Haiti’s orphans waiting for adoption; and earthquake disaster photos. Many Americans who were in the process of adopting orphans from Haiti before the earthquake are now in limbo. And many more Americans have decided since the Haiti earthquake disaster that they would like to adopt children from the country. To see a slideshow of Haiti earthquake disaster photos, see the link below.
Adoption agencies have to be careful and not rush adoptions to avoid adoption mistakes; mainly child traffickers or children who are not orphans.
An estimated 380,000 orphans existed in Haiti in 2007, and Haiti only had 100 licensed orphanages, and only 67 of those were licensed to perform adoptions. In the US, orphanages don’t house more than 150 children. In Haiti, most of the children were in unlicensed orphanages and that makes the adoption process difficult to track.
An estimated 900 orphans were in the process of adoption before the massive earthquake struck Haiti two weeks ago. 497 Haitian orphans have come to the US since the earthquake and went to families that had almost completed the adoption process. Approximately 400 orphans do not have the proper travel documents to travel to the US yet.
Last week, Save the Children, World Vision and the British Red Cross asked for any new adoptions to be halted. If there is any possibility that parents or relatives are still alive and the families can be reunited, the organizations wanted to make sure that happens.
"Every effort will be made to reunite children with their families. Only if that proves impossible, and after proper screening has been carried out, should permanent alternatives like adoption be considered by the relevant authorities," said Ann Veneman from UNICEF. "Screening for international adoption for some Haitian children had been completed prior to the earthquake. Where this is the case, there are clear benefits to speeding up their travel to their new homes."
To read incredible stories of people still being rescued from Haiti see the links on the left.
An eye doctor from Utah, Dr. Branson Call returned Monday from Haiti after an annual trip to help the people of Haiti. Dr. Call was in Haiti when the earthquake struck and amazingly survived, even though 30 medical students in the building next door all died. For several days he was unable to contact his family or friends because there wasn’t phone service or internet. His family wasn’t even sure he was alive. He spent several days trying to help the wounded before getting onto a plane to the Dominic Republic and contacting his family, according to ABC 4.
The Salt Lake City based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) has responded and said that no missionaries from the US are in Haiti, but that an immediate relief project has begun to provide aid. In Haiti, the Caribbean Area Presidency of the LDS Church also provided immediate relief to the people there. To donate to the LDS Church aid for Haiti, go to LDS.org. For more information on how the LDS Church is helping in Haiti, click here. For more ways to donate to the relief efforts in Haiti, click here.
To see a slideshow of photos of the earthquake damage in Haiti, click here.
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Source: CNN and CBS News
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Comments
Here is an interesting alternative to exporting orphans to a different country or culture. www.familiesfororphans.com
thier mothers are dead please help
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