Like the rest of the world, we have been watching the news from Haiti with great sadness. Having adopted internationally, I'm especially mindful of the families that were in the process of adopting from Haiti and how desperate they must feel to be united with their children still in Haiti. The agency we used for our 2 adoptions from China, Wasatch International Adoptions (WIA), also has a Haitian program. They sent out a newsletter with the following information. I am not trying to solicit money for this particular organization, although I personally will be giving them a contribution. Please keep the orphans of Haiti in your thoughts and prayers.
http://www.wiaa.org/
WIA works with several orphanages in Haiti and all of the orphanages suffered damage. One orphanage is completely destroyed. We are scrambling to send money to our Haitian coordinators so they can purchase food and water for the children. Long term efforts include repairing damaged buildings or in some cases building a brand new facility for the children. Money is desperately needed in order to do this. Please send donations to our office – no donation is too small and every penny donated goes directly to Haiti. All donations are tax deductible and all donors will receive receipts for tax purposes.
We are currently working with 27 families who are adopting 30 children from Haiti. Most of the children have been accounted for and we are so grateful that even though the orphanages they were living in were damaged or destroyed all the children are alive and unhurt. However, as of today, Thursday, January 21st, there are 3 of our children who are still unaccounted for. We are asking for your prayers on behalf of these children and their adoptive families who are anxiously waiting to hear they have been located and are okay.
Chareyl Moyes, our Haiti coordinator, left for Haiti on Thursday morning, January 21st. She was lucky enough to find a seat on a humanitarian flight to Haiti and she is now working with the U.S. State Department to see if she can obtain a humanitarian parole or maybe even an actual U.S. visa for about 50 children in the process of being adopted by U.S. families. The State Department has been difficult to work with but we are hopeful that Chareyl will be successful in her efforts to get these children out of Haiti and into the U.S. Our Haitian representative, Guesno Mardy, who is the director of Foyer de Scion orphanage, made several attempts to bring children to the U.S. Embassy during the week, but was unsuccessful in getting assistance from the Embassy staff. We soon realized that those orphanages that had U.S. coordinators on the ground in Haiti were the ones who were successful. For that reason we felt it was imperative to get Chareyl over to Haiti as quickly as possible. Chareyl is traveling with a group of people who will help her and the children while she is in Haiti. It is a very fortunate thing that Chareyl has been to Haiti many times and during those trips to Haiti established good relationships with the people working at the U.S. Consulate. Hopefully this will work in our favor and she will be successful in getting these children home. To read the most current updates on the situation in Haiti, please go to the U.S. State Department website – there are daily updates posted about what is happening in Haiti.
Adoptions from Haiti
We have been inundated with inquiries from people around the world asking if they could adopt a child from Haiti. Unfortunately adoptions are currently suspended in this country. The infrastructure in Port Au Prince has been destroyed, government buildings are in piles of rubble, and there is no government organization in place right now that can oversee the adoption process. At this point the people of Haiti must have time to look for their children and family members and the reunification of families may take a while. When this search is finished we are certain there will be many thousands of children left without parents or family and the need for adoptive families will be great. We are not currently accepting new families in to this adoption program, but are instead creating a data base of families who would like to go forward with the adoption process reopens in Haiti. If you are interested in pursuing an adoption from Haiti, or know someone who may be interested in doing this, please contact our office and ask that your contact information be entered into our data base. When Haiti resumes the international adoption process we will then immediately contact all families to let them know the adoption process is once again open and functioning.
The earthquake in Haiti has been a terrible and devastating tragedy for the people living in that country. We are so blessed
Our thoughts and prayers are certainly with the people of Haiti as we know yours are also. Let us all join together in prayer on behalf of the people of Haiti. We will be posting updates on our website as often as possible.
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