to become separated during an evacuation.  Efforts to reunite such children with relatives or extended family should be given priority.

In addition, some children who had been residing in orphanages before the earthquake were placed there temporarily by parents who could not care for them.  In most of these cases the parents did not intend to permanently give up their parental rights.  Even when it can be demonstrated that children have indeed lost their parents or have been abandoned, reunification with other relatives in the extended family should be the first option.

During times of crisis, it can also be exceptionally difficult to fulfill the legal requirements for adoption of both the United States and the child’s country of origin.  This is especially true when civil authority breaks down or temporarily ceases to function.   It can also be difficult to gather documents necessary to fulfill the legal requirements of U.S. immigration law.

The United States is cooperating directly with UNICEF and other relief organizations in Haiti to deliver needed supplies to Haiti’s orphanages and to provide assistance to other unaccompanied children.

UNICEF is starting the process of registering unaccompanied children and will seek to unite children with relatives.

There are many ways in which U.S. citizens can help the children of Haiti now.   For example, individuals who wish to assist can make a financial contribution to a reputable relief or humanitarian organization working in that country.

More Information

http://www.state.gov/

United States Agency for International Development (USAID) http://www.usaid.gov/iraq

International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) http://www.icrc.org/

Interaction http://www.interaction.org/

http://www.unicef.org/media/media_52519.html

London, England (CNN) – Three aid groups called Thursday for an immediate halt to any new adoptions of Haitian children after last week’s earthquake.

Save the Children, World Vision and a unit of the British Red Cross said the focus first must be on tracing any family members that children may still have and reuniting them.

“Any hasty new adoptions would risk permanently breaking up families, causing long-term damage to already vulnerable children, and could distract from aid efforts in Haiti,” the agencies said in a joint statement.

The disaster in Haiti has led to an outpouring of support around the world, with the United States alone donating more than $305 million as of Wednesday, according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy, a newspaper covering nonprofit organizations.

Stories of Haitian orphanages struggling after the quake and the plight of the children there also has led many to ask about adopting children.

After reading a CNN report on Haitian orphans, CNN.com reader Dana Fanning wrote, “It broke my heart. My husband and our 4 children want to know if and how we could adopt [any] of the children orphaned by the earthquake.”

Save the Children Chief Executive Jasmine Whitbread said the “vast majority” of children on their own in Haiti are not orphans, but were simply separated from their families in the chaos.

Their family members may still be alive, she said, and “will be desperate to be reunited with them.”

“Taking children out of the country would permanently separate thousands of children from their families — a separation that would compound the acute trauma they are already suffering and inflict long-term damage on their chances of recovery,” Whitbread said.

Allowing a flood of new adoptions also could open the door to traffickers, said World Vision Chief Executive Justin Byworth.

The poverty in Haiti already makes children there “extremely vulnerable” to exploitation and abuse, Byworth said.

“We are concerned not only about premature overseas adoption but also about children increasingly being sent unaccompanied to the Dominican Republic,” he said.

Aid groups said adoptions that were already in progress before the January 12 earthquake should go ahead, as long as the right legal documents are in place and they meet Haitian and international law.

For those who want to help Haitian children, Whitbread said, they should donate to aid agencies who are working on reuniting those children with their families.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has opened an office at the headquarters of the Haitian Red Cross in Crois de Prez to help people locate their relatives, said Pete Garratt, a disaster response manager at the British Red Cross.

The ICRC also has set up a Web site to help people searching for relatives, he said.

first appeared in CNN at http://us.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/01/21/haiti.adoptions/index.html?hpt=T1