US allows Haitian orphans to leapfrog adoption rules - Summary

Tue, 19 Jan 2010

Washington - Anguish played out this week among US couples in the process of adopting Haitian orphans when the earthquake struck, raising worries about their welfare and health. On Monday, the US government moved to give special permission for such children to leapfrog rules for entering the US on a temporary basis to make sure they receive the care they need from their soon-to-be parents.

The move was announced by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, who said the US was "committed to doing everything we can to help reunite families in Haiti during this very difficult time."

"While we remain focused on family reunification in Haiti, authorizing the use of humanitarian parole for orphans who are eligible for adoption in the United States will allow them to receive the care they need here," she said in a statement.

Thirty-one orphans have already been reunited with their adoptive parents in the US, Raymond Joseph, the Haitian ambassador to the US, told CNN.

Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell also flew Monday to Haiti to fetch another group of 28 orphans who have been in the care of two Pennsylvania residents in Haiti since 2006, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper and broadcast reports.

The plane carried a medical team and was expected to return late Monday with the children, who have lacked clean water and food for much of the week since the magnitude-7 earthquake struck the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince.

The Haitian orphanage, run by sisters Jamie and Ali McMutrie, was home to 130 orphans.

Napolitano said decisions would be made on a case-by-case basis as to whether children would be admitted to the US.

Michele Bond, a diplomat who looks after services for overseas citizens, noted that all efforts were being made to make sure the Haitian children did not have family who wanted to look after them in Haiti.

She said the new policy would only apply to children who have been certified as orphans by the Haitian government and parents who have been approved by US government agencies for adoption.

On CNN Monday, one orphanage director in Haiti said all the documentation - which can take years to collect before the adoption goes through - had been destroyed in the quake.

Bond said parents should not expect the adoption process to be accelerated because of the earthquake.

Last week, Napolitano extended the visas of Haitian nationals so they do not have to return to the earthquake-damaged country.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/304548,us-allows-haitian-orphans-to-leapfrog-adoption-rules--summary.html.