All Blessings International in Haiti

IBESR meeting on January 18th

2012-01-23T06:46:00.000-08:00

Three members of members of the Haiti Creche Directors' Association attended a meeting with IBESR Director Arielle VILLEDROUIN on January 18th, 2012:

The following was translation of the meeting notes and commentary is from colleague Dixie Bickel's blog (with her permission).

1. The New Adoption Law:

It was not discussed because it is still being looked at and changed. I do know that it was on the agenda for the Senate to look at today! I was told that they will be looking at the law that the Deputies already voted on. I hope that is true even if it does need some changes, surely they won’t change everything!

2. Treatment of the dossier in IBESR:
Director said that it will not take more than 2 months to sign a dossier.

An employee will be designated to contact the orphanages if necessary corrections need to be done or if any dossiers are missing documents. Right now, they sit and wait for someone to pass by and find there needs to be corrections.

The orphanages can pass by IBESR two days per week (Monday and Wednesday) to check on their dossiers.

The Director wants to receive reports from adoptive parents about how the children are doing post adoption for 5 years. She wants it to talk about how the child is developing, adapting, a report card if they are in school, and 6 photos. The directors of each orphanage is responsible to turn these reports into IBESR.

3. PRESIDENTIAL DISPENSATIONS::
A presidential dispensation is required for all dossiers where the adopting parents have one or more biological children.

IBESR has started looking at/treating the dossiers again and will be signing them again.

All of the orphanages doing adoptions must send IBESR a list of their dossiers in IBESR,which are sitting in Presidential Dispensations with the name, IBESR number as soon as possible so that these lists can be communicated to the President’s office of Dispensations.

4. Number of years married, age of the adoptive families, and process verbal, etc:
Under the law of 1974, all couples must have been married at least 10 years.

The Director of IBESR proposes to meet with the IBESR personnel concerning:

a. Allowing couples who are infertile or sterile and can prove it medically to adopt if they have been married 5 years

b. For couples married 5 years but have lived together for 5 years and have a certificate “de vie commune (co-habitation)” to adopt..

The Process Verbal not to be required for the dossier to go to IBESR (right now, we have to make 2 process verbal. One where I represent my parents and then that is removed and replaced with the one the parents sign after they come to Haiti to see the judge)

d.Before putting a dossier into IBESR, every orphanage must take the biological parents to IBESR to have adoption explained to them. IBESR will be open two days per week for seeing biological parents. IBESR is developing a form for this purpose at this time.

e. IBESR is rebuilding their archives where they can store the adoption dossiers.

f. IBESR will give the Association a list of all licensed creches (adopting agencies) in Haiti. We are hoping this will help us contact more creches to get them to be part of the Association and be more involved in adoption activities.

5. Cost of processing the dossiers by IBESR:
IBESR will probably be raising their fees to treat a dossier to as much as $500 USD per dossier.

We will all have to wait and see when and how these changes are implemented.

Adoptions moving forward under the new government officials

2012-01-17T08:49:00.000-08:00

Over the past month, we've seen a few dossiers signed out of IBESR under the management of our new Director, Mme. Villedrouin. These dossiers met the criteria of the 1974 law. Just yesterday seven dossiers originally submitted in 2010 (not ours!) were granted Dispensation under the direction of the new Prime Minister, Garry Conille.

Things are moving forward. ABI welcomed home six children to their four new adoptive families in 2011, and this year we expect to welcome home many more.

The French government stated that they would re-open adoptions for French citizens on January 4th. Hopefully this will provide more options for the children who cannot safely remain with biological family members or be placed for adoption in Haiti.

We continue our efforts to preserve and protect Haitian families. Please read our annual report for 2011: http://www.allblessings.org/download/BresmaActivitiesReportDec2011.pdf .

Orphanage Care

2011-09-22T07:43:00.000-07:00

Sometimes a photo is worth a thousand words...

We believe that no orphanage care can ever truly meet the needs of a developing child, but BRESMA comes pretty close. Here are some photos of Margarette Saint-Fleur, Director of BRESMA orphanage, interacting with a baby in our care.

I think R.'s smile says it all!

When All Else Fails

2011-08-08T15:21:00.000-07:00

Today was another one of those really mixed days. Intake day.

We met with two families who BRESMA has been financially supporting for over a year. One includes a grandma and her two adult children and her daughter-in-law. The daughter's husband was killed in the earthquake when she had one toddler and was just pregnant with their second child. The son's eighteen year old girlfriend has a baby boy. The second family is a single mother with a baby boy and a five year old girl. All of these adults are absolutely resolute. They believe that they cannot raise their children in Haiti. They are adamant that they want to place them for adoption. We must respect their judgement as adults and parents who know what is best for their children. I went through the speech with them - that the children will never return to Haiti, that adoption is forever, that I will beg for photos and updates but I can't force adoptive parents to consider the feelings of the birth parents - but they've heard it all before several times and will not change their minds.

We don't know where the biological father of the five year old girl is, and we can't place her without his consent. Her mother begged me to find a family for her anyway, but I had to tell her that Margarette was right. We must find him first. I told her to try everything so that I can place her delightful little girl.

Four of the children will come into BRESMA when Margarette returns from vacation in a few weeks. I spent some time with each child and parent, getting to know what I can about them. Times like this I really feel the weight of my responsibility to these families. They are trusting me to find parents who will cherish and raise their own children. I pray that I have the wisdom to serve them well and earn the trust they are giving me with no recommendation other than blind hope.

Margarette handed out packages of beans and rice to everyone - lots of bags, this time, as she'll be on vacation for about two weeks. We packed everyone in the bus and drove to BRESMA to load everyone up with baby formula, powdered milk, and ibuprofen. Margarette handed out some emergency cash too, just in case.

When it was time to go, the five year old girl said quietly, "M'ap rete avo." ("I'm staying with you.") I told her mother to look hard for that birth father. Some of our older kids seem to be so aware of how precarious their family's situation is that they actively want to be adopted, even though they love their parents. Perhaps she'll find the missing biological father. Perhaps something will change. I sure hope so. Such a bright and personable little girl deserves a solid future.

I spent the afternoon with my friend Michelle Meece from Hands and Feet. I love this group. They really understand the purpose of an orphanage, which Michelle demonstrated beautifully.

"This is what Hands and Feet does," she explained as we lounged on the upstairs patio at the guest house. "When a kid is walking right off a cliff, this is us."

She pantomimed grabbing the back of a child's shirt. It's the perfect image. There sure do seem to be a lot of cliffs in Haiti. But at least in Jacmel, and soon in Gran Goave, there will be vigilant guardians on a few of them.

Time to rest

I'm leaving tomorrow. I have distributed all the little gifts that filled my duffel bag, and packed it away in my carry on suitcase. I have about 300 emails to answer, paperwork to distribute, case updates to share and referrals to make to waiting families.

I don't believe I'll be checking any bags on the way home this time.

Up to Fermanthe

2011-08-07T15:05:00.000-07:00

Today I travelled to visit the home of Dr. Jacob Bernard, up in the mountains above the city. To his great joy, I didn't even ask Franck to drive me and got a ride from my colleague Denis Frantz instead. I send all of my families to Denis when they need to hire a driver. He spent a lot of time in Boston as a kid. Denis speaks perfect English, is extremely conservative about safety issues, and is the only person I know in Haiti who is early for everything.

Naturally, we arrived at Dr. Bernard's house early. He wasn't even home from church yet. I spent a very peaceful and restful half an hour enjoying the cool, fresh air of the mountains and the astonishing scenery from Dr. Bernard's small hotel. Anyone wanting to experience the beauty of Haiti really should spend a night with the Bernards!

The first car to return from church was an SUV carrying eighteen small children, all dressed to the nines and obviously thrilled with their visit to church! They are all going to bible camp this week. It's pretty obvious that the Bernards' choice to sign them up for camp was a very popular decision.

Dr. Bernard and I had only a few minutes together as he was headed out to Leoganne, but we conferred about the one case we are working together and about the process in general. Dr. Bernard says his cases are moving along smoothly. Like the rest of us, he's not sure what President Martelly's statement about ending independent adoptions means. He suspects that there will need to be a licensed creche involved in Haiti, and a licensed agency involved in the U.S. This will affect Dr. Bernard profoundly, as he is the only creche director we work with who still works with families with no agency in their home nation.

Our brief meeting over, I went with Mrs. Bernard to visit the kids. They're still living in a separate building at the guest house, where they are within easy reach if a disaster were ever to strike again. As ever, the care here is very, very good. The kids are happy, organized, and in superb health. I may have seen the fattest baby thighs I've ever seen today. Her upper legs were almost as wide as they were long!

I agreed to stay for lunch with a few of the guests. The Bernards tend to serve American food. I imagine for most people it's comforting to have familiar food in a strange country. I've come to dislike it. Sure, I'll eat a turkey and cheese sandwich here, but it just doesn't seem right in Haiti. Bring on the banan prese!

Although they just had a group of sixty-five guests during the week, today the Bernards had just six visitors. One of them was a single lady interested in adoption. I had to confirm what Dr. Bernard had already told her - under Haitian law, she is not allowed to adopt a Haitian child. Such a shame. Obviously she's already committed to Haiti, and at age thirty she's probably quite mature enough to be a good parent. I sure do hope that new law passes someday, with the changes the Creche Directors' Association has recommended. The one we have now is just not designed around what the children most need.

Visiting Day

2011-08-06T14:43:00.000-07:00

Happy kids at Sonia's house

A relatively mellow day today - only three stops.

In the morning, Margarette and I went to visit our friend Sonia Andre's orphanage. Sonia primarily places children with German families (as she can no longer work with the French families). She's our partner on a number of cases, providing child care for a few cases Margarette is working, and checking up on all of our cases in IBESR regularly whenever Margarette is out of town. Margarette helps Sonia with processing tricky cases. It's an excellent arrangement for everyone. This is still a fabulous house. Truly exceptional child care! It would be very difficult to find any American day care center that was cleaner, better supplied, or better staffed than Sonia's place.

It always makes me laugh to come here because of the reception I get. Sonia has quite a few babies and small toddlers at the moment. One look at me, and there is a huge chorus of wailing from at least ten frightened babies! Separation anxiety in kids this age is a sign of healthy attachment, and there is no question that these little guys know who their caretakers are. All I have to do is look at them and I set them off again. It was quite challenging to get a happy photo for one of my adoptive families of a baby boy who was not at all pleased to see me. At least the older kids were very pleased to see me again. They had a few new dance moves to show me.

Sonia has asked me to find families for two of her children in particular: a little boy to whom she is so attached after his long residence that she just wants him closer to Haiti, and a little girl who was recently abandoned.

Chistina and me

The girl's story is probably a common one, except for the ending. Christina was living with just her mother in one of the tent camps. Last January, her mother died of cholera. There was absolutely no one else in the world to care for this child. Someone in the camp was aware that the mother died, and Christina was brought to the community leaders of the camp. Someone called IBESR, and luckily for Christina, IBESR chose to call Sonia and Sonia had space for her at the moment. She is one of the lucky ones. I can still see the immense grief in her eyes, but she will have a family and an opportunity that so many never will have.

Next we went to Giant Market. It's a bit higher up the hill in Petionville than our old market, the Caribbean Market. That building was entirely destroyed in the earthquake, killing many in the collapse. There was a remarkable story of a survivor pulled from the rubble days and days later. It's amazing Giant Market didn't collapse too: it's built up on stilts over a parking garage.

Haitian food prices are much like they were before. They are comparable to what they might be in a Manhattan market for most foods, and higher for certain things that must be shipped in, such as baby formula.

We stopped by BRESMA again on our way back to the guesthouse and office. The boy and girl twins who arrived the day before I did seem to have settled in completely. They are amazingly resilient children! One of our little guys was at the dentist when we arrived. He has the worst teeth I've ever seen. I'm a bit anxious as to the quality of dental care, although I might just be prejudiced. I have no reason to think a Haitian dentist would be any less competent than an American dentist. Our little boy came back with a few abscessed teeth removed and instructions to only eat liquids for a few days. I suspect the damage was from a very poor diet combined with a great fondness for sugar cane! I know that his birth father has good teeth. Wislande was already hovering over him trying to plan a lunch he could eat. He's in good hands.

A Sort of Homecoming

2011-08-05T18:42:00.000-07:00

Fretnel, Simone, Miracia, Wislande, and Fanni

The house is empty and silent no more!!

This morning I visited BRESMA orphanage and passed a few happy hours with our seven children in care. We have four full time nannies and a cleaner, so they are just as indulged and well tended as one could possibly hope for.

The nannies include a few familiar faces. Manmi Fanni has worked for us for about nine years. Those of you who know and love her will be pleased to hear that she is not and will not be doing any laundry at all! The kids will benefit enormously from Fanni's kindness, patience, and wisdom.

Wislande is a very beautiful young lady who worked at BRESMA I before. I credit her personally with saving the life of the child who had the worst case of wet malnutrition I have ever seen. He was so edemic that he was losing skin all over his body, particularly on his hands, feet, and genitals. I took photos to record the disease, but I've never been able to bear showing them to anybody. Wislande.decided that he was her personal responsibility. She couldn't touch him much - it was too painful for him - but she would stand or sit by his crib for hours, talking to him and loving him and never letting him give up. It worked. She is young and fun and enthusiastic and is a great companion for the kids.

Miracia has worked at BRESMA on and off for several years. She is one of the most patient human beings I know, and I have never seen her angry or even irritated. She loves nothing more than playing with small children. She's an absolutely terrible disciplinarian, so I'm very glad she's not there alone. Every child in her care without a balancing influence is sure to turn out too spoiled for his own good.

I don't know Simone or Fretznel yet, but Wislande and Fanni approve. That's a very good sign.\

The children arrived in BRESMA starting on July 6th. That was a very big day for us. A year and a half after the earthquake, BRESMA was ready to shelter children under her own roof. These toddlers and preschoolers are being housed in the old building, which was undamaged. It's been freshened up with new paint and we have new appliances care of Answered Prayers. The kids are eating a lot of meat! And manners are a focus. As they were busy feeding the kids, Fanni, Simone, and Wislande each had Aslin and Bodelais say Grace for the same meal, unaware that the others had done so. Everyone has to say thank you and take turns with toys too.

The twins

A few of the kids will go to Argentina, but most will come to the US until France or Holland reopens adoptions for their citizens. I'm amazed at the resilience of a pair of boy/girl twins who just arrived yesterday. They actually seem quite happy here, despite all that they have lost. They are getting a great deal of attention, and we have all sorts of fascinating toys, but they have lost their family. I suppose that having each other helps too.

I'm delighted to spend some time with Aslin. He and his brother came into care first, after their mother died of what I believe to be cholera. He deep in grief when I met him in May. What a changed child he is! Once he decided I was okay, he invited me to participate in car races and all sorts of games, chattering away and grinning like the clever and happy little boy he deserves to be. We've already made a positive difference for him. He is visibly content and happy, even in the orphanage.

Bodelais has also had great loss in his life. He's a very serious little guy. He had nothing to say to a stranger, but the nannies say he knows every word of many of the hymns they like to sing with the kids. He eventually allowed me to pull him up onto my lap, and once there, he snuggled in and agreed to stay. I asked him if he enjoyed playing with any of the kids, but he denied having any friends at BRESMA. Good thing that's not true - he and Aslin are obviously best buddies. But the only person he says he wants to play with is his sister, Loutiana. She is somewhere on the streets in Cabaret. Margarette is going to try to find her. I'm going to pray that she can, and that if she does, that Loutiana is not hardened by what she has experienced and that we can find the right family for the two of them together. An enthusiastic young Red Cross worker said that it must be very rewarding working with real, individual people rather than big programs as she does. She's right; it is. But on the other hand, she does not have the image of one lost little girl to haunt her. We fail at least as often as we succeed.

I had an early afternoon meeting with the Adoptions Officer at the US Consulate. She has been very good to work with, and I'm sorry that she is leaving in November. I had a few questions for her this meeting, and she introduced me to her successor. It would seem we're in luck. Kim also seems like a very kind person. She's been in Haiti for over a year, and she seems to want to be here. She also seems pretty excited about working on orphan Visas. I gave her my traditional one minute lecture that I habitually give to all of the new Adoptions Officers when they start. She is the very last protection against human trafficking, and she must never let down her guard when protecting Haitian children and Haitian families. Adoptions must be safe and legal if they are to continue to exist.

An aside about how our government works: we're always complaining that the Haitian government is inefficient and full of red tape. DOS wants to investigate one of my right now. However, somehow the formal approval of the forms I600 did not come through from the NVC - just the forms and scans of the kids' documents. Emily has an email from me from before, which includes scans of those letters of approval, and she's been working with me for years and has confidence that I would not have forged those letters. However, she can't accept the scans that I or my clients made of the letters. Only scans made by the NVC are acceptable. She and I will both remind the NVC about the case until the letters are sent to her from their office. Once before, years ago, scans of notarized Powers of Attorney that were sent from USCIS proved inadequate for DOS to allow me to attend a Visa interview for a family. We do seem to have quite enough problems with red tape in our own government.

The gang at Notre Maison

Final stop for the day was Notre Maison, an orphanage which houses children with disabilities as well as standard abandonment cases. I found the orphanage looking well. Gertrude has been taking guests in on the second story of the house, which used to be supported financially by her large guest house. That building was destroyed in the earthquake.

Gertrude told me a truly ironic story. A few months ago, her kids were invited to a special party hosted by IBESR for the children of various orphanages. At six a.m., a bus arrived to take them to the party. They hadn't had breakfast yet, but off they went to a very exciting day. Sadly, the real excitement was just beginning after they came home.

Gertrude was awoken in the wee hours be a nanny, who said that the children who had been at the party had diarrhea.

"Which children?" asked Gertrude.

"All of them," answered the nanny. Yep, all thirty of them. Gertrude tried Pepto Bismol and Immodium, but in the end 17 of the children were so sick they had to be hospitalized. Gertrude kept calling IBESR, which kept wanting to know exactly which of the kids were sick. Eventually it came out that all of the children at the party had gotten food poisoning. Neither IBESR nor UNICEF offered to help pay the medical bills, or for the extra nannies Gertrude had to hire to watch the kids still at home while their familiar nannies went to stay with the kids at the hospital. Fortunately she was able to move them all to Doctors Without Borders' facility, which is very near her orphanage and did not charge her for caring for the children. Gertrude says that if she'd hospitalized 17 children from her house from food poisoning that had happened at home, there would have been an inspection and consequences. But she paid all the consequences in this case alone.

We agreed that it had been a very expensive party. But the kids still thought it was really fun!

After I finished my visit with Gertrude, at around 4:30, I got back in the van and told Franck that I needed to go to Sonia's house, which is on the other side of town. Much to his credit, he said nothing and just started the van with a frozen look on his face.

"I'm kidding," I told him. "That's enough work for one day."

He just shook his head and smiled. Poor Franck. He must just dread my trips here.

Opinions at the Airport

2011-08-04T18:12:00.000-07:00

Today I went back to the airport to get my luggage. For those of you who have not spent much time in Haiti, or have not read my previous posts about what is involved in retrieving lost luggage in Haiti, allow me to bore you with the story of my day.

There was a number to call on my 'delayed baggage'slip, but of course there was never an answer at that number. So Franck and I drove back to the airport to arrive around noon, which is when the flight from Continental was due to arrive. I did know where Continental had set up their lost baggage department because my usual baggage guy showed me yesterday.

A brief digression to explain my baggage guy. I don't need help with my luggage. Ever. And I'm fortunate enough to be able to say so clearly in Kreyol, generally adding, "Even if you take my bags, I'm still not going to pay you anything", which is the only surefire way I've found to make everyone leave me alone when I travel alone. But my baggage guy is deaf! My first few trips where he met me, I brought great amusement to all of his colleagues as I told him very loudly and in no uncertain terms that I did not want any help. Actually, I suspect he's in on the joke. At this point I've given up, and he gets to carry my suitcases for me every time. His genuine pleasure in soundlessly welcoming me to Haiti each trip is worth the five bucks I give him. But in any case, on this trip he really earned those five dollars and more. I would never, ever have found the unlabeled closet Continental is using for a baggage office, tucked away behind another building.

Unfortunately on this trip, Continental's one flight per day from Newark to PaP was delayed by three hours. Nobody at the airport, including Continental employees, could tell us what was going on, and if the plane was even in the air. I say us because I was not alone. There must have been 20 people, all waiting to retrieve luggage lost on the flight from the day before. At one point I was told that the plane had set down in Santo Domingo because of Tropical Storm Emily. I finally had to call the States and have someone in my family find out that the plane had in fact left the US, and was in fact due to arrive in PaP in another hour. By this time, Franck and I had been waiting for three hours. Franck was remarkably cheerful about it all, considering everyone else had the day off because of the possibility of the storm, and here he was stuck with me in the airport parking lot all day long.

Finally the plane arrived, about four hours late, and the other luggage-less people and I stampeded backwards into the Immigrations/Customs/baggage area. My things arrived with the general luggage, and I was able to walk out with them. I declare, never has a carry on suitcase and a battered duffle bag looked so lovely, so desirable, as did mine this afternoon!

I can't quite describe the day as a complete waste, although I accomplished nothing on my very long list of tasks. I had some very interesting conversations with my fellow baggage-less travellers. One lady from Canada was very pleased to note all the tourists coming in to Haiti. That was her apt description of what I suppose can best be described as the new 'aid tourism' industry that is popping up. The planes are filled at least 50% with Americans, Canadians, and even a few Europeans who are coming to Haiti with private organizations and small aid groups to help. I can't speak for how effective their projects might be. I imagine there is a huge range. But all of them are spending money here. If nothing else, they are stimulating the economy. Perhaps when enough of them go home and report that Haiti is beautiful, her people are hardworking and delightful, and the security risks are so much lower than they ever were before, regular tourism will return.

I had a much less positive conversation with a lady who took one look at the BRESMA polo shirt I was wearing, heard what we did, and practically spat in disgust. She even switched to perfect English to make herself very clear. Her opinion of orphanages was not favorable. I think I surprised her when I agreed with her completely, stating very firmly that Haitian children first and foremost belong in Haitian families. She was very angry that orphanages use children for the sex trade. I suspect this is not as widespread as she thinks it is - I believe the most common issue is simple malnutrition, lack of care, lack or caretakers, and warehousing of children. All of these are quite awful enough without adding exploitation.

Finally, I had a conversation with an American man who works for a group that generally just builds churches, but is also creating an orphanage that is intended to hold up to 100 little girls, ages three to five, all 'true' orphans. They intend to place them all for adoption. I imagine eventually they'll see that we don't choose the easiest children to place for adoption. We don't get to pick the ones that most American families would best like to adopt. We are forced to accept those for whom we can find no other possible solution. Tomorrow I'm off to resort to that solution for several children with no other options.

I do know this is a bit shallow, but I am ecstatic that I will be doing so in clean fresh clothing.

A Lesson in Relativity

2011-08-03T15:53:00.000-07:00

It would seem that this trip I am to have a lesson in patience, tolerance, humility, and priorities.

This is my 30th trip to Haiti. That's right: three-zero. And so, upon arriving at the airport where I would stay overnigh last night, I was quite confident that I would need to pick up my suitcases, as I have had to do the other 29 times I've traveled. Imagine my surprise when I arrived in Newark, waited for my bags, and was told that they had been checked through to PaP! Imagine my lack of confidence in the Continential Airlines officials who told me this, when the airline has only been flying into Haiti for a few months, and I'm pretty darn sure they are not allowed to hold my bags overnight for me, no matter how much I've begged them to in the past. Imagine my disappointment at checking into my hotel with the clothes on my back, none of which are suited for Haiti in August. And naturally, neither bag has made it here to Port-au-Prince with me.

So, as I said, I''m having a lesson in patience and priorities. I'm typing this blog entry in blue jeans with bare feet in the BRESMA office, two big cultural no-no's for me. After seeing my heavy, hot Ariat cowgirl boots, nobody is giving me a hard time about it, even though an adult allowing her feet to touch the floor is culturally unacceptable here.

You see, a tropical storm is bearing down on us. I'm at the guest house using wireless internet and stuck with wearing the same, too-hot clothes for a third day straight until my suitcase arrives tomorrow. But I've just driven past so many people who have never in their lives owned such riches as I have waiting for me in my 'carry-on' bag, where ever it may be, that all I can think of is how grateful I am to have a sink to wash a few critical items for recycling tomorrow. Nothing like Haiti to remind us even in the midst of what seems like great provocation that as Americans and Europeans, we will experience very few 'real'problems in our life times. That line in the old, traditional grace: "May the Lord make us truly grateful for what we are about to receive" speaks great truth. Haiti teaches us to love what we are given.

Today I finally got to see the Judicial Complex when Franck and I drove there from the airport. I felt bad for Franck. Generally, Franck is not the most punctual of men, even when he has not forgotten me at the airport (it's happened!). Today he waited over two hours before I arrived, and it was hot, hot, hot. I've never been to the Judicial Complex before as parents didn't used to go, and at that time, I would not have been well received due to some difficulties certain Americans were causing with culturally inappropriate behavior. But today we picked up one of my adoptive families after they saw the Dean. Our latest office worker is just finishing law school here, and she gave me a tour. In jeans. Ugh. Good thing we couldn't go into any of the courtrooms anyway.

The complex has complete electricity and even air conditioning throughout. I was impressed - it's the most 'modern'government office I've been in yet. Now I'll be able to explain to each family exactly what and where their two court appointments are.

Things are really moving along with adoption cases in Haiti. I can't wait to go over each case with Margarette, so I can update everyone. Assuming that my suitcase with all of my case data shows up in the right country.

The First New Homecoming

2011-08-01T07:38:00.000-07:00

We are beside ourselves with joy to announce that our first post-earthquake Haitian adoption is complete. On Saturday afternoon, a special young lady of fifteen years landed in Miami with her adoptive mother.

L. is a 'true' orphan who has been adopted by a family who befriended her in Haiti several years ago. The case entered IBESR in November of 2010. Dispensation was needed, but as the child was from a different district, her adoption decree could be issued by a local court rather than Parquet court in Port-au-Prince. This was an atypical case, as documents from the rural community where the child was born were difficult to secure, but the adoption decree itself was a bit easier. We still view the processing time of only nine months from IBESR to homecoming as very promising. May other children find their way home quickly too!

Congratulations and blessings to L. You have waited a long time for a family. We think you are very blessed with the one that you have found.

New U.S. Department of State Independent Adoption Warning

2011-06-29T09:19:00.000-07:00

Hats off to the US Department of State for their strongly worded new warning:

Alert: Pursuing Independent Adoptions without Licensed Agencies Increases Risks of Delays and Fraud

The Department of State has seen a recent increase in U.S. citizens seeking to pursue adoptions in Haiti through independent agents instead of licensed adoption providers. While these “private” adoptions are currently permissible in Haiti, prospective adoptive parents should be aware of the risks associated with not utilizing experienced, licensed agencies. Non-licensed facilitators may lack experience in navigating the complex Haitian adoption process, and this could lead to delays and critical mistakes in processing the case. Haitian facilitators may also not be familiar with U.S. immigration law governing intercountry adoption processing. Prospective adoptive parents pursuing an independent adoption may place their trust in private facilitators engaging in unethical or illegal practices in Haiti. The Department strongly encourages prospective adoptive parents adopting from Haiti to research U.S. immigration laws and Haitian adoption procedures through the use of a reputable, licensed agency or experienced facilitator. For more information about intercountry adoption in Haiti, please visit our website at: http://adoption.state.gov/country_information/country_specific_info.php?country-select=haiti.

Government Meetings on Haitian Adoptions Complete

2011-06-28T19:53:00.000-07:00

The following is an article from Haiti Libre:

Haiti - Social : End of the Conference on International Adoption

27/06/2011 14:59:22

At the initiative of Quebec and France, an international conference was held in Port-au-Prince from June 22 to 24, 2011 bringing together the Group of Montreal, represented by nine central authorities (Germany, Belgium, Flemish Community of Belgium, Federal Authority of Canada, the United States, France, Italy, Netherlands, Canada, Switzerland) the Embassy of Spain, the UNICEF representative in Haiti, the Permanent Bureau of the Hague Conference, the Central Authority of Chile, in the presence of governmental and parliamentary authorities of the Republic of Haiti and the Social welfare and Research Institute (IBESR), Haitian adoption authority.

The Group of Montreal has reaffirmed its commitment to the principles of the Hague Convention of 1993 on Protection of children and the cooperation in respect of intercountry adoption. After the meeting to Montreal in December 2010, which set the guidelines for a joint action plan in preparation for the ratification of the Convention, has constituted a signal awaited by the international community, of the will of the Haitian authorities to secure the adoption procedures.

Before the Group of Montreal, the President Martelly is firmly committed to complete, during his mandate, the process of ratification of the Hague Convention, and include the law on adoption, to the parliamentary agenda with a review as soon as possible by the Senate and possibly in second reading by the Chamber of Deputies. Pending the adoption of the law, he has committed to make a presidential order requiring the passage of the applications for adoption with the approved bodies. http://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-3232-haiti-social-the-president-martelly-announces-the-imminent-end-of-the-private-adoptions.html

The Head of State continued : "In confidence and transparency, we will be able to identify the ways and means to resumes the international adoption in Haiti. It is my strongest desire in the interest of children and in the respect of their most basic rights" stressing that he relied on "the support and cooperation of the international community, and particularly the host country of children."

Saurel Jacinthe, the President of the Chamber of Deputies, has also assured the Group of Montreal of his will to put the bill to the parliamentary agenda and has expressed his support for a evolution of the Haitian law more consistent with international standards.

Participants to this Conference welcomed the commitment of the highest authorities of the country to engage firmly the Republic of Haiti in favor of the Child Protection and to comply, in matter of adoption, to the principles of the Hague Convention. The Group of Montreal, according to the plan of action that it developed since December 2010, will continue to cooperate with the government of Haiti to implement procedures consistent with the Hague Convention that will allow eventually to resume the international adoptions in this country.

S/ HaitiLibre

Read the article on HaitiLibre.com.

So what does all of this mean for families in process today, or those who want to start a Haitian adoption?

Note: the following is an educated guess made by a private individual. It does not constitute legal advice, or the official advice of All Blessings International, a Hague Accredited adoption agency.

Most of us (meaning my colleagues in Haiti and other Hague nations) seem to feel that much of the information that came out of the meeting, both publicly and privately, was quite positive.

Possible Re-Opening of Haitian Adoptions for 'Frozen' Hague Nations
It could very well be that various nations/provinces that have 'frozen' Haitian adoptions for their citizens may defrost, and allow Haitian children to follow the legal process to permanent homes within their borders.

This is a very positive step, as most of the reputable U.S. agencies with longstanding programs in Haiti are struggling to find enough families with which to place the children we are already serving. Things were bad before the earthquake. Now, they are far worse and the need for permanent, safe families for destitute and abandoned children is more desperate than it has ever been before.

The End of 'Independent' Adoptions
President Martelly has stated that he is going to put a stop to independent adoptions. There are a few possible interpretations of this remark, but as he also stated that he wants Haiti to more toward the Hague, most of us suspect he means that all adoptions must be overseen by a licensed adoption agency in the adoptive parents country of origin, and that all adoptions must be processed by a properly licensed Haitian entity. This will mean one of the 67 licensed crèches. As President Martelly is decisively interested in Haiti becoming Hague compliant, and the new law is very clear on the matter, we expect that all adoptive parents must be working with a Hague accredited agency in their home countries to oversee their adoptions.

Most of us who work with Haiti are desperately eager to see the immediate end of independent adoptions. We have already seen in the number and ratio of disruptions among the children who came into the U.S. on the Humanitarian Parole program that adoptions with no agency involvement were far more likely to end in disaster and heartbreak. Those who had no crèche and no agency probably wouldn't have gotten here at all, but for the HP program, but many of those ended badly as well. Perhaps you are one of those rare families who adopted independently and all has gone well. It does happen! But without education, support, and supervision during and after placement, both children and their new families can suffer unnecessarily.

I do not know what will happen to the families who are already in process of an independent adoption, but I have heard no mention of 'grandfathering' those cases through the system. Quite frankly, after some of the heartrending messes our agency has stepped in to help with our Mending Hearts program, I hope they are not. The financial savings (if any) cannot possible equal the potential for disaster for a Haitian child. Out of the frying pan, and into the fire! We've had several independent families contact us already, and I assume all of the Standards of Practice and Haiti Crèche Directors crèches and agencies will be ready to help any independent families ready to step under our umbrellas.

Plans to Ratify the Hague - But Not Today
President Martelly declared he wants Haiti to ratify the Hague within his five year term of office. As it was the stated goal of certain organizations to pressure Haiti into ratifying immediately - in fact before Martelly even took office just weeks ago - this is a positive announcement. It would seem the President is aware that Haiti is not currently in compliance with the Hague Convention.

It took the United States fifteen years between signing and ratification to be sure we were compliant. Haiti has a major advantage: all adoptions are already overseen by a Central Authority (IBESR) but so many other necessities present a problem, from laws and policies, accreditations, even permanent record keeping is going to be a major challenge. However, as it was not possible to railroad Haiti into ratifying immediately, perhaps it will not be possible to do so at all until she is truly ready.

In the meantime, steps toward the Hague could do exactly what the Convention is supposed to do: protect all members of the adoption triad. I, and most of my colleagues, would rest a lot easier knowing that every single Haitian family was required to have counseling and a presentation of all of their possible options from a third party before they could choose adoption for their children.

Again, so what does all of this mean for families in process today, or those who want to start a Haitian adoption?

Here's the breakdown. Again, the following is an educated guess made by a private individual. It does not constitute legal advice, or the official advice of All Blessings International, a Hague Accredited adoption agency.

If you are already in process of adoption with an experienced, Hague accredited agency and a licensed crèche: breathe easy. There is no reason at this time to assume that the meetings are going to make your process any more difficult than it was already.

If you are already in process of adoption, but do NOT have both a licensed crèche and a Hague accredited agency: you could be in trouble. It might be wise to explore ways to legitimize your adoption now, just in case. Worst case scenario, you'll end up a better educated and supported parent.

If you have not yet started your adoption: go ahead! That's right - go ahead with an adoption using a Hague accredited agency experienced in Haiti and a licensed crèche. There will be an additional element of risk if Haiti ratifies prematurely and if the U.S. Department of State for some reason behaves differently regarding 'grandfathering' in referred cases than they have in other nations. But there is always risk in international adoption, and this risk is relatively small.

I've had a few questions by email about Haiti shutting down its own adoptions while attempting to implement the Hague. A few other nations have done this. However, those countries did not have well established adoption procedures and programs serving a significant number of children already. Haiti in general is strongly pro-adoption. In my personal opinion, this is not a very likely scenario. I certainly can't predict the future, much less the future of Haiti, but I can study the past. Haiti has never been one to sit down in her tracks and hold her breath while she attempts to save herself. As my friend and colleague Dixie Bickel titles her blog, 'And Life in Haiti Goes On'. And so will adoptions, at least for the reasonable future.

Government Meetings in Haiti

2011-06-24T06:22:00.000-07:00

The governments of various nations who have or are allowing their citizens to adopt from Haiti are meeting this week with IBESR and UNICEF to discuss the future of Haitian adoptions. Unfortunately no stakeholders - adoption agencies, adoptive parents, adopted children, birth families, or creche directors - are permitted to attend. However, the Dutch Consulate has shared the following release:

Representatives from ten countries adopters, including France, the first host country of Haitian children in 2010, were gathered Thursday morning, in a reunion at the Plaza Hotel in Port-au-Prince, in presence of the President Michel Martelly, to provide an update on the adoption in Haiti.

At this reunion, organized by a group of Montreal on international adoption, whose purpose is to consider the resumption of the "frozen" adoptions, the President Martelly has committed before the participants to ratify, during his mandate, the Hague Convention on the adoption, that prevents the so-called adoptions "private or individual".

"While awaiting the vote of this law, within time limits that I wish as close as possible, I intend to make a presidential order requiring the passage of the applications for adoption with the approved bodies, as provided for in the Convention of the Hague" declared the Head of State.

This will prevent de facto, all the individual adoption procedures of Haitian children.

HL/ HaitiLibre

Des représentants de dix pays adoptants, dont la France, premier pays d'accueil d'enfants haïtiens en 2010, étaient réunis ce jeudi matin, en colloque, à l’hôtel le Plaza de Port-au-Prince, en présence du Président Michel Martelly, pour faire le point sur l'adoption en Haïti.

Lors de ce colloque, organisé par un groupe de Montréal sur l’adoption internationale, dont le but est d'envisager la reprise des adoptions «gelées», le Président Michel Martelly s'est engagé devant les participants à ratifier, au cours de son mandat, la Convention de la Haye sur les adoptions, qui empêche les adoptions dites « privées ou individuelles ».

« Dans l’attente du vote de cette loi, dans des délais que je souhaite aussi rapprochés que possible, j’entends prendre un arrêté présidentiel, rendant obligatoire le passage des demandes d’adoption devant des organismes agréés, comme le prévoit la Convention de La Haye » a déclaré le Chef de l’État.

Cette mesure empêchera de facto, toutes les procédures d'adoption individuelle d’enfants haïtiens.

HL/ HaïtiLibre

We believe that what the President is describing as an 'independent adoption' is one in which the adoptive family is not represented by a licensed adoption agency in their home country, which will oversee the placement of a Haitian child in their home, and/or is represented by an attorney in Haiti rather than an actual, licensed creche. If so, the new policy would save a great many families and children great heartbreak. 'Independent' adoptions - particularly those we've heard about recently - generally are not successful. The family sends a great deal of money to a person who may or may not be an attorney in Haiti, but rarely comes home with a child.

There is also an A.F.P. article regarding the meetings:

Haiti leader vows to tighten adoption rules

PORT-AU-PRINCE, June 23 (AFP) Jun 23, 2011

Haitian leader Michel Martelly said Thursday he would issue a presidential decree to tighten up Haiti's adoption procedures and ensure all applications go through authorized entities.

Legislation to that effect has already gone through the National Assembly and is expected to pass the Senate soon, but Martelly, who was sworn in as president in May, is struggling to form a government to sign off on the law.

Martelly's first pick as prime minister, businessman Daniel-Gerard Rouzier, was roundly rejected by a parliament dominated by his predecessor's ruling party earlier this week.

"While waiting for a vote on this law, a delay I hope will be as short as possible, I intend to issue a presidential decree making it obligatory for adoption applications to go through authorized organisms, as the Hague Convention outlines," Martelly said.

The president vowed to ratify the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption, which sets forth guidelines and procedures and outlaws private or individual adoptions, during his five-year term.

He was speaking at a Port-au-Prince gathering of 10 adopter nations, including France, the former colonial power which took in more Haitian children than any other country in 2010.

This "eagerly awaited" measure will effectively ban individual adoption procedures, Martelly said.

Haiti was already the poorest country in the Americas even before a January 2010 earthquake destroyed much of the capital and killed an estimated 225,000 people, created countless more orphans.

A high-profile adoption abuse case shortly after the quake saw 10 Americans charged with kidnapping after they sought to take a busload of 33 children over the border into the Dominican Republic without the proper paperwork. The Baptist missionaries at first presented the children as quake orphans, but it quickly emerged that many of the children still had living parents, infuriating many Haitians.

A total of 318 adopted Haitian children were included in a special program and flown to France last Christmas Eve.

The children were all in the process of being adopted when the quake struck on January 12, 2010, causing adoptions to be delayed with some records lost in the rubble.

One Way to Get Rid of the Tent Camps

2011-05-27T14:51:00.000-07:00

We've all seen pictures of the tent camps of Haiti on the news, and wondered when this phase of the post-quake disaster will be over. For a few hundred tent camp residents in Delmas, it is over already. The first report went out on Beverly Bell's blog, and an update from the Haiti Child Protection Sub-Cluster confirms that several tent camps in Delmas are gone. Note I said the camps are gone. I have no idea where the people are. Police and bulldozers 'removed' the tents and all meagre possessions within from public spaces in the Port-au-Prince suburb on May 23rd and 25th.

Looks like there is something worse than living in a tent camp after all. I pray it does not rain tonight.

Notre Maison

2011-05-05T09:49:00.000-07:00

'home' to several families in Port-au-Prince

My guests left very early this morning to fly to Ft. Liberte. They are very excited to discuss the ideas they saw Lucien and Gina Duncan putting to use in their community with the Ft. Liberte constituents.

I went to visit Notre Maison this morning. Notre Maison is an orphanage that primarily permanently houses children with special needs. Some are relinquished by their parents, and others are placed here by IBESR. Most of the children living here will never be able to live independently. They are developmentally disabled and/or have substantial physical disabilities. These challenges are very often difficult for American families to manage - for an impoverished Haitian family, they can mean the starvation of the whole family. Relinquishment of children with disabilities is high.

Gertrude Azor cares for her children as best she can. She has managed to obtain dozens of wheelchairs- quite a feat in Haiti - and has nannies who are trained to care for the children. Culturally, it is quite challenging to train staff to value people with disabilities. There are some superstitious fears regarding disabled people, and many seem to consider them as less than human.

Notre Maison was more profoundly affected by the earthquake than any of the other orphanages with which we cooperate. For many years, the orphanage was supported in part by revenue from the guest house. The guest house is no more. Gertrude has managed to complete the upper story of the orphanage with donations collected following the earthquake, and she now houses a smaller number of guests in these rooms. Many missionaries stay here, where they can see exactly where the dollars collected from their stay will go. The kids love the extra attention!

Next I was off to buy a new Voila phone for a friend. Voila now has a service where I can buy minutes for this phone online, so we'll be able to speak whenever we like!

After my errands I spent a while catching up on email and attempting to schedule meeting with people for my last day in Haiti.

My final appointment of the day was to conduct a job interview with a young woman for our birth family contact program. For years, we've wanted to have an organized way to keep our kids in touch with their Haitian families through a safe third party. I believe Joudline may be just the right person for the task. BRESMA families will have the first opportunity to use the Pale a Ke'm program (that is Kreyol for "Speak to My Heart"), but we hope someday to offer the service to all adoptive families of Haitian born children. Birth family contact is almost always very beneficial for birth parents and the children. It's good to know where you came from, and how dearly you were loved. The hard part is always survivor's guilt. The birth families are usually in desperate conditions, but to send them any financial aid at all will jeopardize the future of all Haitian adoptions. It looks like American parents paying Haitian families for their children. Catch-22.

A Model Orphanage

2011-05-04T06:16:00.000-07:00

Today was a typical day in Haiti for me. As my driver and friend Franck says, "Le ou an Ayiti, pie ou pa touche ate'a!" ("When you are in Haiti, your feet don't touch the ground!"). In the States, I work a desk job, on the phone and email all day. But telephone and email accomplish very little in Haiti, so here I work a car job. I dragged my poor long suffering guests, Clair and Donna, along with me for most of my errands.

To begin with, we were off to the Embassy. I did NOT have an appointment, but I had to go. There were documents to be dropped off to USCIS for one case, and questions and planning to be done with DOS for our future cases. The previous Consul General, Donald Moore, believed that the US Embassy was supposed to be a service organization for the comfort, convenience, and use of American citizens in need of assistance. That philosophy remains, although the man is gone. I was allowed in with no appointment, and the DOS worker even took the trouble to introduce me the the new Non-Immigrant Visa Chief.

Next we went to visit. Hospital L'Espoir so that I could meet with Gladys Thomas, CEO of the Foundation for the Children of Haiti and President of the Haitian Creche Directors' Association. I've been working with Gladys on various projects for several years. She is an amazing woman! Educated in the US, Gladys returned to Haiti to serve her people. She has since been involved in medical services, care for children with special needs, and a few adoptions. Gladys remains a force to be reckoned with advocating for children's rights and safety in Haiti. We discussed the signing of the Hague treaty and the Creche Directors' Association's suggested modifications to the pending adoption law. You can see the latest draft of that law as presented to the Senate on this blog (see tabs at the top of this page). The Creche Directors' Association has suggested some minor changes in wording to clarify a few contradictions or vague areas and some procedural modifications. We are all eager for a new law. The current law is highly restrictive regarding adoptive families, and we all feel it offers insufficient protection to biological parents. Unethical facilitators could mislead Haitian families about the realities of international adoption without a third party counseling session for all relatives considering placing their children for adoption.

Due to a change of administrative staff at ABI, part of my dossier mailing instructions were not transmitted. One family's dossier was sent to Haiti using a different shipping service. Sounds like no big deal, but this is Haiti! UPS does not deliver effectively in Haiti. We had to physically go to the UPS office in Port-au-Prince to get the mess straightened out. That's the way we do everything here.

Sonia and a friend

Next stop: the orphanage of Sonia Andre. Sonia has been a friend of Margarette's for years. She has done a lot of work at IBESR for BRESMA, checking up on our cases and even stepping in when Margarette has to be out of the country. Sonia has an orphanage of her own, and has primarily done adoptions to France. I went to her house yesterday as well, but didn't have time to write about it. Today I'm bringing Donna and Clare so that they can see another model of excellent out-of-home care for young children.

I am placing several children who live here, so I spent a lot of time just observing them and talking with their nannies. I am thrilled to see that a baby boy we brought here a few months ago is actually developmentally ahead of where we would expect him to be. At only nine months old, he is already cruising on the furniture! When I visited yesterday, Shadley was in the isolation area with a nurse. I was a bit confused, as he was in a great mood and was not running a fever.

Today when I arrived, Shadley's nurse brought him down to the patio to hang out with us and play. I noticed that when I left, he was right back in the isolation area with his nurse, who was playing with him again. I think I've diagnosed a case of SBS - Spoiled Baby Syndrome. No worries about this little boy's care!

I interpreted for Sonia as she spoke with my friends about how she chooses her staff, who are very involved with the children in their care. There was a lot of dancing to the radio, and the house looks like Toys-R-Us blew up on the patio.

Sonia explained that she prefers to hire grandmother aged staff. Younger women can cook or do laundry, but she likes grandmas to care for the children. In Haiti, this means people around age 40 or over. She says she shows them around the house during the interview process, and watches like a hawk how they interact with the kids during the tour. She says, "You can just tell if they are people who love children." I suspect she would like to hire Clair and Donna, who spent a happy hour playing with the pre-schoolers.

lunchtime for the kids

Unlike BRESMA, Sonia receives most of her children as referrals from IBESR (the equivalent of Haitian Social Services). When a child is found abandoned, IBESR is called. When they can, they will come to get the child and call the licensed orphanages to attempt to find a place for him. In Haiti, there is no support money from the government to care for the children. The orphanages that accept the foundlings must meet their needs for nutrition and medical care on their own. Sonia will only accept the children if IBESR will provide full documentation of the child's abandonment so that she has the option to place the child for international adoption.

Sonia has asked me to find a special family for a really special boy, Milhan. Milhan arrived at Sonia's house before the earthquake. He was referred to her when he was found abandoned at a hospital. He was about nine months old and there was something wrong with his legs. We can only assume that his parents abandoned him at the hospital because they could not imagine how they would care for a child they believed would never walk, and they hoped that someone else would be able to save his life.

Milhan gives us the thumbs up!

Milhan came to Sonia's house, where his care consisted of love and a lot of good nutrition. Sonia did not refer him to a French family in 2009 because she was not absolutely sure what was wrong with his legs, and did not want to present him to a family until she knew more about his prognosis. After the earthquake, she came to realize that the only thing that had ever been wrong with Milhan was malnutrition. He is a healthy, happy, and highly intelligent boy. But France is no longer allowing her citizens to adopt from Haiti. Sonia adores Milhan, and he is happy in the only home he has ever known, but she knows it is not in his best interest to stay here forever as one of 26 children. He needs a family of his own. Milhan is a model of what the highest quality orphanage care can do. At four and a half years of age, I doubt any professional would be able to tell that he was not raised by a loving family. In a house like Sonia's, those deficits would not show up until much later, when Milhan would not know how to be a husband, an employee, a father. I will help him find a family to teach him how to be a part of a real family.

Where All That Money Went

2011-05-03T08:38:00.000-07:00

Today I sent my guests off with Gina and Lucien Duncan, lifetime servants of their own country. The Duncans are members of the Haitian Creche Directors' Association and we've cooperated on numerous projects. Gina's English is a bit more correct than mine, as she has a Master's Degree from a US University. Lucien and Gina have an integrated, self-sustaining project in the country that I wish I could visit. But today, I have far too much to do to manage a visit.

After the earthquake, friends of BRESMA around the world shared generously with us. ABI alone collected over $50,000 in donations. A good deal of money was spent immediately after the earthquake, purchasing food, water and fuel at insanely inflated prices, but Margarette guarded as much as she could for the future.

We were amazingly blessed in the earthquake. We lost not a single child or staff member to the quake itself, and the one building actually belonging to BRESMA was minimally damaged. It turns out the couple that built it were engineers, and they designed their own house to seismic standards. Decades later, their forethought saved the lives of dozens of children.

front of the new building

Margarette had a plan for all those donations long before they ever arrived. Our building sat on a large lot, and Margarette dreamed of erecting a second building, specifically designed as a temporary home for children, behind our existing facility. I got to witness the very first few measurements and blocks being laid last spring, and I've seen the building grow in photographs, but today I stood in our new building and was awed and humbled by what I saw. It is beautiful, it is safe, and it is real. Who knows how many children will live because this building exists to take them in, when there is nowhere else left to go?

The new building is specifically designed with health and safety of the children put first. Even diaper changing in a sanitary environment was considered. And it would take a far greater earthquake than that we already suffered to tumble this building. I suspect the End of Days alone could destroy it.

I wish I had the means to create a visual tour, but we'll have to settle for a verbal and pictorial tour instead. First of all, it's HUGE. Three stories tall! And the roof itself will be a play area for the children.

The first floor has an office/reception space. Incoming Haitian families will come here first so that we can discuss their options with them. As always, the main part of our intake process will be trying to talk parents out of adoption for their children. Margarette wants to impose a three month waiting period on any family whose child is not at obvious and immediate risk of death. Families must very carefully consider all other options before making an adoption plan for their children.

isolation/medical care area

Newly arrived children (as well as anyone who is sick) will stay in the isolation area on the first floor until they are confirmed healthy. We're hoping this will minimize the outbreaks of scabies, ringworm, and parasites that have plagued BRESMA since its beginning. It always seemed the moment everyone was healthy, a new child would arrive bringing in all the parasites and we'd have to start over again. No more! Our nurses will work primarily in this area. See the incubator the Spanish group sent us? Between that and intravenous fluids, nutrition, and medicines, we should be able to help more children than ever before.

pharmacy

Right behind the isolation area is the pharmacy. We have excellent support in the US and Europe for stocking the pharmacy once we are ready. Hospitals dispose of a bounty of supplies and medications (for bureaucratic reasons) that we can still use to help children. And of course, we'll continue to have weekly visits from Dr. Jeanty just to check on everybody.

main depot

The first floor also contains the depot (storage area) for this house. Thanks to the generosity of the Spanish, it is full to the ceiling! Margarette assures me that any formula here that nears its expiration is going to other orphanages or the hospital at Cite Soleil. It won't go to waste before we have anyone to drink it. There is a working, American-style bathroom on the first floor as well.

second floor playroom, looking into chaging area

The second and third floors will be primary child-care areas for BRESMA's babies and toddlers. The second is almost done, but the third remains unfinished for now. What impresses me the most are the designated dressing and diapering areas. Each child will have a specific drawer for his very own clothing and possessions, and diaper changing and hand washing will happen simultaneously. Each floor has a large play area and bedrooms for the kids. They have been designed to let in natural light and airflow - many of the room dividers are half walls, to improve circulation and make it easier to keep all the children in sight at all times. Each floor also has a small storage area of its own and a bathroom.

Above the third floor, on the roof, will be our rooftop terrace. This idea came straight from God's Littlest Angels, which has such a playground. It will give our children a very large, flat, clean area in which to play. I hope to collect all sorts of riding and pushing toys so the kids can work on gross motor skills on their playground.

new paint and cribs

The old building has had a few renovations done as well, although there are still tiles to be replaced downstairs. But the new bathrooms are amazing! So clean and bright! Hygiene is a huge focus here. The major change for the old BRESMA building will be the reassigning of space. Preschoolers and older toddlers will live downstairs. Most of the upstairs will become our new office. After years of struggling, changing staff, providing trainings, and changing staff again, we have never been satisfied with the care the children at BRESMA I received. Somehow at BRESMA II a culture of great love developed, but it just didn't happen at BRESMA I. There were a few excellent, loving nannies, and a great many who did no more than they were ordered to. If that. With Margarette and the rest of the office staff right on site and personally overseeing child care every day, I expect to see the environment we want to provide for the children. Physical presence of those in charge seems to be critical to well-managed orphanages.

So we have this huge facility - why is it empty? Money, of course. We used up over $200,000 US and it's not quite finished. If you'd like to read about the expenditures in detail, please see the Narrative Report the Haitian staff has prepared. The third floor isn't done - but that can wait. What we must do now is finish the roof. I was alarmed to stains on the brand new tiles caused by roof leakage. The project is late and over budget. Those of you who have done any construction in the US know how that goes. Personally, I am amazed at how far our $200,000 has gone. I know it would not have been possible to build what we already have for that amount here in the US, even if we weren't paying for seismic engineering and the fact that most materials are substantially more expensive in Haiti. We need to come up with $23,000 US to finish the roof, complete with playground railing. Then it will be safe to move children in. We'll still be scrambling for a way to pay the staff for a bit, until we can refer some of the children to adoptive families, but we just can't wait.

What is the hurry to bring children into care when we are so focused on family preservation? Even before the earthquake we really didn't have many good options to offer desperate Haitian families. We could and did and continue to offer short-term emergency assistance. Thousands of pounds of donated food, formula, and medicine walks out our doors with Haitian families to help them keep their children safe at home. But long-term solutions were always difficult in Haiti. Now, after the earthquake, things are much worse. It used to be that we could provide a newly widowed father of an infant with formula for a few months, and he could leave his baby with a neighbor or relative while he looked for work. But now, the family and all their relatives may be living in a cholera - infested tent camp where temperatures under the tarps are well above 100 degrees every day, and there is no clean water available to mix the formula we gave them.

BRESMA is faced with more children at risk of needless death than ever before. We simply must take them in, share our food and space, and pray for the money for the staff while we wait for permanent families. Once the roof is complete, we will accept about twenty of the children we judge to be at the most risk from our long list of families who want to place their children with us. Some of the children now on the list will die before the project is completed, even though we hope that will be only a few weeks from now. We need your help again. Please visit our website to make a tax-deductible donation to our Haiti project fund. This building matters. It's not enough, but it will be everything to the twenty or so children it will first shelter.

After our visit to the construction site, Margarette took me to the school to see some of the need for the orphanage completion first hand. The school looks great! Donations primarily from the French have built a second story, and their sponsorship supports over 250 students' tuition, uniforms, and two meals per day. The school employs dozens of Haitian staff and is the site of nutrition and education programs for the community as well.

But I am here for a darker purpose. The beginning of every adoption is loss. Today I met with a young father who lost his wife in December. She was only 22 years old, and they had been together since she was 18. From the father's description, I am guessing the mother of his children died of cholera. It wasn't quick and it wasn't easy. And it also wasn't necessary. But this is Haiti, and there was no medical care to save her in the tent camp where she died.

She left behind her grieving husband and two sons, ages six and two. I was grateful for the chance to speak with him directly, and hear from his own lips the assurance that adoption is really what he wants for his small sons. There is no friend or neighbor living in an actual building with a roof who can watch his children during the day. Not one. The smaller boy appears to be sick, but not sick enough for me to insist on medical care today. It sounds like a case of a cold that is just not going away due to constant stress and exposure. The father is informed and committed. He wants his children to have two parents, and education, and a place to sleep indoors. I will refer his children for adoption to a family who will cherish them, and cherish their memory of a father who loves them with a selflessness we Americans and Europeans will never have to contemplate.

The boys will come to live at BRESMA, roof or not, on June first. We cannot leave them in the tents any longer, and their birth father is desperate with fear. We can't save them all, but we will save these two. I just wish I could feel better about the only solution I have to offer.

Life in and After the Orphanage - the Search for an Exit Strategy

2011-05-02T08:37:00.000-07:00

Although there is some debate among child welfare workers and advocates about just how imperative it is that no child grow up in an orphanage, there does seem to be a general consensus that there is no such thing as a 'good' orphanage. Again, there is no such thing as a good orphanage, including ours. An orphanage is basically a warehouse for children, and children don't develop well in warehouses.

We believe that every child has the right to a permanent family.

But back to reality. The vast majority of children in orphanages in Haiti (and everywhere else in the world) will live and grow up with no family beyond their caretakers and fellow orphanage residents. So what can we do to help them develop into healthy, functional, productive adults? That is what Donna and Claire of Friends of Fort Liberte have joined me this week in Haiti to learn. We are going to visit a few of the best of the best of Haitian-run orphanages.

Today we visited New Life Link and God's Littlest Angels. Both are in the Hills above the city, so we started off early to make the reverse commute up into the mountains. Haiti's mountains in this region are amazingly beautiful, green and cool. The potential for tourism here someday is fantastic!

This photo is taken from the balcony of Dr. and Mrs. Bernard's guest house/small hotel in Thomasin. My camera does not do it justice.

The Bernards are Haitian Americans who met in the US and chose to return to their homeland to work. Dr. Bernard is a licensed attorney. Over the years he has placed many children with adoptive families and done much aid work for his country.

New Life Link's creche (an orphanage licensed to house children for the purpose of adoption) opened in 1993. In 1996, they opened an orphanage for older children as well. The plan was to take in children raise them with love, and have them participate in trade schools which would be a part of the orphanage compound. However, as the economy continued to deteriorate and they were unable to fund their trade schools, New Life Link decided that their exit plan for the sixty children they had in care was not viable. Through his extensive connection in Haiti and beyond, Dr. Bernard was able to place all of the children for adoption, in and out of Haiti.

Clair, Donna, and I were all a bit set back that a native Haitian who has proven his resourcefulness, creativity, and intelligence over decades of service in country did not have a viable exit strategy for children aging out of his orphanage. It was not promising news. However, he did have some specific advice for my friends. Dr. Bernard emphasizes the importance of sending all of the young adults to some sort of trade school or for specific professional training. There are a few jobs in Haiti still, but a high school graduation certificate will not help you to get one of them.

After our talk with Dr. Bernard, I sent the ladies on to see the kids and finished up a bit of business with Dr. Bernard. ABI works with several orphanages in Haiti besides our primary partner, BRESMA. We got everything squared away and then I got to go visit the kids too.

New Life Link's creche building was also destroyed in the earthquake. None of the children or staff were harmed, which is absolutely miraculous. Dr. Bernard immediately moved all of the children into his own home where he cannot be separated from them again. The trauma of being unable to physically reach the children in his care for several days following the earthquake is still very evident in his eyes when he speaks of it. He will never have his children in a home he cannot walk to again.

If a child can't be with a real family, New Life Link is a very high quality substitute. The children are clean, healthy, and well-loved. I think the most encouraging part of the care at New Life Link is not the cool, clean, attractive rooms they live in, nor the toys and playground equipment, nor the pretty clothes and neat hair that all speak of time spent and pride felt in dressing the children. It is the interaction of children and their nannies. New Life Link has succeeded in finding paid caretakers who don't just take care of the children assigned to them. They obviously love them. We saw lots of smiles, affection, playing, and laughter. These children are being cared for as best they can be while they wait for their adoptive families.

Clair and Donna are here to explore how to find caretakers who will do more than just the chores involved with child care. Mrs. Bernard shared some of her interview and training techniques with us, but I think the factors she didn't mention may be a great part of New Life Link's success. Mrs. Bernard interacts with her nannies as if they were treasured members of a team or a family. Perhaps her obvious care for their happiness and welfare has trickled down to their behavior with the children. Love is abundant here.

Next we went to visit God's Littlest Angels, just a few miles away. Director Dixie Bickel and I have worked on many projects together in Haiti, and she has earned my utmost respect. John and Dixie Bickel moved to Haiti about 20 years ago. Dixie is an RN, and her skills have saved many small lives that would surely have been lost otherwise.

GLA has always been a model of orphanage care. The house has much of the equipment found in a NICU and the staff to use it. GLA generously takes in and heals children from other orphanages when we have no way to keep them alive. Teams of volunteers stay for various lengths of time to help provide stimulation and individual attention for the children. There is even a preschool for the older children.

As GLA houses only young children, and only for adoption, no exit strategies have been planned. Donna and Clair visited with staff and volunteers while Dixie and I went to her office to discuss the Hague Convention and the pending adoption law.

We chose to stay later at GLA so that I could meet one of my adoptive parents face-to-face. It seems so strange after working with people so intimately on the most important tasks of their lives that I rarely ever see them in real life! It was a great pleasure to finally meet this single mother after all this time. Her son lives at GLA, where he was evacuated from BRESMA after the earthquake. Dixie allowed us to match him with his mother in May 2010, and he'll be ready to go home very soon. Generally GLA allows adoptive families to visit only once, for Court, but this parent was so cooperative and easy-going on her last visit that the whole staff agreed to bend their policy just for her because BRESMA visitation policies are different.

After our peaceful dayin the mountains, we descended back into the city. All was well until we hit Petionville. As soon as we reached the city, we were locked into impassable gridlock traffic. Had it not started to pour rain, I would have gotten out and walked the last few miles. It took us two hours and twenty minutes to make a journey that should have lasted forty-five minutes. Driver Denis tells me that traffic has been much worse since the earthquake. There are actually more vehicles on the roads between the UN, Minustah, NGOs, and IGOs, and some of the roads we did have were severely damaged. I'll need to budget extra time into every trip I make this visit and from now on. Those motorcycle taxis I see zipping so dangerously through traffic are starting to see very appealing.

Planning a Tour and Touring the Ruins

2011-05-01T08:35:00.000-07:00

Slightly sunburned and ridiculously relaxed after a day of poolside laziness yesterday, I arrived EARLY with Franck at the airport. Those of you who have visited may know from personal experience that Franck does have a bit of an issue with punctuality... I keep giving him watches, but it never helps.

Anyway, this morning we arrived several hours early as we were dropping of Didier Ravaine, one of the members of Aide Aux Enfants d'Haiti. Didier and Francoise Fontaines-Pageaut have spent the previous week here in Haiti with Margarette to report to donors on the Fondation Bon Berger school in Castaches.

Castaches is a small, rural village near Jeremie, South and West of the capital. It's a very long and rough ride by SUV, a dangerous trip by boat, or a short flight to reach the city, and then a bit more brutal ground travel to reach the village. Fondation Bon Berger, with financial backing from Aide Aux Enfants d'Haiti, began the school project last year. You can read the amazing account of what can be done in Haiti with full community participation and ownership in a report: Two Weeks in Jeremie/Castaches. In September, the school opened its doors to over 250 students, many of whom had never attended school before. Today, the school provides not only free education and uniforms, but two meals per day for each of its students. In the evenings, the Women's group of Castaches gather to educate each other on business basics and beginning literacy. I imagine Didier and Francoise were able to go home with a positive review for French donors that their money was well spent!

In any case, this morning we brought Didier to the airport for his return flight, and rather than making Franck drop him off, come all the way back to the guest house to get me, and go back to the airport to pick up my guests for the next few days, I went with him. Francoise will be staying a few more days, and she decided to tag along.

My guests until Wednesday are Clair Peyton, a social worker with Forever Families Adoption Services, and Donna W., an adoptive parent whose daughter came home during the earthquake airlift. Both ladies are deeply involved with Friends of Ft. Liberte. Claire and Donna have made it their special mission to improve living conditions for children at the King's Center orphanage in Ft. Liberte. I have not seen the facility, but it sounds like the King's Center is much like hundreds of other orphanages throughout the nation. Families with no possible way to feed their children are forced to abandon them in the hopes that an orphanage will prevent their starvation, and there they stay permanently along with the 'true' orphans. This orphanage is run by Pastor Andre, a dedicated pastor who has stretched himself very thin indeed trying to help his community pull itself up by its own bootstraps. No one at this orphanage goes hungry, and in fact all of the children are able to attend an outside school every day. But the entire group of children, ages 7 through 18, is watched over by one married couple.

Donna and Clair are coming to visit a select few of the best of the best of Haitian run orphanages. They want to raise funds to hire and train more staff for King's Center, and need advice about how to select nannies who will care about the children and how to help the current King's Center and Ft. Liberte staff to train them in positive child care techniques and theories. I have volunteered to make introductions and be their tour guide.

After quite a long wait in the sun, my guests arrived and we returned to the guest house. Driving back through the streets of Port-au-Prince post-quake is disturbing. It's not just all of the missing landmarks anymore - I was already struggling to wrap my brain around the scale of destruction on my last two visits to Haiti. It's the lack of progress. Petionville has been the focus of much clean up effort. There are missing buildings, but much of the rubble has been removed. Someone who didn't know better might not know there had been an earthquake at all. But down on the plain... The only difference I can see between today and May of 2010 are the many, many shiny new land cruisers filled with cheerful blan cruising the streets.

I do realize that I sound bitter. It is because I am angry, as are many Haitians. Much aid was promised, but from what I can see very little of that was delivered. At least not to the people in the streets. At least not on a large enough scale to make a significant impact.

So little has changed for them. The medians of busy streets are filled with tents, and empty lots sprout tent camps like bizarre blue mushrooms in the rain. The aisles between the tents in the camp right outside the airport are so narrow that only one person could pass through at a time. I saw two little boys playing right by the road this morning outside the camp. They were probably three or four years old. One was a redhead and the other was blond. Light colored hair for a person of African descent is not a fashion statement here - just another sign of severe malnutrition. Their bloated bellies and stick insect limbs told the rest of the story.

I sure don't know what the answer is. I didn't know even before the earthquake, but this isn't it. Some aid might be distributed to tent camps, but it is not reaching the bellies of these little boys, playing in plain sight of the major traffic artery of downtown. So what must it be like in the tent camps not right on the main street? I fear I am going to find out very soon. If I have learned anything during the last eight years and twenty-nine trips to Haiti, it's that I don't know what I am doing here. Our aid projects work because Haitians decide what to do and how to do it. I just show up with cash and go home with accounting of how it was used. I can only pray that all the well-intentioned NGOs who appear as quickly as the tent camps can learn the same lesson before their funding is used up and nothing remains but the SUVs.

Back at the guest house I arranged our visits for the next day, because that's how we must work in Haiti. It's just too unpredictable to try to plan weeks in advance, as I would do in the States. Fortunately the Haitian spirit of hospitality and generosity means that everyone is pleased to see us, even on short notice. Tomorrow will be an interesting and hopefully useful day.

So Maybe It Is a Caribbean Vacation

2011-04-30T13:48:00.000-07:00

This is my 29th trip to Haiti. Each time I travel, my husband (who I am leaving alone at home with seven children) grouses that I should at least think of him on my Caribbean vacation. Usually I just roll my eyes and threaten to send him in my place next time. So I arrived early this morning, got home to the guest house, and met Margarette. She had just spent the week in Jeremie preparing progress reports with two representatives of Aide aux Enfants d'Haiti, a French organization which supports our general NGO, Fondation Bon Berger. BRESMA orphanage is another project of the foundation, which is the licensed NGO in Haiti.

Margarette was absolutely exhausted, so she had packed up her three children and the two French guests in the van and invited me to join them on a trip to the Kaliko Beach Club. So yes, I did spend the entire first day of my trip to Haiti on vacation. Sorry, honey. I tried not to enjoy myself too much, if that helps any. Back to real work on Monday.

The Hague for Haiti - a Dangerous Blessing?

2011-03-05T08:09:00.000-08:00

On March 4th, 2011, the Haitian Ambassador signed the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption in Brussles, Belgium.

The Hague Convention, in simple terms, is an agreement between participating nations to ensure that the highest standards of transparency, ethics, and integrity are upheld during the intercountry adoption process to protect adoptive families, biological families, and most importantly, children. It is an agreement which has the power to protect children and (hopefully) stop child trafficking. But it can also be used as a weapon against children who have no acceptable options left in the country of their birth.

Haiti's signing of the Hague is public evidence of the country's desire to protect her children. It is unfortunate that very few, if any, of the creche directors seemed to have been consulted or notified in advance, but the stated desire to more toward the Hague standards and the many layers of protection it offers is a dramatic step towards improvements in child welfare in Haiti (in the personal opinion of this blogger).

However, many of us who work for the children of Haiti are deeply concerned that the Haitian government is being pushed or even coerced into premature ratification of the treaty. Ratification is a public declaration that a nation is currently following and adhering to all conditions and guidelines specified by the Hague Convention. They are quite demanding, as well they should be. The United States required 15 years between signing and ratifying the treaty to bring our own laws and procedures up to standard. It seems most unreasonable to believe that Haiti is capable of doing so in only a few months.

In the past, when nations have ratified the Hague treaty prematurely, the effects on intercountry adoption have been devastating. In Guatemala, Vietnam, and Nepal, other Hague nations have been forced to forbid their citizens to adopt from the newly Hague nation as those countries were unable to actually follow the guidelines they have stated they now uphold. I do not think the authors of the Hague intended for the Convention to be used to stop adoptions - I believe they intended to protect children and ensure that intercountry adoptions were performed ethically.

I for one would love to see Haiti become a Hague nation. I believe that the time to begin work on this process is immediately! But only after several years of performing intercountry adoptions in full compliance with all Hague standards should any nation ratify the treaty. The Hague Permanent Bureau itself advises internal implementation of their standards before a country ratifies.

So what will happen if Haiti does ratify the Hague Convention prematurely? Most likely there will be a window where the US Department of State and other Hague nations still permitting Haitian adoptions will evaluate Haiti's adherence to the Convention to which she has become a party. And once the discrepancies between the requirements of the Hague Convention and Haiti's current infrastructure and child welfare system are evaluated, other Hague nations will begin to revoke their citizens' ability to adopt from Haiti. In the past, the United States as allowed families in the process of adoption in a nation that has ratified but cannot comply with the Hague Convention to complete their adoptions, but has disallowed new adoptions to begin. Our agency is moving forward with the assumption that this will be the case in Haiti as well.

What can we do? Pray. Think twice before funding organizations that encourage countries to ratify the Hague Convention before they are ready. Continue to support the Haitian Creche Directors' Association in their efforts to explain the implications of premature ratification to a few key Haitian senators.

It is a dark time in Haiti already. Such a shame that many of the organizations working in children's services must now take time for politics. We have so little time, and so many children in desperate need.

One Year Later

2011-01-12T11:05:00.000-08:00

It was one year ago today that I was working on a new website for our agency when I received the phone call that let me know the world had turned upside-down. The earthquake brought days of sheer terror and the relief of a quick homecoming for most of the BRESMA children and their adoptive families. Those who were not airlifted out to the US, Canada, or the Netherlands were transferred to God's Littlest Angels orphanage, which was intact and largely emptied, where our friend Dixie Bickel took over their care. Over the year, Margarette and her staff doggedly pursued the adoptions of the BRESMA children going to France. Finally in mid-December, the French and Haitian governments agreed to allow the remaining French children to leave Haiti for their homes, just in time for the holidays.

We processed dozens of adoptions here in the US, got citizenship for many of the children, and the passage of the Help Haiti Act assured citizenship for all of the Humanitarian Parole children. It's been a happy ending for almost everyone, as the ABI staff has learned that the majority of the 12 children held in Pittsburgh for almost a year have been released to the adoptive families we recommended for them immediately after the airlift.

New Orphanage Building

French, Dutch, and American families showed their generosity by donating tens of thousands of dollars to ABI and other BRESMA and Haiti supporters. With support from the French group Association Aide aux enfants d’Haiti en France, BRESMA constructed a new school and community center for the rural community of Castaches, near Jeremie. Massive new construction is underway: a five-story building including indoor kitchens, plumbed bathrooms, a schoolroom and even a rooftop playground rises in the backyard of the BRESMA I facility. The original building is undergoing repairs and renovations which are nearly complete. BRESMA should be able to accept new children by the beginning of February.

Tragically, our need to be able to accept new children is greater than ever. One year after the earthquake, on a practical level for the average Haitian family, there has been no recovery. Millions live in tent camps, in 'houses' consisting of tarps tied to sticks with scavenged string. Cholera and other filth-borne illnesses are rampant. The children who appear at our doors with desperate parents are even more malnourished then we are accustomed to caring for. To the average Haitian family, there is no more hope or stability than if the earthquake had happened yesterday.

Margarette with supplies for the Depot

France, the Netherlands, and various Canadian provinces have suspended Haitian adoptions for their citizens. Governments are expressing their wishes for the Haitian government to focus on child welfare rather than adoptions. Child welfare systems are surely needed desperately in Haiti, but will attempting to prevent the average 1500 annual international adoptions ensure their creation? Much child welfare in Haiti is actually centered around the creches - almost all of them operate free schools, health clinics, or nutritional programs. All the creche directors I have met prioritize family preservation. To put it simply, most of us working in child welfare in Haiti regard international adoption as a last resort. When we cannot find a safe and permanent family situation in Haiti, we must look to other options to ensure that every child's right to a family is fulfilled.

For months, the BRESMA staff has sent food, formula, and medicine home with families living in the tent camps and fighting to keep their children alive. Many of them insist they want to place their children for adoption. We hope that many will change their minds, and find some of the aid that UNICEF and so many others have promised. But many of them will not. They have no hope and no options, and they love their children. They want them to live. They will bring them to the orphanage and relinquish them as soon as the doors open once more.

Waiting Children

Our need for adoptive families and financial support is greater than ever as we try to help in whatever limited way we can following one of the worst natural disasters in history. Please share our needs with your friends and communities. ABI and BRESMA and our other orphanage and aid partners don't know how to fix Haiti's woes. All we know is how to serve one child, one family at a time. We need your help to make a difference in whatever small ways we can.

“We can do no great things; only small things with great love.” - Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Giving Credit Where Credit is Due

2010-09-15T09:09:00.000-07:00

Joint Council issued the following letter this morning:

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Joint Council is please to announce that Pius Bannis, from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, will receive the Federal Employee of the Year Award! Congratulations to Mr. Bannis, a good friend and colleague. And thank you for all your amazing work!
When the devastating 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti in January 2010, the nation’s orphans were among the most vulnerable. Pius Bannis, a U.S. immigration officer, stepped into the breach to help hundreds of those Haitian orphans—babies, toddlers and teens—escape the tragedy and find safety in the United States.

In the days and weeks following the catastrophe, U.S. citizens in the process of adopting children in Haiti were desperate to gain custody of the youngsters and bring them to the United States, but were stymied because they had not yet completed all of the paperwork and requirements that can take as long as three years.

Aided by the Obama administration’s decision to authorize use of humanitarian parole to bring certain orphans to the United States, Bannis, a field office director for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), logged 20-hour days, seven days a week to identify and screen eligible cases. He ensured the system was not being exploited by child traffickers or others with bad motives, coordinated with the State Department on evacuation arrangements, and dealt with Haitian authorities.
During the first two weeks after the earthquake, Bannis was the sole American immigration official in Haiti handling the adoption needs. He took it upon himself to set up a make-shift day care in the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince, where more than 50 children could be found at any one time, often scared, crying and hungry. He supplied diapers, clean clothes, water and food, and personally drove some of the children to the airport for evacuation flights to the United States.

“What Pius did was the singular most devoted act of public service and humanitarianism that I have seen in all my 30 years in immigration,” said Steve Bucher, deputy associate director of Refugee, Asylum and International Operations at USCIS.

U.S. families adopted 330 Haitian children in all of 2009. Immigration officials said about 1,100 youngsters were allowed to come to the United States through April 2010 as part of the special accelerated program. This enabled their adoptive parents or prospective adoptive parents to remove their children from the devastating conditions of post-earthquake Haiti and bring them to safety. Bannis played a role in each one.

At the same time that Bannis was helping the orphans and their adoptive families, he was providing comfort and support to his Haitian staff who suffered devastating losses—assisting one colleague who lost her home and all seven members of her family, another who lost a brother, and a third who lost her parents and desperately needed medical treatment for family members with life-threatening injuries.

Bannis’ motivation to help the Haitian orphans ran deep, stemming from his humanitarian work in African refugee camps in the early 1990s. He was especially devastated to see the suffering of innocent, helpless children in those camps, and that feeling stayed with him. He said he always takes care of the kids first, and the terrible Haitian earthquake clearly was a time for him to act.

“It was a human reaction to a human tragedy. So many children were dead or dying, and so many were in the process of being adopted. We were all so concerned. My automatic reaction was to take care of them,” Bannis said.
Each family assisted by Bannis has their own story to tell. Thank you letters and e-mails to Bannis, along with photos of the children, have poured into the U.S. Embassy in Haiti and USCIS headquarters.

The family of an adopted girl wrote that “you have dedicated your heart and soul to this matter to ensure that the children have joined their adoptive parents in the United States. What you provided to the children, to Haiti, and to us parents, are immeasurable.”

Another parent wrote, “I want to say thank you for all that you did to help three amazing little boys come from Haiti to the United States to receive surgical care and to have a chance at life! We are so very grateful.”

The severe earthquake and its after-effects resulted in an estimated 220,000 deaths, with many hundreds of thousands left homeless and injured. Of the 117 official government-approved Haitian orphanages, many were left in poor condition or were destroyed in the earthquake.

Originally from the island of Dominica, Bannis is a naturalized American citizen and has worked for the federal government for about 15 years. He went to Haiti in 2008 because he wanted to give back to the children of the Caribbean.

Bannis said he is curious about the hundreds of children who left Haiti and wonders how they are healing and making out in their new lives in the United States. Yet he knows that it is important not to dwell on the situation of one particular child, but rather to focus on the next little one who may need help for a better life.

Tom DiFilipo and I will be Tweeting and updating Joint Council's Facebook status live from Sammie awards while Mr. Bannis receives his award.
For a video about Mr. Bannis and the Federal Employee of the Year Award, go to http://servicetoamericamedals.org/SAM/.

Source:
http://servicetoamericamedals.org/SAM/finalists10/csm/bannis.shtml.

Speaking from my personal experience, Officer Bannis has been a passionate advocate for both children in the process of adoption AND their birth families. He and his staff have rigorously investigated all adoption cases to ensure that there was no coercion, illegal procedure, or advantage taken of Haitian families who choose to place their children for international adoption.

During the earthquake crisis, Officer Bannis interrupted his duties to find food, water, and even crayons and paper for the first five children to leave BRESMA. And during our airlift of 54 children on the 18th of January, He and I worked closely together to identify each child and confirm that each was in fact legally abandoned or in the process of adoption.

As other orphanages were evacuated, and children from small orphanages with which Margarette and I were working began to trickle in, he was willing to go outside and into the crowd to look for a little boy in a wheelchair, an orphanage director who had not been to the Embassy before, and whoever else I begged him to go find and save.

I thought Officer Bannis was a hero before the earthquake. But now the whole world will know. For some people, a government job is more than a job - it is a calling. Congratulations, Pius. You richly deserve this honor!

Humanitarian Parole Program Update

2010-07-18T11:08:00.000-07:00

On July 16th, the Joint Council of International Children's Services hosted a conference call for Adoption Service Providers and adoptive families updating them on some important new developments for Haitian children admitted to the US on Humanitarian Parole visas.

The National Benefits Center:
All Humanitarian Parole A-files (your child’s immigrations file) have been transferred to the National Benefits Center. The NBC staff is going through the files to ascertain whether your child should be Category 1 (legal adoption in Haiti completed) or Category 2 (no legal adoption in Haiti).

If you know that you are Category 1, do not request your files back at this time. It will delay the process. If USCIS has already returned your child’s ORIGINAL documents to you, consult with your agency to make sure the NBC gets the documents they need to help you.

Changing categories: if your adoption is now complete in Haiti, after the earthquake:
Some of you have changed categories since your child came home, as our partners in Haiti have continued to process cases. If you now have an adoption decree, the National Benefits Center will need scans of the decree and a certified English translation. You adoption service provider should be able to assist you with the process. The email address for the NBC is: Nbc.adoptions@dhs.gov

The one case ABI submitted for a change of category was reviewed and upgraded to Category 1 in under 24 hours!

If you are Category 1:
If the NBC determines that your case is a Category 1 case, where your child was legally adopted in Haiti, your child’s file will be sent to the local USCIS field office. The local office will contact you to set up an appointment to file the following forms:

I-485 change of status
I-600 (if you did not do so already)
I-693 medical clearances

Please give your local USCIS field office until September 30th to contact you. After that, your agency can contact them if you have not been given an appointment. If you had a pending I600 in process, you’ll need to keep your fingerprints current

There is an extensive list of documents you'll need to bring to your appointment, just as your Haitian facilitator would have needed to present them to USCIS in Port-au-Prince. You agency should be able to help you with assembling the documents and providing certified translations as needed.

Forms and Fees:
Even if you already had an approved I-600, you are going to have to file the I485 change of immigrant status form. This form has a $930 filing fee. We strongly advise ABI families that you do NOT ask for the fees to be waived, as claiming that you cannot afford to pay them may cause USCIS to accuse you of fraud in your home study, where you stated that you could afford to adopt, or of not being able to support your child, which would cause them to REFUSE your request for citizenship.

If you paid the fees for your I600-A, you should not have to pay again for your I600, unless you are adopting a second, unrelated child and did not pay the $670 for his I600.

Citizenship:
In some cases, you will receive a Certificate of Citizenship for your child at your appointment. In others, it will arrive by mail within 30 days of your appointment. You will then be able to obtain a US passport and travel internationally with your child.

If you are Category 2:
If you do not have a Haitian adoption decree available to prove your adoption was completed in Haiti, you are Category 2. We’ve been instructed to have you complete your adoptions in your state of residence. Some of you have been able to do so already, with relatively little difficulty. Other states are making the process very difficult, as there has been no proof that anyone with authority has granted you custody of your child. USCIS and ORR are going to remedy that situation within the next few days. ALL HP families will receive a packet of letters, including documentation from ORR stating that your child is in ORR’s legal custody, and that ORR is granting you formal consent to adopt your child.

You do not need to keep your fingerprints current with USCIS. You will have to contact the NBC to get copies or your original documents from Haiti – they will NOT be sent to you automatically.

USCIS is reaching out to all the State court judges so they understand the program. At a recent national conference for all State court juvenile judges, USCIS attended and presented to all of the judges so that they could understand how to grant adoptions for the HP kids.

After you have legally adopted your child in your state of residence, you will still need to file for US Citizenship. At this time, you cannot do so until you can prove two years of legal and physical custody of your child. You will need to file the forms as listed for the Category 1 families, above.

Legislation:
The Help Haiti act has been introduced simultaneously in the House of Representative and the Senate. It would allow Category 2 families to apply for an adjustment of status immediately. We’ll keep you posted on any news, and of course you can always check the Joint Council website (www.jointcouncil.org).

Traveling Overseas:
It is technically possible to travel out of the country with your paroled child and return, using form I131. It is a discretionary request for permission to leave the US and return. However as it is discretionary, generally granted only for emergencies, and does not have to be honored by the foreign country to which you have traveled, ABI very strongly recommends that our families do not leave the US with their children until they have proof of full US Citizenship.

ABI Webinars

2010-07-17T13:18:00.000-07:00

This week marks the six month anniversary of the disaster that brought even greater suffering to Haiti, a nation already on its knees. The state of child welfare was perilous before January 12th, with a 10% mortality rate in children under age 4 and an estimated 7% enslaved. Things are worse now. The need for permanent families for children with no options left in Haiti is great.

Historically, the French people have completed over 50% of international adoptions of Haitian children each year. The French government has now issued a moratorium prohibiting its citizens from beginning new adoptions in Haiti. The United States must help to fill the void, or children will die or be left to waste away in institutions.

All Blessings International will conduct two webinars next week with a general overview of Haitian adoptions, the outlook for the future, and caveats. These are not ‘recruiting sessions’ intended to encourage PAPs to choose our program over others, but rather a general information session for all agencies with interested families and families themselves to hear an update and ask questions. Other Joint Council member agencies with established programs in Haiti are encouraged to join in and participate in the question and answer session at the end of the call. Joint Council has several member agencies who have worked as a team to save the children of Haiti, and we will continue to do so now that the need is greater than ever.

Please share the following dates with your friends, families, staff, and local home study agencies:

Monday, July 19th at 1:00 pm CST
Dial-in Number:
1-218-936-4700 (Midwest)
Participant Access Code:
540699
SharePlus Link:
Enter SharePlus

And again on

Wednesday, July 21st at 7:00 pm CST
Dial-in Number:
1-218-936-4700 (Midwest)
Access Code:
540699
SharePlus Link:
Enter SharePlus

If you are having trouble viewing or following the links for the webinars in this email, please email mandy@allblessings.org for an invitation.

Please, help us help them.

Terrible News for Haitian Adoptions

2010-07-02T14:17:00.000-07:00

We who work in adoptions in Haiti have the opposite frustration of many of our colleagues. In other countries, prospective adoptive families must often wait months or even years for the referral of a child. The waiting is hard on those anxious to become parents. But in Haiti it is very often the children who wait months or even years for somebody to love and trust. The worst part of my job is trying to answer a child's heartbroken questions: "Why haven't you found me a family yet? Will I ever have a family?"

I fear I may have to answer that one more frequently in the months to come.

Historically, the French people have adopted over half of the children placed in intercountry adoptions from Haiti. France has now suspended new Haitian adoptions for her citizens. Those in process may finish and bring their children home, but no new adoptions may be begun. A friend of Haitian children at the State Department shared the following link:

http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/fr/actions-france_830/adoption-internationale_2605/pays-origine_3233/fiches-pays_3895/haiti_9607.html

Terrible news indeed. The need for adoptive families is greater than ever. Even more families are homeless. Relatives are lost. Mothers have died. Haitian culture is often not comfortable with the disabled - children missing limbs or even just a hand or a foot may be rejected by society.

Thankfully the US has no intentions of closing Haitian adoptions (see the Department of State's Office of Children's Issues website) at this time, nor does the Haitian government seem to have any wish to close them on their end. However, now that the French cannot serve Haitian children in need of permanent families, the need for adoptive families from other countries is more urgent than ever. We cannot abandon them to grow up warehoused in institutions. Even the best orphanage on earth... is still just an orphanage. Every child deserves a family. Love is perhaps the most fundamental human right.

Rennovating BRESMA

2010-05-30T08:32:00.000-07:00

My sneakers have a layer of red mud on the edges, which I refuse to scrape off in any of the airports I pass through on my way home. That special, magical mud means so much to me! Just this morning I stood in the red clay dirt of the backyard of BRESMA I and watched the workmen set the lines that will guide the forms that will shape the concrete for our new building. The orphanage building will become a complex. BRESMA will be a different and far better place for children.

Our engineer, who has a BS from Howard University, has studied in Italy and France, and is a consulting engineer on the rebuilding of the Haitian National Bank, is confident that he can complete the entire three story structure in five months if we have the funding, and we do indeed have almost all the funding. Everything will be built specifically to withstand another earthquake, and he's going to shore up the existing building, just in case.

BRESMA's supporters have united to move forward and build a complex to support our children:

AEH - France
FAMILIAS SIN FRONTIERAS - Spain

ITCHING HELP FOR HAITI - Holland

ANSWERED PRAYERS - US
ALL BLESSINGS INTERNATIONAL (formerly KAS)- US

SOLIDARITE FRATERNITE - France

and dozens of individual donors supporting us have raised almost all of the $212,000 needed to build the second building at BRESMA I. Only $23,000 is outstanding. Surely, working together, we can raise that amount before it is needed.

The new building will house a kitchen, work, laundry, and utility areas, a pharmacy and a depot, bedrooms and living space. There will be room within our complex for a regular school for older children and preschool for the little ones. On the roof will be a playground. Behind the new building will be a detached bungalow for our new American or European nurse and young volunteers who will live at BRESMA to nurture, love, and teach the children. There will be running water, electricity, and even a bit of air conditioning! Finally, we will have the facility we've all dreamed of for the kids!

It will still be an orphanage, but at least it will be a comfortable one which will be designed to help the children begin their transition to life in the US or Europe. Glorious mud!

Meeting at the Embassy

2010-05-28T07:16:00.000-07:00

Today was the adoption meeting at the US Embassy. The last of these was in November, to discuss the Hague and Haiti. Consul General Donald Moore had planned to have a whole series of discussions and meetings for the adoption and child protection community, but the earthquake changed that as well. Finally we can resume our dialog.

One of the purposes of this meeting was for us all to say goodbye to Linda Percy, Vice Consul for DOS. Linda was in place during the earthquake and subsequent humanitarian parole evacuations. The strain probably took a few years off of her life, but we are all deeply grateful that she was there to help. Linda is an adoptive mother herself. She understood with both her head and her heart what was needed. She will be missed.

I got to meet the new staff members - Emily Godfrey and Du Tran. Mr. Tran will be taking over the Adoptions Unit. Emily hopes to continue working with him once he's up to speed. I hope she will too - I suspect she will be a loyal ally for children's rights. Poor Mr. Tran had just arrived on Monday and appeared to still be suffering from culture shock. He was very polite regardless.

Our meeting was held outside, which was handy for security measures but a bit warm for my taste, even with a seat right by the fan. Almost every adoption service provider I know of was present, as was Mme Pierre from IBESR and an attorney from the Ministry of Social Welfare. On the agenda was a discussion of the new adoption law and humanitarian parole.

As the meeting began, it was an amazing thing to look around the space and see that almost everyone was present. The orphanages of Haiti, despite many damaged or collapsed buildings, experienced a miraculous lack of casualties during the earthquake. Everyone introduced himself and gave a status update. What a thrill to hear each director proudly report the numbers of children evacuated to safety, no fatalities, and that they are processing the rest.

Madame Pierre, director of IBESR spoke next. She thanked UNICEF and the Haitian government for their support, and described the HP evacuation as 'bittersweet'. She stated that IBESR is the only agency in charge of dealing with child protection, and they were not involved with the project. They should have been consulted. But that is past. They are now ready to start anew. IBESR is accepting new dossiers for adoption cases at this time.

The Minister of Social Welfare and Work presented four laws as being the most urgent from his Department. All four address issues of child protection, including the new adoption law. A meeting was held at the Montana some time ago in which stakeholders were allowed to comment on and make suggestions regarding the new law. Several of the changes recommended by the Haitian Creche Directors' Association and Joint Council were in fact implemented in the latest version (most notably, the removal of any limit on the number of children an adoptive family may have already). A few people at today's meeting were upset that some of their recommendations were now included.

We were told that it is still possible to make changes to the law, but that only the Senate itself can do so. Generally laws don't change much after they have progressed through the Chamber of Deputies, as this one has.

The US Department of State is hosting ongoing meetings with child protection organizations to facilitate communication and coordination of efforts. It is going to be a long a difficult summer, as temperatures rise and diseases caused by overcrowding, vermin, and unclean water multiply. At least it seems that a great many of us are united in the fight to defend the homeless children of Haiti.

Name Change - All Blessings International

2010-05-27T07:35:00.000-07:00

I am thrilled to announce that I may have heard the question, "Can we adopt from Haiti through your program if we don't live in Kentucky?" for the last time.

When Lucy Armistead founded the agency in her basement (which is a typical setting in which to found an adoption agency), 'Kentucky Adoption Services' really did say it all. But now, many years, adoption programs, humanitarian aid projects, clients, children, and two branch offices later, the name doesn't fit.

Lucy originally got the organization's 501(c)(3) recognition under the name All Blessings International, which is a much better fit and description. That's the name you'll hear if you call our offices. The phone number will not change. We'll keep our @kentuckyadoptionservices.org emails for quite some time.

Please check out our new website at http://www.allblessings.org/. We're pretty excited about it! Thank you so much for those of us who shared such glorious photos of your children to make the site come alive.

There will be a place on the site for your stories and pictures of your family. If you'd like to share your story with the world, and maybe help another family decide to open their hearts and homes to a Haitian child, this is your chance.

Gillibrand, Inhofe, Landrieu Introduce Proposal to Clear Legal Hurdle for Adopted Haitian Orphans to Become U.S. Citizens

2010-05-27T07:06:00.000-07:00

From the Associated Press:

1,000 Haitian Orphans Stuck in Legal Limbo Senators: We Must Break the Gridlock, Protect Our Children.

WASHINGTON — Approximately 1,000 Haitian orphans who left the earthquake-ravaged country for the United States before their adoptions were finalized are now facing legal limbo and fewer legal protections. U.S. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Jim Inhofe (R-OK), and Mary Landrieu (D-LA) proposed legislation to clear the way for these adopted Haitian orphans who were granted humanitarian parole to the U.S. to become citizens.

Senator Gillibrand said, "I am relieved that the Haitian orphans who have been waiting for their adoptive parents are finally safe and sound with their proud mothers and fathers. But the unprecedented devastation has turned the adoption process upside down, where it could take years before these children could have any legal status. In this moment of great uncertainty, we must clear the gridlock and ensure that these children have the legal protections that they deserve."

Senator Inhofe said, "Prior to the devastating earthquake that struck Haiti in January, many Americans sought to open their homes and their lives to the most vulnerable children in Haiti, the orphans. Unfortunately, the earthquake forced these children and their adoptive parents into an abnormal adoption and immigration process. This bill will alleviate the legal burden facing the adoptive parents of this group of orphans, and finally bring needed relief as these adoptive families begin their lives together."

"International adoptions involve a long and complicated process that requires families to complete dozens of steps before a child can become part of a loving family," said Senator Landrieu. "The process is even more difficult for Americans adopting Haitian orphans. Having entered the U.S under the humanitarian parole policy, these children face additional red tape to complete their adoptions and become U.S. citizens. This bill will simplify that process, providing families some piece of mind and safeguards against the expiration of the temporary status."

After the earthquake halted the adoption process and forced 1,000 adopted Haitian orphans to evacuate through humanitarian parole visas with the permission of the Haitian government, thousands of U.S. parents are now confronted with hurdles in their efforts to provide their children legal status in the U.S. Many Haitian children, although deemed orphans by Haitian authorities, did not have all of the final paperwork required for adoption before they left Haiti.

Under the normal international adoption process, an adoptive child becomes a U.S. citizen upon entering this country.; Without their adoptions being finalized in Haiti, the children who entered as humanitarian parolees face a technicality that would result in parents and children waiting years before prospective legal immigration status is granted.

There is no safety net to assure that these children would become citizens, as they would have otherwise been under conventional channels. So long as their status is in limbo, these children are left with fewer legal protections, may not be eligible for critical resources and risk being forced to return to the ravaged country if something were to happen to their adoptive families.

The Gillibrand-Inhofe-Landrieu legislation addresses these concerns by recognizing the extenuating circumstances following the earthquake facing these Haitian orphans by cutting through the legal limbo and clearing the way for Haitian orphans who were granted humanitarian parole to join their adoptive families in the U.S. to become citizens. These orphans have been vetted by Haitian and U.S. authorities for inter-country adoption to the United States. Under the Help HAITI Act of 2010, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano would allow families, who are U.S. citizens, to apply immediately on their adopted children's behalf to become legal permanent residents and eventually qualify for citizenship.

As a follow up, here is the press release from Senator Landrieu's office:http://landrieu.senate.gov/mediacenter/pressreleases/05-26-2010-1.cfm

To clarify, there seems to be a minor inaccuracy in the article. I have been told directly at USCIS DC that once you have adopted your child in your state of residence, there is no possible way he can be expelled from the US unless he is over 18 and commits a felony prior to your obtaining complete citizenship for him, and even then it would be difficult. He CANNOT be 'returned' to Haiti if you, his adoptive parents, were to die. One less thing to worry about...

I think the odds of this bill passing, given the current political climate and popular support for Haiti, are excellent. If you'd like to thank someone for this excellent news, I recommend a donation of any size to the Joint Council. This bill, like the Humanitarian Parole program itself, would not have been introduced without their constant lobbying and advocacy.

The Latest Version of the New Adoption Law

2010-05-26T08:41:00.001-07:00

The following excerpt was translated by Isabelle Gaellemart of France from a scan of new law as approved by the Chamber of Deputies on May 7th. The law, along with the unfortunate news that there were not sufficient Senators present to form a quorum, and that no voting on the law could occur until after elections, was shared with me by the US Consulate in Haiti.

Here are the qualifications for adoptive families as described by the latest draft of the pending adoption law:

SECTION 1 – Regarding adoptive parents

ARTICLE 2. – Adoption may be requested jointly by a married heterosexual couple not living separately, after five (5) years of marriage or if one of the couple is more than thirty years old.
If the request comes from one of the non-separated couple, the consent of the other is necessary.

ARTICLE 3.- Two people of opposite sexes, living together for at least ten (10) years, may request to adopt a child. Their living together must be established by a certificate delivered by the competent authorities of the host country and the consent of both is necessary.

ARTICLE 4.- Candidatures of women, widowers or divorced, who are at least thirty-five (35) years old, with no biological child, are accepted. A man must be a widower or divorced, with no biological children and at least 35 years old.

ARTICLE 5.- Priority is given to couples who are married or living together who do not have biological children at the time of the adoption. When the couple has biological or adopted children, the latter should give their opinion if they are 8 years of age or more.

ARTICLE 6.- The age of the adopters may not be over 50 for the oldest of the married couple or those living together in a common-law relationship. This limitation of age doesn't apply for inter family adoptions.

ARTICLE 7.- The adopters must be at least sixteen years older than the child they wish to adopt.
The minimum age difference is 9 years in the case of the adoption of the child by a common-law partner or of a close relative such as a sister, brother, nephew, niece, uncle, aunt or other close relative.

ARTICLE 8.- The birth in a home of one or more biological children does not constitute an obstacle to the adoption of one or more children placed earlier with a couple and who continue to benefit from their care.

ARTICLE 9.- When the sisters, brothers, nieces, nephews, cousins, uncles, aunts or other close relatives, and even godsons and goddaughters, have been taken in by close relatives or their godfathers or godmothers, following the deaths of their biological parents or during a fairly long imprisonment, or when the parents are absolutely incapable of meeting the basic needs and providing basic care for their minor children, adoption is possible even if the close relatives already have biological children, depending on the conditions stated in Article 7.

ARTICLE 10.- A Haitian may adopt a foreign child according to the laws of the child’s country of origin.
A simple or plenary adoption is recognized in Haiti depending on the registration of said adoption in the government office of the petitioner’s home.
In the case of the conversion of a simple adoption into a plenary adoption, a request must be made of the Dean of the civil court of the petitioner’s home in order to obtain a judgment for cause.
The plenary adoption gives the child a right to Haitian nationality.

Article 5 originally specified that families with NO children could adopt any child, while families with one or two children could only adopt those with special circumstances - over age five, or with special needs. The current version is quite literally a life saver, as many of the children we place are members of sibling groups, or would do best with experienced parents.

Article 4 continues to be problematic. The way it is worded could exclude all single women who have never married. A great many of our most successfully parents are single women who have never been married. There is some chance that lobbying may be able to change this language. If not, I've heard that you can get married and then divorced in Vegas in less than 48 hours...

But all joking aside, a new law with explicit protections for protection of children and their birth families is a necessary step for Haiti. Despite the overwhelming number of children whose parents are now seeking to relinquish them, there will still be unscrupulous adoption facilitators who fail to tell birth parents the truth of the loss that accompanies every international adoption. Yes, your child will live. Yes, he will be loved and have opportunities beyond what he would have here. But no, there is no guarantee that you will ever see him again. Only when a full explanation of what international adoption means for every birth parent is made into law will we know for sure that all adoptions in Haiti are made with the families' fully informed consent.

Graduation Day

2010-05-23T05:17:00.000-07:00

Today was a day of amazing firsts. My son stood with his classmates of the class of 2010 to receive his high school diploma. As the oldest, he is the first of our children to graduate. As the first member of his birth family to attend school, he was the first one to be able to read and write in any language. And as the oldest child placed by BRESMA orphanage, he is the first BRESMA alumni to finish school and enter into adulthood.

Garlise fit in very well with his class. He was well liked by his classmates, who helped him overcome his shyness and learned to understand English spoken with a strong Haitian accent. They appreciated his kindness, his superb tackling skills on the football field, and his help in French class.

His teachers found Garlise inspirational. He started school at age 14. He was able to read and write a bit in Kreyol, could add and subtract double digits, so long as there was no carrying or borrowing involved, and understood the concept of multiplication. He had never heard of world war II and did not know how many continents there were. But he was classically Haitian, and his absolute dedication to performance in school, attention to dressing nicely, and the polite manners to teachers ingrained since birth inspired them to go to extraordinary efforts to help the immigrant student pack 13 years’ worth of learning into just four. They all stayed late with him after school and modified assignments when necessary. Our tiny high school’s Special Education room and teachers had to convert themselves into an English as a Learning Language program overnight. Teacher Bonnie Dowling served as Garlise’s personal tutor and must have spent hundreds of hours helping him catch up.

Usually when a child graduates, he has a long list of people to thank. Garlise does as well, and he’s done an excellent job of thanking, even without too much prompting from Mom and Dad. But in our situation, we have some thanking to do as well.

We’d like to thank Garlise’s birth family for the honor of trusting us raising our mutual child for the last four years. We do not take your sacrifice for his welfare for granted for one moment of our lives. We’d like to thank the nannies of BRESMA who raised our son for almost two years, during one of the longest and most difficult adoptions of that time period. And finally, we’d like to thank Margarette Saint-Fleur. None of this could have happened without your endless determination to bring Garlise out of Haiti and into our home, where he would have opportunities that every child deserves, but which are still a very distant dream for Haiti.

Garlise is the first, but many more will follow. Around the world, in Holland, France, Spain, the UK, Canada, and here in the US, the children of BRESMA will finish school, graduate, and begin adulthood.

They are all very fortunate, and the world is wide open to them. They have all been given an opportunity which will be denied to their fellow Haitian children, even though it should have been their right. They will be able to go as far and as free as their abilities and temperaments will let them. They are probably not going to be grateful, because no one should have to be grateful for what we all deserve – love, permanency, family, freedom, opportunity to pursue our dreams. But we should be. We have all been given the gift of trust and faith of those who allowed us to raise their children as our very own. It’s grace, or Grace, and we are blessed. I am more aware of that then ever today. What a miracle. My cup runneth over.

The Promise of What Could Be

2010-04-25T13:45:00.000-07:00

Vacation day! My husband always says I’m running off for a Caribbean vacation when I travel to Haiti. Today, for the first time, it was true. We spent the day at Kaliko Beach Resort, just North of Cabaret on the Caribbean sea. It is Haiti as it could be, Haiti as it should be. A tropical vacation paradise. It was amazingly beautiful, and a constant breeze from the sea kept us from being made miserable by the unseasonably hot day.

The beach at Kaliko is made of pebbles and round rocks that were really hard on our feet. The water was crystal clear, blue and turquoise, and warm and still unlike any ocean water I have ever seen. Garlise and I saw brilliant yellow tropical fish marked with black bars swimming around our legs. Men walked up and down the beach selling very large live rock lobsters and crabs which are cooked on the spot for guests. Personally, I’m afraid of lobsters, so we opted for the buffet. Our $30 day passes included all we could eat plus a drink, or two non-alcoholic drinks. Garlise and I had fresh watermelon juice by the pool.

This is what Haiti could be! It is already happening here. There is such potential in Haiti, with it’s tropical climate and varied beauty, and it’s culture of hard work and honesty. So much hope. Seeing how Haiti could be and should be gives us all the determination to go on and create an economy here. The people deserve it.

Cabaret

2010-04-24T13:34:00.000-07:00

Four of my five Haitian born children are siblings, born in the mountains above Cabaret. I’ve been twice before. It is fascinating to be allowed to participate in the life of a rural Haitian family for the day, and I am considered one of the family. We were counting on Garlise to remember the way, because I surely cannot after just two visits. Garlise hasn’t had a visit for three years, but he did live here until he was twelve and he has an excellent sense of direction.

We drove for two hours on National Route 1, North along the coast on what is probably Haiti’s best road. Dennis managed to reach speeds that made me mildly uncomfortable as we whipped past children and livestock right by the side of the highway. The land becomes a desert North of Port-au-Prince. Some of the land is not in use at all, which is unusual for Haiti. Denis tried to drive his van along the dirt road up into the mountains, but I begged him to stop before he caused any damage to his vehicle and main source of income. It is quite incomprehensible to my colleagues in Haiti that I like to walk in the country.

Before we even reached our stopping point, Garlise and neighbors had already recognized each other. And just a little while further on, we came across a woman sitting on a donkey. We had almost passed her before Garlise and I recognized her at the same instant – Miracia! The birth mother of my children!! We had learned of her survival a week earlier, but I was still weak with relief to see her with my own eyes.

We abandoned the van, sending Denis back to Cabaret to wait more comfortably and started up the mountain in a train – one loudly complaining burro, two neighbors carrying various tools and supplies, Miracia, Garlise, and I. We received joyful greetings from everyone who knew Garlise and puzzled looks from those who did not. It was great fun to see how surprised everyone was to see Garlise as he is now. He has grown eight inches and gained forty pounds. He is not the little boy who left Haiti four years ago.

After a half hour walk, slowed somewhat by the reluctance of the donkey, we arrived at the farm where Miracia lives. It’s about five acres, mostly surrounded by a fence constructed of living shrubs. It seems everything here in Cabaret has thorns – even the trees. Pitimi (a grain similar to millet) is grown here, and Garlise’s stepfather owns quite a bit of livestock. The small concrete house is about 8’ x 10’. It was damaged in the earthquake, but is repairable. The other buildings are ‘kay pay’ – woven stick and thatch structures. They are somewhat temporary and one of the most common forms of housing in Haiti.

Miracia wanted to cook us a feast, and was upset that she didn’t have any meat. Garlise and I stopped her from running to the neighbors to borrow some. We explained that we came to visit, not to eat. I added that we all already knew that Miracia was an excellent cook, which made everyone laugh and Miracia smile with great pleasure.

We lugged my laptop all the way up the mountain so that we could show everyone a slide show of our four children at home in the US. Such a contrast – my 21st century laptop in an environment that is unchanged from how it would have been when the island was first colonized.
My Haitian born children have had a very different lot in life from the kids here in Cabaret. We met a half-brother who is eleven years old and the size of an American seven or eight year old. He and his older brother (my kids’ stepbrother) came over dressed in their Sunday best. They were not clothes that we would have thought of as special here. They both wore their shoes over, although children and even many adults save their shoes for special occasions. The Haitian expression for being poor is “I am feet on the ground” (barefoot) is not just a figure of speech. Shoes are a luxury item in Cabaret. This village is very different from that I visited above Bainet a year ago. Perhaps it is the harsh desert environment that makes life so hard. On this particular trip, I did not see any children who were obviously malnourished. Previously I have seen many with the dry, yellow-red hair and bloated bellies of Kwashiorkor, protein deprivations malnutrition. I did see many who were quite small.

As people filtered in to visit throughout the day and Garlise made a running round of friends’ and relatives’ houses, I was once again amazed at the generosity of the Haitian people. If anyone felt anything but pride and joy at Garlise’s good luck, they did not show it. I heard and saw nothing to indicate envy at his nice clothes, his education, his future plans to go to University.

It’s almost impossible for me, as an American born into an assurance of comfort and security, to imagine what it is like to be Haitian. When I first met Miracia face to face, during our adoption of Garlise’s three younger siblings, I asked her through an interpreter if she really wanted to do this. Miracia said simply that she wanted all of her grandchildren to live. She wanted all of her children to have an opportunity for a better life. She remains grateful to me for raising her children. I cannot really comprehend how, because I am so grateful to her for allowing me to do exactly the same thing. International adoption is certainly not the solution to the problems of a struggling nation, but it certainly has brought great joy to our two families and the children we have in common.

Garlise came back to the farm where he’d left me at a gallop just as the day was ending, grinning, dirty, covered with sweat, and surrounded by relatives. We took a few big group photos and had to leave to get home before dark. Next time he’ll stay for a few days to have more time to see everyone. So glad that after all, he is still Haitian.

UNICEF, the Consulate, and Beyond

2010-04-23T13:11:00.000-07:00

No grass grew under our feet today! We were up from very early until well after dark. I owe our driver Franck a big favor…

First stop was the US Consulate, where I met with a director of the Hands and Feet Project in Jacmel. We’re trying to wrap up one of the final Humanitarian Parole cases. USCIS asked for a second letter from the mayor of Jacmel, and Michelle came all the way to Port –au –Prince to deliver it. I figured it was the least we could do to meet her and hand it over in person.

Inside the Embassy, we delivered what I HOPE will be the final document to USCIS. Lucy and I got to speak to Linda Percy, the Vice Consul of the Embassy. We are very sad to learn that she is leaving her post for Mali in June. Linda has been a powerful advocate for children’s rights while in Haiti, and everyone is going to miss her very much. We did get to meet her replacement. Lucy and I both had a very good feeling about her. There is going to be a transition meeting in June, which I expect I’ll attend, so that everyone can get to know one another.

After emailing UNICEF for a meeting several times, we decided to just show up and ask. I knew enough names to get inside the UN compound, and it was really something to see! I wish I could have taken pictures, but I didn’t dare.

The UN has set up an entire city of tents and temporary buildings on a flat spot near the airport. It must cover at least 50 acres, and at least a dozen nations are represented. We passed the barracks of the Uruguay air force. Officers from Taiwan and Brazil abounded. There were representatives from CARE, the World Food Program, the UN, and dozens of others. It was an amazing world village of hundreds of aid workers, soldiers, and administrators speaking dozens of languages in their own self-contained city. We passed generators the size of Volkswagens, a grocery store, and hundreds of portable small buildings that could be used individually for housing or hooked together for a gathering or work space. Many workers were housed in tents which were larger than those accommodating the Haitian people outside, but without a great many more amenities.

I hope and pray that with so many nations finally aware of Haiti and working together, that lasting change can come to Haiti.

We met for just a few moments with a high level UNICEF official, who apologized for not having responded to my emails. She had to meet with IBESR, so she asked us to return later in the afternoon. I was able to greet the IBESR representative and watch his face change from suspicion to a big friendly grin when I explained I worked with BRESMA and Margarette Saint-Fleur. It really does pay to have a sterling reputation, and I’m sure his recognition helped us with credibility with UNICEF as well.

We used our few free hours to visit Notre Maison, another orphanage in the La Plen area that ABI/KAS has supported for a few years. Finding the place was an amazing challenge, and we succeeded only after they sent someone out on a bicycle to find us! Many of the children of Notre Maison have special needs. The demands of caring for a child who will never be self sufficient, or one who is unable to walk, can be completely overwhelming to a Haitian family struggling to find enough food just to survive. Many of these children are abandoned in the streets. Notre Maison is one of the orphanages that will take in abandoned children with special needs. Sometimes the parents can still be located, and many of the Notre Maison children have visitors on Sundays.
As do most dedicated orphanages, Notre Maison supports family preservation programs as well. Sadly, the room used for the sewing project which allowed several families to support themselves is no longer safe.

Later in the afternoon we returned to the UN camp and made our way back to UNICEF. I asked the secretary to let our contact know we had arrived for our meeting, and she rattled something back to me that sounded like rapid-fire Kreyol – but I couldn’t understand a word! Eventually my bewildered stare must have registered with her. This happens to me a lot in Haiti. People assume that because I am white I can speak French. They are surprised when I cannot, and even more surprised when they learn that I do speak Kreyol. One of these days I really must learn French too…

Our original UNICEF contact was on her way to Jacmel, but she had arranged for us to meet with two of her colleagues. We discussed what the orphanages should do about displaced children and had a discussion about the possibilities of foster care for them. Garlise at last had a chance to say a bit about what he thought was best for children. As he was the only person present who has ever lived in an orphanage, I can only hope they listened to him well.

As usual, the UNICEF people stated that they are not anti-adoption, but their statements following that declaration did not always agree. They were outspoken about what they described as ‘illegitimate visas’ being issued to the children evacuated on Humanitarian Parole. This is quite troublesome, as although UNICEF did not agree to the HP program, the Prime Minister of Haiti did, as did the government. One of the officials made comments about how many of the children in orphanages were still in contact with their birth parents, and implied that this meant they should not be removed from the orphanages and placed in permanent families. Garlise, who received regular visits from his birth parents, begs to differ on that point. We as adoptive parents and children’s rights advocates must never relent in our lobbying until it is recognized around the world that every child has the right to a permanent, safe, and loving family. The best orphanage in the world is still just an orphanage.

Our last stop of the day, just before dark, was at the Haiti Poverty Project. A small group of missionaries cares for children temporarily as they help their families get back on their feet and become self-sufficient. This is exactly the sort of solution Haiti needs. The group is young, but hopefully they will thrive and grow and serve Haiti well.

We returned to the guest house where I spent the evening being teased by my son about my sunburn. Garlise says that in the US, he’d like to borrow my skin, but here in Haiti he quite prefers his own. Stinker.

Orphanage Visits

2010-04-22T13:03:00.000-07:00

Orphanage visit day. Since it’s impossible for us to go to talk to the Director of IBESR herself, we’re interviewing other competent and ethical facilitators to compare notes. Today we visited Dixie Bickel at God’s Littlest Angels and Dr. Jacob Bernard at New Life Link. Both houses are in the mountains above Port-au-Prince on the way to the city of Kenscoff.

Dixie is an American who came to Haiti with her husband John over 20 years ago. Most of her grown children now live in Haiti at least part time to help with their ministry. God’s Littlest Angels provides a variety of services to preserve families and help the surrounding community as well as doing adoptions. We spent some time reminiscing about the terror of the earthquake. For Dixie, like most orphanage directors, the fear for her own life was secondary to the concern for how to feed dozens of children when the world has fallen down all around you.

The day before the earthquake, for reasons then unknown, Dixie’s driver said he wanted to buy 12 big sacks of rice. They normally buy far fewer, and Dixie told him to only buy the normal number. But he felt compelled to disobey her wishes, and he bought a dozen. When the earthquake happened, Dixie’s children had enough rice to fill their bellies for weeks, if nothing else.

The US-bound GLA children were airlifted to safety in Miami, and Dixie is diligently working to complete the adoptions of those bound for France.

We next visited Dr. Jacob Bernard at his guest house in the mountains. The beautiful five story structure was miraculously undamaged, but New Life Link orphanage was destroyed with no loss of life – another absolute miracle. Dr. Bernard has brought all of the children to live in the guesthouse while he rebuilds right nearby. He never wants the children miles away from where he lives again.

Lucy and her team went to heroic efforts to assist Dr. Bernard and others with evacuating children from Haiti right after the earthquake. It was a real pleasure to see how delighted he was to see her again.

Homes and Tent Cities

2010-04-21T12:44:00.000-07:00

Visiting day… This morning we went to see our beloved Manmi Robert. For those of you who are not familiar with BRESMA history, Manmi Robert was our head nanny for several years. She was and is dearly loved by children and parents alike. We heard from her just a few days after the earthquake and I was beside myself with relief.

I have visited Manmi Robert before in her home. This time I was amazed to see a bare cement box transformed by lots of furniture, art, and even a book shelf. They now have a refrigerator, but of course no electricity. Several of her daughters are now living with her, and one is employed at a bank. Her small salary supports the whole family. They are blessed in that the house, a cement structure about 25’ x 20’ with two bedrooms and a living room, belongs to a niece who lives in Miami who lets them use it rent free. Rent of Port au Prince rivals that of any major US city.

Manmi Robert told us that when the quake happened, she was sitting in the living room. Suddenly everything started moving, and all of their possessions crashed to the floor. She leapt out the door crying out to Jesus, and as she watched the whole house swayed back and forth. Finally she ran up a rubble filled staircase, blinded by the dust of collapsed houses, and out to the street. I can’t imagine how the weak, flat, concrete ceiling of her home did not collapse on her. I can’t imagine how no one in her family was injured. Manmi Robert is quite sure she knows – Grace.

With a friend and neighbor to escort us, Garlise and I were able to enter a small tent city. Lucy wanted to do so yesterday, but it is far too dangerous for two white women to wander among the desperate with digital cameras in tow. Manmi Robert’s neighbors allowed us to enter and take photos. The ‘tent cities’ aren’t really made up of tents. Only the very lucky have actual tents. The rest are camping out under tarps lashed with bits of string to stick frames, buildings, and piles of rubble. They are in no way watertight, and every strong wind takes them down, drenching the occupants and what few possessions they managed to save from the ruins of their homes. The tarp shacks I peeked into were unbearable hot in the sun. Most people escape to sit under trees during the day.

Management of latrines has always been a major problem in Port au Prince. Now the earthquake has shattered the various deep, concrete lined pits people were using. I really don’t know what will happen when the rains start in earnest. I’m frightened of what the death toll might be from preventable disease.

Manmi Robert explained to us that there have been radio announcements from President Preval in which he tells the public another, larger earthquake could be coming. He said the government cannot be responsible for those who choose to sleep indoors. This may a reason, along with the severe trauma, why so many who do still have houses are camping outdoors. I’ve heard the same warning from seismologists in the news back in the US. But what are these people to do? The next earthquake could happen tonight or ten years from now or somewhere else altogether along the fault line.

This afternoon we went to visit another miracle – BRESMA’s free school was spared. Even the second story, which was under construction. The Port au Prince school is primarily supported by French sponsors. Children receive two meals a day, a uniform, and a free education. Over 100 children are being served. We believe the school helps to keep children in their birth families, as well as preparing them for any economic opportunity which might arise in Haiti. The new school in Jeremie was also undamaged, and classes will be able to restart eventually.

There are two delightful French women staying here at the guesthouse with their daughters, awaiting documentation from the French consulate to get their daughters’ passports and go home. They have been here for weeks. It’s amazing what we will do for our children.

BRESMA I Building

2010-04-20T12:29:00.000-07:00

Today we went to IBESR to hand them the letter requesting an appointment. Although I did see Madame Pierre sitting at her desk, we were unable to get her to commit to meeting with us at all. A bit frustrating after a fairly long wait. IBESR looks intact, but all business is conducted outdoors under tarps at long tables set up along the side of the yard. UNICEF has the opposite side of the yard. The yard was full of people wearing T-shirts with the IBESR logo on one side and UNICEF’s on the other.

UNICEF was collecting blood samples from various people. Garlise was curious, and went over to ask what they were doing. He was told rather aggressively that they were not going to tell him anything, and that he needed to ask the IBESR director if he wanted to know. Very strange, for Haiti, where people are generally very chatty, open and friendly. Now I’m curious too!

This afternoon we were hoping to visit with Dr. Bernard, but were unable to connect with him. We went to visit BRESMA I instead. I had Franck stop 'my' BRESMA II on our way. It is so strange to see the house empty and silent. I could hear the phantom voices of dozens of children from over the years. It seems a sad thing until I remember that almost every one of those children are now safe at home with their families – what a miracle!

We are absolutely blessed that BRESMA I, the one building BRESMA owned, is largely undamaged. We went inside to check it out. No cracks were visible. The backyard was a bit of a shock, but Chantline, who was staying there, told me that Margarette’s construction crew had dismantled damaged patio concrete and was rebuilding. There are a few people camping in tents in the tiny front courtyard. Chantline says that she is afraid to go inside the building, so she and her three children are camped out in a tent with a TV, dorm refrigerator, toaster oven, and thick mats for bedding. I wonder if she will change her mind when the rain comes?

Manmi Lis, who was in charge of BRESMA II, came to meet us. I was thrilled to see her, and even happier to witness the reunion between Manmi Lis and my son. The love there is undeniable. Garlise is now taller than Lis, and stronger. I could see how proud she was of him.

Back in Haiti

2010-04-18T12:17:00.000-07:00

We arrived in PaP after an exhausting journey involving a layover of almost 12 hours in Salt Lake City and an overnight flight to JFK. This is my first trip to Haiti since the earthquake, and Garlise’s first in several years. Garlise came home to us from Haiti at age 14, and at age 18 he is still very much a Haitian man. On this trip, he’ll serve as interpreter and security.

I think what is hardest to understand is the complete randomness of the destruction here. Some buildings are untouched, yet surrounded by the rubble of their neighbors which have collapse completely. The airport is ruined, though still standing. We left the plane via a jetway, rather than the familiar stairs, and were herded into a structure obviously donated by an organization from somewhere else. It was a self-contained building, complete with heaters(!). Thank goodness they still had the Digicel band, or I wouldn’t have known where I was. Immigrations and customs are being conducted in an old metal warehouse, which seemed undamaged.

My first encounter with the new reality occurred the moment we left the warehouse, where I was immediately met by my regular luggage guy. He is my luggage guy because he is deaf and mute. Unlike the rest of the porters, he has never heard me insisting in Kreyol, “I have no money, I don’t need any more friends, and I’m not going to pay any of you anything!” which has always made the mob of eager baggage handlers laugh and back off. But my guy can’t hear me, which makes them all laugh much harder. I’ve been through the airport enough times by now (27!) that I am recognized and pointed out to my man. But this time, while we waited for the van, he showed me blurry photos of three children and was able to explain via gestures that all three of his children are dead. All I could to was tell him I was sorry. They were all very small.

Street markets continue as always, and if you didn’t know which piles of rubble had been there before, you would hardly know that Haiti has changed. This land looked like an earthquake or hurricane had stuck long before January 12th. Where I can see the difference is when I talk to the people I know. Who lost whom. Whose house is not safe to enter, collapsed, or burned down. Who is living in a tent. Who still hasn’t heard from her sister and is beginning to lose hope that she is still alive.

Lucy tells me that when she was here, right after the earthquake, the smell of death and decay was in the air. I can’t smell it now, but a film of concrete dust clings to everything still, and there are tents everywhere. Inside the walled yards of many houses are tents and tarps. The inhabitants are too traumatized to enter their own homes. I can’t blame them.

We are staying at the BRESMA guest house. I’ve visited here a lot, but never to stay. I always preferred ‘my house’, BRESMA II. I had my own room there, which was mine when I visited and used for others while I was in the States. I miss it, despite how luxurious the guest house is. This is a beautiful house. My bed is very comfortable, and Garlise and I have a room as large as our living room back home with two full-size beds. We even have air conditioning. I’d rather stay at my second home, but we cannot enter the building.

Tomorrow we will continue our quest to get an appointment with IBESR. Margarette has already been there as well as calling, trying to get an appointment for us. They asked for a letter on letterhead formally requesting a visit, but today they would not allow her to give it to them. So some things in Haiti have not changed at all.

We Are The Truth: A Campaign and Call to Action

2010-04-12T18:25:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends and Families,

The following message was sent out by Joint Council for broadcast to everyone who believe that children have the right to grow up in families.

The recent inhuman behavior of one adoptive family, who put their very young son on a plane to Russia by himself with the intention of abandoning him there, has caused government officials to consider closing all Russian adoptions and jeopardizes international adoptions from all nations. If you believe that child abusers, rather than abused, neglected, orphaned and abandoned children should suffer the consequences for this heinous act, please follow the instructions below and share this letter with everyone who values the rights of children.

From the Joint Council of International Children's Services:

(View as a web page. )

The outrageous treatment of Artyem by his adoptive family has rightfully resulted in outrage by the Governments of Russia and the United States and all who care about children. The tragedy has cast a light on intercountry adoption that says it is not safe, the system failed and adopted children cause insurmountable problems. The heartbreak of Artyem Saviliev’s abandonment has once again elevated a singular incident to a level which may result in the suspension of intercountry adoption. Suspending adoption, even temporarily, will only cause thousands of children to suffer the debilitating effects of life in an orphanage.

You, the community of adoptees, adoptive parents, adoptive grandparents, child welfare professionals and child advocates know that the outrageous and indefensible actions of one parent are not indicative of how children are treated by adoptive families. You know that families who encounter difficulties do not simply abandon their child. You know that help is available, that solutions are found and that families can thrive. And you know that suspending adoption does not protect children but only subjects them to the depravity of an institution…and an entire life without a family.

You, the adoption community know the truth. You live the truth. You are the truth.

Join our campaign to bring the truth to light and help children in need find a permanent and safe family.

What You Can Do

1) Sign the letter to President Medvedev and President Obama: The letter asks both Presidents to ensure that intercountry adoption continues uninterrupted and to aggressively investigate and prosecute anyone involved in the abuse of children. You can sign anytime, but doing so before Tuesday night would help us get the letters to both Presidents before President Medvedev leaves the U.S. To sign the letter, click here.

2) We Are The Truth – an adoption blogger day: To ensure the world knows about every successful adoption, on Thursday, April 15, 2010 blog about your adoption or the adoption of someone you know. It doesn’t matter if your adoption is with Russia, domestic or otherwise international. Let the world know your truth!

3) Tell Your Truth with Video - make sure the world sees, hears and feels the thousands of successful adoptions from Russia by:
Send Joint Council your successful Russian adoption video via email to alexa.m@jcics.org.
Video should be a maximum of 3 minutes.
A release must be sent to Joint Council or we cannot accept your video. For a copy of the release, click here.
Joint Council will translate the video into Russian and post it on our YouTube Channel.

4) Tell Your Truth with Words and Photos
Send Joint Council your successful Russian adoption story via email to alexa.m@jcics.org. Send us your stories through:
Photos (please do not send more than 10)
Essays (maximum 500 words)
A release must be sent to Joint Council or we cannot accept your story and/or pictures. For a copy of the release, click here.
Joint Council will then compile the stories and pictures, translate them into Russian and post them on our website and/or blog.

5) Share Your Truth
Joint Council will post, forward and share your stories via Facebook, Twitter, and blogs. Joint Council will be updating our YouTube Channel and Facebook page as the stories get compiled and translated, please subscribe to us on YouTube, Twitter and Fan us on Facebook.
You do the same by posting on your Facebook, Twitter, blog and website!

Want to help more?
Are you willing to speak to the media about your Russian adoption? If so, please email betheanswer@jcics.org with the following:
Your name(s)
City, State of residence
Contact Phone Numbers
Contact Email
Short 4 sentence bio about your adoption

Do you speak Russian?
We are in need of individual volunteers who can help our staff translate the videos and text quickly. If you are interested in helping, email Joint Council at intern@jcics.org.

Do you live in the Alexandria, VA area?
Joint Council is in need of short term volunteers over the next two weeks, email rebeccah@jcics.org if you would like to volunteer.
Our Website Donate Now Email Us About Us
Joint Council on International Children's Services - 117 South Saint Asaph St Alexandria, VA 22304 - (703) 535-8045

Humanitarian Parole Program Draws to a Close

2010-04-07T12:23:00.000-07:00

The Haitian government has requested a final list of children for whom the US will grant humanitarian parole. Over 1,000 children have already been granted parole, and perhaps 200 more are expected to be processed and accepted.

All applications must be submitted by April 14th, 2010 to be considered. They must be submitted by email to HaitianAdoptions@dhs.gov. The Embassy will not accept ‘walk in’ appointments. Visit http://www.uscis.gov/ and look in the ‘Alerts’ section in the upper right hand corner for details.

Haitian adoptions have begun again (please see our posting on the subject), so families who wish to adopt a Haitian child will be able to do so again through the normal channels.

Reputable orphanages and agencies will all take great care only to place children who were orphaned or abandoned before January 12th, 2010, or those who are relinquished by surviving birth parents afterwards. Children orphaned or displaced in the earthquake must not be removed from Haiti until exhaustive efforts have been made to locate birth relatives who might care for them.

The economic situation in Haiti, always very precarious, is now even more desperate. KAS/ABI is focusing our efforts on family preservation whenever possible. On our upcoming trip to Haiti, Director Lucy Armistead and I will visit a women’s economic development program to learn more about how to help women stand on their own, and support their families with independence and pride.

The humanitarian parole program was an amazing gift in the face of catastrophe for hundreds of children. Now it is time for us to start picking up the pieces and do our share of rebuilding Haiti. We’ll keep you appraised of our plans, efforts, successes and failures on our journey.

Haitian Adoptions Reopen

2010-03-30T11:45:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,

It is with cautious optimism that All Blessings International, Inc., also known as Kentucky Adoption Services is beginning to again accept applicants interested in adopting a child in need from Haiti. There are rumors abounding about expedited adoptions from Haiti, although we do not expect this will be the case. In fact, we anticipate greater challenges in pursuing adoptions from Haiti than the previous process which was already fraught with uncertainty. We are also both scared and excited about our upcoming trip to Haiti (beginning April 9) – scared because we already have witnessed the terrible devastation first hand of the earthquake and realize that with the rainy season beginning we will bear witness to additional tragic consequences of one of the worst natural disasters to occur in our lifetimes. We are excited to be with our friends in Haiti again, to hold the children we care so dearly about and to attend to multiple areas of business, such as meeting with IBESR, the US Embassy, Haitian magistrates, humanitarian aid groups working in Haiti, etc. We hope to visit some of the tent cities and to assess the needs of children and families residing in the overwhelming aftermath of the January 12 earthquake.

To best explain to prospective adoptive families the current risks in embarking on an adoption from Haiti we have created a Haiti Full Disclosure Statement, which you can request from our main office. We will continue to be cautious in our acceptance of prospective adoptive families and anticipate accepting only :

couples who are both 35 years old or older

married or living together for the past 10 years
maximum of three biological children living at home

single female applicants 35 years or older
maximum of two biological children residing within the home

Prior to the earthquake, families meeting these qualifications were most readily accepted within the Haitian adoption system.

We are truly amazed and blessed at the number of families who became aware of the plight of orphans in Haiti following the earthquake and who have expressed interest in providing a permanent home for these children in need. For years we have been hard pressed to identify suitable families for the children we serve. We thank you for your interest, your support and the love you are offering to children we consider “our own”.

We will continue to dedicate our resources and our advocacy toward various humanitarian efforts in Haiti centered around the best interests of children. We ask that if you are unable to proceed with an adoption from Haiti that you consider a tax deductible gift to allow us to continue to further our mission of service, compassion and love toward the children and families of Haiti. We also ask that you consider possibly contributing toward the adoption expenses of a family who may lack the financial resources to pursue an adoption.

We will be conducting two webinar series to discuss the process of adopting from Haiti, costs, risks, etc. on Thursday, April 1st at 8 pm CST and Tuesday, April 6th at 8pm CST. If you are interested in attending either of these free informational sessions please RSVP to mandy@kentuckyadoptionservices.org.

Sincerely,

A. Lucy Armistead
Director, All Blessings International / Kentucky Adoption Services
adopt@kentuckyadoptionservices.org

BRESMA Children Moved to Safe Haven

2010-02-20T10:06:00.000-08:00

We are very fortunate that the orphanage directors in Haiti have a long standing tradition of working together for the good of the children they serve. Over the years, BRESMA orphanage has repeatedly sent very sick children to God’s Littlest Angels orphanage, up in the mountains near Kenscoff.

GLA is directed by Dixie Bickel, who is a registered nurse, has worked in Haiti for almost two decades. Her house is very well equipped with medical supplies and well trained staff. Her house is almost empty – almost all of the children have gone home to their forever families.

BRESMA orphanage is damaged. Although two engineers have visited and stated that the building is stable and will not fall, staff members remain too frightened to enter it at all. The nannies and children remained camped out on our very small, sloped concrete front patio under tents and shelters. Conditions were miserably uncomfortable at best, and with the rains coming, we were frightened for the children’s health. Pneumonia is a very common cause of death among young children in Haiti.

Margarette and Dixie have cooperated to bring ALL of the BRESMA children to God’s Littlest Angels. On the 19th of February, Margarette brought all of the children except for a few who were already sick, and on the 20th they joined everyone else at God’s Littlest Angels.

Dixie reports that the children who arrived on the 19th appear to be in good health. A few needed some Pediasure for weight gain, but no medical intervention was necessary.

Thank you to Dixie and her staff for showing once again that it’s all about the children.

Small Town, Big Hearts!

2010-02-04T06:15:00.000-08:00

The students in the small town of Watertown, S.D. decided to welcome two new classmates from Haiti by showing their concern for the children remaining in Haiti:

Lincoln Elementary in Watertown, SD, celebrated their 100th day of school by revealing the amount of money collected in their "Hundreds for Haiti" fundraiser. The school has been eagerly awaiting two new students who have recently arrived from the BRESMA orphanage in Haiti. Students and parents were encouraged to empty their piggy banks over the past two weeks to help support Kentucky Adoption Services and the BRESMA orphange houses in Port-au-Prince. Their hopes were to help rebuild damaged buildings and to provide needed food and water. Each day as donations came in, $10 blocks were added to the cafeteria wall in groups of 100. The school's mascot, the Lincoln Leopard, is shown with students from each grade and a check for over $2600 to Kentucky Adoption Services. The outpouring of support and good wishes from BRESMA adoptive families' communities has been overwhelming!

Thank you, Lincoln Elementary. Your donation will help children who have were separated from their families in the earthquake. We will keep them safe while we look for their relatives.

Kids Helping Kids

2010-02-03T08:47:00.001-08:00

These amazing children raised just over $2,000 for Haiti at their bake sale!

Hi Diana,

Here are two photos from Rocky Mountain Christian Academy's 3rd and 4th grade "Hearts for Haiti" Bake Sale to raise funds for KAS. My class and my team teacher's class is the 1st one (Mrs. Tadewald and Mrs. Fraser 3rd grade) and Trent's 4th grade class,Mrs. Weber, and the second 4th grade class of Mrs. Townsend are in the 2nd picture. I'll e-mail you a dollar amount after we total the funds from the sale and we also have a service project for individual RMCA families in 3rd and 4th grade to raise funds through February 11th for the support of KAS. I'll keep you posted on that endeavor also. Not "tooting our horn", but we all want you to know that your hands are where so many hands want to be there, HELPING! We pray for your strength and the Lord's continued guidance in your work!

Joy,

Tasha

BRESMA has about 50 children in care - some from before the earthquake, some who came in afterward in desperate need of aid. Every penny helps us to keep them alive. Thank you, RMCA!

Children Coming Home

2010-02-03T07:54:00.000-08:00

The following was written by an adoptive mother whose daughters flew into Miami last night:

John, Gina, Josh & I are at the Ramada Inn in Miami! We had quite an adventure today including two lovely ladies from Southwest gettting us on a quick plane to Ft. Lauderdale from Orlando! Glory to God!

As we were getting our 12 passenger rental van to drive to Miami, I received a call from Christina! A red cross worker that she had been talking to about her family & showing pictures of us, let her use his phone! God bless, Micha! What an intelligent girl we have to bring her Mom & Dad's cell phone numbers with her! She immediately said, "We are in Miami". I forgot where I was so I said, "We are in Miami too!" She said "Ahhh, oui?!?!" with relief. She said she didn't have a good trip & that she was hungry & tired. I explained that they would be going to "The Children's Home". She said ok. I said I talked to the director & she is nice & they will feed you & let you sleep. I said you might sleep there, but we will be working to come to you. She said "Ok, come quick". I said ok & that we are praying that everything willl go quickly. Then, Carme Suze, Daana, Samentha & Claudia all said Hi & apparently, everyone besides Christina had a good trip ;) What touched me the most is that they were all saying I'm hungry & laughing. I don't know why it was funny, but I said they would get to eat soon. But, they kept laughing! I said they are having a party in the U.S.A.!

Then, we headed to His Home for Children where we would be processed by the Office of Refugee Resettlement & where the girls will be staying - hopefully, for just tonight. When we walked inside, I could feel the peace of God all over the place. They greeted us warmly & asked, How are you? I said, Great & started to cry & said I got to talk to our girls. Someone immediately gave me a hug. This is God's Home for Children & their mission statement includes taking care of the fatherless. I wish our girls were here at the hotel with us, but I felt comfortable knowing this is where they'd be (that is NOT how I felt earlier this evening!).

So then we met with someone from ORR & he was really nice. Looked at all our paperwork asked a few questions & said that they'd have to contact the USCIS for the fingerprint clearance that we did last week & that everything else looked good. They will merge our files with the ones that will come with the girls! We left the home at about 11pm & the girls had not arrived yet. Micha had said that there were many children to be processed while they were waiting at Miami Airport. They wouldn't have let them see us anyway. We can go back at 9am & have visitation at 10am. It is very likely that we will be approved to take them home by then. That's what we're praying for. It was all very smooth & very well done.

God has really been with us through it all & I can see the light at the end of the tunnel! Thanks, Diana & Lucy for making this happen! God is GREAT!

Kate

Amazing Airlift

2010-01-19T08:05:00.000-08:00

On January 18th, 2010, Jamie and Alison McMutrie with the assistance of the Governor of Pennsylvania and a local Congressperson, succeeded in airlifting 54 BRESMA children out of Haiti. The children were flown to Pittsburgh, where they were taken to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

Their parents were allowed to visit them, and after paperwork was processed, take them safely home.

What a miracle! Well done, ladies.

Homeward Bound

2010-01-17T14:37:00.000-08:00

An update on our kids, who are on their way:

Gen Lepper/Mr. Peters--

As you know by now, we have lift off! What a great day for me-- I can only image what it is for the parents.

Tail number: C-17 is xxxxx
Departed 1734
ETA: 1904
Destination: xxxxxxx

Despite our small shuffle getting everyone together at the airport, everything went well. CNN was there with full coverage of the event. It will be on tonight.

I am so impressed with the embassy workers. Charly (sp?), their escort, is riding up with them and turning right around. Her home was completely destroyed.

I am grateful to have been a part. What great, well-behaved kids (I miss that age).

V/R--

Randon

Lt Col Randon Draper

A Glimmer of Hope in the Darkness of Haiti

2010-01-17T10:55:00.000-08:00

The US Government, in particular USCIS and DOS, are working overtime in an effort to grant Visas to children who have already completed the adoption process in Haiti. The first five children from BRESMA orphanage are currently at the US Embassy, safe from harm.

This effort was coordinated only through extraordinary efforts on behalf of the UN, the US military, USCIS, DOS, the Joint Council of International Children's Services, many parent volunteers, the US Air Force, and of course our brave staff at the orphanage.

The message below was shared by Lt. Colonel Randon Draper, who along with Mr. Julius Fondong of the UN Foundation enabled the children to reach and enter the Embassy safely.

Gen Lepper/Mr. Peters--

I just left the embassy. The children are doing well.

Although I did not get any of your messages notifying me of the UN driver and Pius Bannis until I got back, I was directed to Linda Percy and Pius Bannis while I was there. In the course of our conversations, the UN driver arrived with the children. I felt privileged to help lead them by the hand into the reception area and teach them how to eat their first MRE. They were hungry. I hope their parents don't mind, but I gave them a tootsie roll before dinner! They were very calm, bright-eyed and submissive to their environment.

Jenna is a little sick -- running nose and had vomit on her, but she appeared to be doing well overall. The oldest (maybe 10 or 12) held her and was very attentive. I tried to get her to sit in the cushioned chair so she could better attend to Jenna, but she kept giving the best to the little ones. Very tender. A nurse was going to look at Jenna when I left. They had a lot medical from New Jersey. I've got to say that the plight of these people choke you up at times, and I have not come close to seeing the worst of it.

The kids, as are all adoptive kids, are first priority on the plane. As there were no other adoptive kids, they are on the first plane out.

Mr. Bannis was processing paperwork when I left. As I had traveled with OSI and they had to return, I could not stay with the children.
However, Mr. Bannis will notify me when they are transported to the airport and I will hook up with them there if at all possible.

The process with these little travelers had additional good as the embassy realized that other adoptive kids had been turned away in the chaos because they went to the wrong processing gate -- a simple matter, but so is the minor switching of a train track toward another destination.

Mr. Bannis and Ms. Percy are a God Send. They had damage to their own homes and were working tirelessly. Ms. Percy had her two adopted kids evac'd out to stay with family after the quake. I also saw whispers, tears and embraces among a couple of embassy staff consoling each other for loss of their own family members or friends.

I will send this message twice -- one with photos and one without to make sure it gets through. I appreciate the privilege to be involved with this.

V/R--

Randon

These children are the first of many our government will save.

Thank you to all of you heroes involved!

Rumors Abound!

2010-01-15T07:42:00.000-08:00

There are rumors all over the internet that all the children of BRESMA have been issued US Visas. This is NOT TRUE. To my knowledge, the State Department has not issued any Visas since the earthquake. If we had managed to get Visas for our children, I would be desperately trying for Visas for the rest of the children in orphanages.

It is true that we, along with every other agency, are seeking ways to airlift our children to the US for temporary shelter and safety. If we are somehow able to get our children to safety, the KAS team will immediately begin working with other agencies and orphanages to save their children too.

Some humanitarian aid is beginning to get through. BRESMA I received a delivery of water.

Four of the children living in foster care outside of the orphanage have been found alive. One will remain with her foster family. The other three are being brought to BRESMA.

Our hearts go out to the multitudes who have not been so fortunate.

Margarette and BRESMA I children are safe!

2010-01-13T11:12:00.000-08:00

I have recieved information from Europe that Margarette communicated with two French families. She and her family are safe. The children at BRESMA I are safe. The following is a translation of the original IM conversation in French.

Bresma...Good evening Marsye could you please pass along the message that all of the children are well since I am unable to reach others

Maryse...Hello, is this Margarette
Maryse...I am so happy to get the news
Maryse...We are so worried for you
Marsye...Margarette is that you?
Marsye...I will passe along the message
Marsye...Tell me if you are ok
Marsye...All of this is so horrible
Marsye...We are going to organize ourselves to try to help you
Bresma...Yes, it's me
Bresma...Thank you
Marsye...Your family? (she is asking how they are doing)
Marsye...I am crying while reading this (hearing from you) I am so happy to read this (hear from her)
Marsye...What do you need?
Bresma...Everyone is fine. The children also. I had to send all the children from bresma 2 to bresma 1, since bresma 2 is a little damaged. I would like an engineer to see it and make some repairs before allowing the children back there.
Bresma...bresma 3 is also damaged the children have been transferred to the guest house.
Marsye... ok
Marsye... I will tell them right away
Marsye...Do you have news from other orphanages?
Marsye...CEPAH? We know that our lady of the nativity has been damaged
Marsye...It's horrible
Marsye...I send my regard to you and all Haiti ens, we think of you a lot and we wish that international aid reach you soon in this difficult time.
Bresma...is leaving texting
Bresma...Thank you I will try to keep you posted
Marsye...Thank you
Marsye...Be brave

Wings of Hope and St. Joseph's Home for Boys

2010-01-13T08:40:00.000-08:00

From an adoptive parent:

This is info from people connected with Hearts With Haiti - the organization that supports St. Joseph's Family... Ed Wolterman, from their board of directors, spoke directly with Michael Geilenfeld, founder of St. Joe's, who was @ the building in PAP when it collapsed. They talked to him yesterday, shortly after it all happened. At that point, they also spoke with Renee Dietrich, one of the Americans living & working up at Wings, where my boy is... it's harder getting through to them today...

I got word yesterday that Delmace and the other kids at the home where he lives (Wings of Hope) are OK. They are all safe for now – but there was serious damage to whole back of their building (the area that houses all of the dorms and areas where they kids generally are). Last night they were all huddled in one rather small room, near the front of the building. The main home of the organization, St. Joseph’s Home for Boys (in Petionville), was not as lucky. Their building is a total loss, but thankfully, all of the boys survived - Bill, one of the directors, was injured jumping from the roof but is expected to recover. We also got reports that their house in Jacmel, Trinity House, was OK and everyone is safe. They are all scared, and we are worried about immediate needs – food, water, shelter, and also about the long term process of rebuilding. But are thankful that everyone is alive.

Twitter link

2010-01-13T08:19:00.001-08:00

I will be posting snippets of confirmed information on Twitter, as I cannot answer the volume of contact I am receiving individually.

Please go to http://twitter.com/KASHaiti to follow along.

I will do my best, but as all information is at best second hand, I cannot guarantee its accuracy.

Haiti earthquake - an email from Dr. Bernard

2010-01-13T05:51:00.000-08:00

Dr. Jacob Bernard, director of New Life Link orphanage, managed to send out the following email:

DEAR CHRISTIAN FRIENDS,

THANKS 1000 TIMES TO EACH AND ALL OF YOU MY DEAREST FRIENDS WHO SEND US EMAILS ABOUT THIS DISASTER. THANKS 1,000,000 TIMES FOR YOUR CONTINUED PRAYERS. WHAT WOULD WE HAVE DONE WITHOUT YOUR FRIENDSHIP, PRAYERS, AND FINANCIAL SUPPORT. PRAISES, GLORIES, AND POWERS BE TO OUR ALMIGHTY SAVIOR AND LORD JESUS FOR SAVING MY LIFE FROM THIS BIG EARTHQUAKE WHICH MIGHT KILL THIS AFTERNOON THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE. IT WAS ABOUT 4:50P.M, I STEPPED UP INTO THE MAYOR'S OFFICE ON MY WAY BACK HOME FROM WORK. AS I JUST ARRIVED ON THE 2ND FLOOR, THE BUILDING COLLAPSED ON EVERYBODY WITHIN SECONDS . THE ROOF CAME DOWN OVER OUR HEADS. I WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO DESCRIBE THIS MIRACLE.I WAS ONE STEP TO DEATH, BUT PEACEFUL, TRUSTING THAT MY LIFE WAS IN GOD'S HAND. MY MIGHTY GOD GOT ME OUT SAFELY. AS I JUMPED FROM THE 2ND FLOOR INTO ALL THE DEBRIS, I GOT HURT ON MY LEFT SIDE.HOWEVER, I AM SAFE AND SOUND...IT IS A LONG LONG STORY.WHAT A MIRACLE! WHAT A GOD THAT WE ARE SERVING! HE SURELY IS NOT DONE YET WITH ME.WHEN I GOT HOME, CLAUDETTE AND THE OTHERS WERE FINE, BUT THE GUEST HOUSE SHOOK UP SO BAD THAT THE WATER COOLER, BOOK SHELVES FULL OF BOOKS, AND CABINETS FELL ON THE FLOORS.AS I AM WRITING THIS EMAIL, THE HOUSE IS STILL SHAKING UP. WE WILL SLEEP OUT SIDE, UNDER THE FRONT PORCH.

ALL THE CHILDREN AT THE ORPHANAGE ARE FINE. BECAUSE TELEPHONES ARE OUT OF SERVICE, IT WAS ALREADY NIGHT AND THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE IN PORT-AU-PRINCE WERE IN THE STREET, MOURNING THEIR TRAPPED AND DEAD FAMILY MEMBERS, THERE WAS NO WAY I COULD GET TO THE NLL BUILDING OR HAVE ANY NEWS. EARLY TO MORROW MORNING, I WILL GO THERE. OH ! HOW I PRAY THAT ALL THE CHILDREN AND STAFF ARE SAFE.

THE SITUATION IS AWFULLY AWFUL, TERRIBLY TERRIBLE. PLEASE, PRAY FOR THE GREAT NUMBERS OF FAMILIES WHO HAVE THEIR LOVED ONES STILL UNDER THE RUBBLES WITHOUT MUCH HOPE TO SURVIVE. PRAY FOR HAITI, AND THE CHURCH OF CHRIST.I WILL KEEP ALL POSTED.WE ARE SO GRATEFUL TO GOD TO HAVE YOU ALL IN OUR LIVES.Blessings,Jacob

I have confirmation that Creche le Infant Jesus, managed by Lucien and Gina Duncan is okay.

Earthquake in Haiti

2010-01-12T19:02:00.000-08:00

Haiti was rocked by an earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale at approximately 5:00 pm Haiti time today. The devastation is enormous. Communications are down.

We are extremely blessed in that an adoptive parent was able to make contact with Jamie and Ali before it became impossible to call in to the island. Ali had spoken to Ti Ness at BRESMA III (Jamie and Ali's House) and Maryann at BRESMA II (the big kids' house). Both are still standing and the children are safe. I also have confirmation that God's Littlest Angels in Kenscoff is safe.

Please pray for the people of Haiti, and send what humanitarian aid you can. Haiti needs help like never before. Eyewitnesses, including Jamie and Ali, are reporting that 'half the houses are down'.

The Current Haitian Adoption Process

2009-12-18T07:58:00.000-08:00

The many steps listed below are those all the Creche Directors of Haiti must follow for each and every adoption. Add to their number the extreme difficulty of accomplishing each one: every step must be accomplished in person and by hand.

Most of the offices listed do not have computers. There will be no communications by fax or email or even by official phone calls. Facilitators must visit each office personally to check on the status of each case, and carry it by hand through the traffic of Port-au-Prince to the next stage of the process.

Pre-IBESR
While you are gathering your dossier and before your case ever enters IBESR, your adoption facilitator had to gather each of the following documents:

Passport pictures of the child
Birth Certificate
Attestation of signature on Birth Certificate or extract from the National Archives
Legal relinquishment of custody to the orphanage from the local judge
Psychological evaluation
Medical evaluation
Laboratory tests
Social history
Proces Verbal (A legal document in which the biological family grants the creche the right to place their child with your family for international adoption. Can only be completed after your dossier is in Haiti.)

IBESR and Dispensation
Your dossier can now be submitted to IBESR. If your family does not meet the criteria of the law of 1974, your dossier can be pre-approved for Presidential Dispensation and delivered to the Presidential Palace by IBESR. Dispensations are published in Le Moniteur. Following Dispensation, IBESR will sign off on your dossier and grant an Authorization of Adoption.

Time lines for this step have been highly inconsistent in the past year.

Parquet Court
The 'step' we refer to as Parquet court is actually a very complex series of steps and processes involving multiple offices and repeated trips between them.

Attorney addresses a Request for Judgment to the Chief Justice of Parquet Court
Birth parents are interviewed in Parquet Court
Parquet Court signs off on "approval judgement for adoption
Facilitator takes approval to DGI for stamp of authorization
Back to Parquet for enforcement of the approval judgement
Authorization and redaction from the Civil Registrar Officer for legal Adoption Decree
Verification in parquet of the adoption documents by the Civil Registrar before signing the adoption decree
First Legalization of the Adoption Decree, in Parquet Court
Second Legalization of the Adoption Decree, at the Ministry of Justice
Third Legalization of the Adoption Decree, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Obtain attestation of Adoption Decree from the National Archives

Ministry of the Interior
All international adoption cases are reviewed by the Ministry of Interior. In order to obtain authorization to request a passport, the following documents must be submitted for each child:

Four passport sized pictures
Birth Certificate
Attestation for the Birth Certificate
Extract from the National Archives for the Birth Certificate
Relinquishment
Proces Verbal of adoption
Adoption approval judgement
Adoption Decree
Attestation of the Adoption Decree
Power of Attorney for creche director and/or attorney
Stamp from DGI
Notary letter for the passport
Identification card of facilitator and/or attorney on the case
Biological parents' identification cards
Adoptive parents' MOI form, identification, and passport photos

The Ministry of Interior will grant authorization to submit the dossier to Haitian Immigrations for a passport.

Haitian Immigrations
The facilitator will submit authorization to apply for a passport to Haitian Immigrations. This is generally a quick process - one to two weeks, if all equipment is working properly.

US Immigrations
Note to international readers - US Immigrations performs the most rigorous investigation of international adoptions. Other nations' Immigrations process are different. Please check with your agency to learn about the process for your home country.)

Parts of the US Immigrations process can occur concurrently with the Haitian process, however USCIS cannot sign off on the case until they have verified the final Adoption Decree and the child's passport. DNA may be requested at any time.

American families are advised to work closely with their agencies to ensure a smooth and efficient US Immigrations process for their child.

Approximately three to four weeks following completion of all USCIS investigations and adjudication of the I600 for the child, the case will be forwarded to the Department of State for issuance of a Visa. The Department of State also has the right to request DNA testing for birth parent and child. Adoptive parents need not be present for the Visa appointment.

Parents who can prove that they visited their child prior to the issuance of the Adoption Decree by Parquet Court will be issued an IR-3 Visa. Their children will be automatically granted full US Citizenship upon arrival in the US.

Families who did not visit their children prior to the date of the Adoption Decree must file for citizenship for their children. Failure to file for citizenship will leave the child as a legal immigrant and unprotected by the rights of full citizenship. Please refer to the USCIS website for form N-600 and instructions on how to file.

Summary

These steps were provided by Margarette Saint Fleur of BRESMA orphanage. All legitimate adoptions facilitators must follow each one of them, and must do so under extremely difficult conditions.

Haitian adoptions are taking far, far too long. Children are waiting in orphanages for months and even years while the process drags on. And yet, when we look at the immensely complicated process, we must realize what a miracle it is when each child comes home.

When you travel to pick up your child at last, thank the people who made your adoption possible. No amount of money could ever cover the exhaustion and frustration they endure for each case, and most of them work for very little or no pay at all. Their reward is seeing the children they live for go home with families who will love and cherish them for the rest of their lives.

Thank your facilitator by telling her how grateful you are for her work, and thank her by sending her pictures over the years of your child growing up safe and happy. It is their sacrifices that make our adoptions and our families possible.

A Visit from Quisqueya Christian School

2009-12-02T08:38:00.000-08:00

Margarette has arranged for the children of BRESMA I to have visits from the ninth grade class of nearby Quisqueya Christian School

The message below is from Quisqueya teacher Denise Blesh.

The QCS 9th grade students are beginning to bond with & becoming friends & care about the children at Bresma 1. It is good to see them responding so well! It is getting them to think about a lot of things!

These children at QCS will have the ability & education to be part of the governing body for the future of Haiti if they choose. We hope & pray that these types of mission trips will help the students realize the many different needs of Haiti, help them to think about others & not just themselves & why it is important to have goals for the future to be able to help Haiti by creating a honest, educated & productive government.

Thank you again for participating with Quisqueya Christian School in this matter,

Denise Blesh & the 9th grade QCS class

Here is Denise's update from the latest visit, just yesterday:

Today went really well. Thank you again for this opportunity. Every visit seems to go even better than the previous one, which is wonderful. I believe ALL of the children both young & older had a great time today :)

Highlights for your kids today were:

Lunch & then Christmas cake
Christmas stories, each page read in English by one student then immediately translated in Creole by another student...the B1 kids loved it...
Playtime outside

Thank you Denise and students for your time and caring. It couldn't be more obvious that you

are bringing great joy to the children at BRESMA I!

A New Family's Thanksgiving Letter

2009-11-26T08:10:00.000-08:00

This letter is posted by permission of a new family living in Colorado in their wish to give hope and encouragement to everyone waiting for their children to come home from Haiti.

Hello friends and family,

Just a quick holiday greeting and update before the festivities begin! So the past couple of weeks were scattered with more firsts....Jazzie's first hair appointment, Cameron's first haircut, their first ride in a Lotus, their first friend home from BRESMA orphanage, first trip to the hot springs....etc. I've attached some photos I've taken over the last couple weeks, some might be repeats as I've finally got a computer that allowed me to download and I wanted all their pics in one album!

Anyways.....we've certainly been busy, having play dates, visitors, house guests and such. It's been wonderful to share Cameron and Jasmine with all our friends and family and we so appreciate the yummy foods, treats and company since their homecoming!

I'm working on completing their validation paperwork and almost have it finished. The adoption is recognized federally but the state of Colorado requires that you legalize/validate the adoption for the state! So more paperwork, more notaries and more money!! I'm hoping to get it out before the week is out. We obtained their citizenship papers and their social security cards this past month and this will be one of the last steps to finalize everything!

As we approach Thanksgiving I wanted to write a message about all the things I'm Thankful for......not sure if this will still be a brief email but I'll try to make it abbreviated! :)

I'm thankful to have a loving and supportive husband, whom I could never of made it through this journey to parenthood without. I'm incredibly blessed to have him in my life. I'm thankful for our two beautiful children, Cameron and Jasmine whom proved miracles are possible! I'm thankful for Cameron and Jasmine's birth parents who made a selfless decision to give their children a better life, without their decision, we wouldn't be filled with the joy of having Cam and Jazzie in our life. I'm thankful for Jamie and Ali for their love and support of our children and for keeping them and the children of BRESMA safe while their families wait to bring them home. I'm thankful for our family and friends that have provided us support and love throughout this entire process! I am truly grateful for all the blessing we have received this past year!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone....May blessings be bountiful in your life!

Love, Liz, Jon, Cam, Jazzie and Daisy too!

Help make our blog better - share your stories of kids at home, your trips to Haiti, or even how you are dealing with the pain and frustration of waiting for your children to come home. Email your story to me at diana@kentuckyadoptionservices.org.

DOS Hague Panel Discussion

2009-11-10T08:37:00.000-08:00

I’m only writing this tonight because I’m afraid I might forget something by morning if I don’t. I feel like I’ve been run over by a truck, and home has never looked so good. And they even had a really good supper waiting for me…

The panel discussion was held at the home of Consul General Donald Moore. The panel and a few invitees sat in salon which had been set up for our meeting. The Consul’s house has airconditioning, which impressed me as much as anything else. It’s been pretty hot down here!
I was one of three adoption workers asked to speak. Vera Valdivia and Mansour Masse spoke as well. Dixie Bickel had been invited, but she was in Canada and unable to attend. Judge Rock Cadet of Parquet Court and Madame Jean Bernard Pierre, Director of IBESR participated as well. The attendees included representatives from most of the major crèches, the Swiss Ambassador, UNICEF, and the press.

All three adoption service providers were unified in our message – implementing the Hague prematurely in Haiti would be disastrous. Mine was unfortunately the longest speech, although I did cut it short. I had practiced many times with a stop watch, but I never thought to allow for the translation of everything I said into French. My translator and I had some troubles hearing each other. I ended up translating some of my own remarks into Kreyol, which got me a big laugh. Probably at least in part because of my fumbling speech.

My speech included a case study between Haiti and the Dominican Republic, which is a Hague country. Like other Latin American nations who have implemented the Hague, there are almost no intercountry adoptions out of the Dominican. I pointed out a large discrepancy in statistics. Although the DR’s average Gross National Income is 6.3 times that of Haiti, the mortality rate of children under five in Haiti is only twice that of the Dominican Republic. I speculated that perhaps the crèches, with their children in care, their schools, their nutrition programs, and their temporary care might be part of the reason. I also asserted very clearly that if we ratify the Hague prematurely and shut down international adoptions, children will die.

After the panel spoke, a UNICEF staff member rose and stated that if Haiti ratified the Hague, no children would die. I hope that means that if it happens, UNICEF will come to my house with food for all the children living here. Although UNICEF’s official position is that it approves of international adoption as a last resort for children, in practice UNICEF is often content to settle for children remaining in orphanages in their native countries. As UNICEF’s primary funding source, the United States really must make clear that every child has the right to a permanent family.

Overall I think the panel went very well. I was so honored to meet all the important people present. It is fortunate I was asked questions about adoption, about which I feel so passionately, or I would have been completely tongue-tied and foolish before them. As it is, I am very relieved that it is over and I lived! On to the next one!

Margarette dragged herself to the meeting, despite just having arrived from France. We had a very quick meeting at the office this evening, and then I nagged her about turning off her phone and going to bed. I begged her husband to hide her phone and unplug the internet. Margarette insists that she’s going right back to work tomorrow, but she was visibly exhausted. Nobody can keep up that pace.

I leave tomorrow with a small friend riding in my lap all the way to Denver. I’ve finished my book, but somehow I’m sure that I’ll have enough to do spending the whole day on airplanes with a 17 month old boy.

Another successful trip. The kids all want to know what day I’m coming back. I think this time I’ll stay at home for at least two months, but I know I’ll miss them before that.

A Haitian Workday

2009-11-09T08:36:00.000-08:00

What a whirlwind of a day! It started at 6:45, when Jamie and I went to the Embassy for a Visa appointment with my little buddy. It went very smoothly, and we were out by 9:00.
Then we were off to the bank, fighting morning traffic, to see if the child care funds KAS wired days and days ago had finally arrived. You can’t just call the bank here –you have to go there. No luck. Lucy and I made frantic arrangements to track the money, and to use MoneyGram to send Jamie more funds. In the meantime I gave her all the money I had with me except for $20 US. It’s funny how I think of money here in Haiti. I have a place to stay and food to eat at all times, and what more do you need? In Haiti, money feels like a luxury. All those things I think I need in the US are not needs at all, but just wants.

My friend Alison was waiting outside the house when we got back to whisk me back out to the barn. We enjoyed an hour of VERY hot stress relief in the sun. When we finished, her car thermometer read 104. Quite the change from South Dakota – no wonder I was woozy from the heat! My cold water bucket bath never sounded (or felt) so good.

And then, on to another really delightful task. One of my adoptive Moms who is a worker for Haiti herself arrived. We had never met before in real life. Her toddler son, also at Jamie’s, is doing very well. He had been in BRESMA II, but then he got sick and they moved him to BRESMA I. I have a strong preference that all of ‘my’ kids stay at ‘my’ house or at Jamie’s, so Margarette agreed to let me move him. Moving is always a trauma for a child, and he had a few rough weeks at Jamie’s after two moves. He is noticeably happier since my last visit just a few weeks ago. His Mom seems really pleased with how he is doing. I thought it might be too much for him to go and stay with her after so much upheaval in the past few months, but Jamie and the little man in question disagreed. He was quite happy to go off with Mom for a few days of time together. It will be very hard for her to leave him, but at least she’ll know he is happy in his new home.

Once we sent the two of them off together, Jamie and I went to a bank to pick up the money Kentucky Adoption Services had wired down using Moneygram to tide us over until the child care wire is located. Everything here takes forever. Between the paperwork and standing in line, it probably took a good hour to leave with cash in hand. Jamie had already spent all the money I gave her while I was at the barn to buy diapers and a few meals’ worth of food for her house. When you can’t buy in bulk in Haiti, you really pay extra.

Next we had to come back to BRESMA II to get my wallet, and to Jamie’s to collect Ti Ness. Ti Ness is Margarette’s younger brother. He is married to Bielen, the nurse at Jamie’s House. He drove us to Bainet to visit the birth mother of one of our children (see my blog entry from April 18th, 2009). I had to arrange for a rental car so that he can go back, leading USCIS officers, for an interview with the same woman. You have to have a credit card to rent the vehicle, so I guess I just have to hope that all that comes of my signature on that blank credit card slip is a hold for renting the car which will be cancelled after Ti Ness pays in cash when he returns the car.
Finally I came home for a few minutes, where I rested, ate something at last, and eventually fell asleep. But I was back up in less than an hour to go out one last time, to celebrate Jamie’s birthday with a few friends.

Tomorrow is the big workshop meeting. I’ll read my speech out loud a few more times to practice, and then Mansour Masse from Holt International will come to get me. We’ve given ourselves an hour of meeting time before the workshop to come up with an alternative plan for solving all of the problems in Haiti’s adoption process. Luckily Mansour has had a few years to think about this one!

Pointers for Adopting Families

2009-11-08T08:19:00.000-08:00

A rare slow day. In the morning I went to the stables with a friend, wearing one of the other hats I am forced to wear in Haiti – unlicensed practicing veterinarian. Her horse is lame, and there really is no large animal veterinarian on this half of the island. We had a leisurely morning sitting on the patio at the barn chatting when we were done with the horse. I’m feeling very stressed out about my meeting on Tuesday, and any distraction is a welcome relief. In fact, I’m going back out to the barn tomorrow after my Visa appointment. Nothing like exercise and the great outdoors for fighting stress!

I spent the afternoon with Jamie. I got to meet the niece of one of my adopting mothers. Hillary is here in Haiti teaching at a Christian school called Quisqueya. I had a million questions about how she managed daily life here. Without all the help I get from my nannies here, I’d be totally lost. Here in Haiti I am like a child. I don’t know how to cook over charcoal. I’m perfectly awful at figuring out the money – all the bills are marked in gourdes, but everyone tells you the prices in Haitian dollars. One Haitian dollar is five gourdes, but it takes me far too long to multiply and divide it all out my head, while at the same time trying to manage numbers in Kreyol. They are a lot more complicated than they are in English. I wouldn’t have the first idea how to rent an apartment, figure out which taptap to take, order water delivery. I am still just as in awe of Jamie and Ali as ever!

Jamie and I had a good long talk. She remains concerned that parents are not hearing our message that all of these children have experienced trauma, and that trauma is going to come out in some form when they get home. Many of our children are less traumatized than most of the adopted children in the world. But still, each and every one of them has lost his parents. And when we bring them home, they lose their whole orphanage family, their culture, their country, and even their language. Our gain is very much their loss. Those losses are bound to show in some way at some time.
It is so important to remember that in fact, most of the children are normal children. And if normal children lose their entire families and live in a institution with no parents for several years – even an institution as good as BRESMA – there will be damage. It is inevitable. None of us would allow the daycare center to raise our child. Even though I believe that Jamie’s House is better than any commercial daycare center I’ve ever seen in America, it is still not a real family. Loving, consistent, paid caretakers are not as good as a real family. We’ve seen this over and over again in the US, where children raised by the best foster parents are still hurt by never having a family of their own.

Most BRESMA kids come out on top in the end. Almost all adoptions from BRESMA II and thus far all of those from Jamie’s House are going very well. But most of them have had a few rough spots. These children will be grieving losses that we will never have to endure at the same time as we are rejoicing that they are home at last.

Do you want to ensure that your family is one of the lucky ones? Well, you can’t really ensure anything about parenting. But you can certainly improve your odds. DO YOUR HOMEWORK. Learn about grieving and angry children. Learn how to be empathetic and how to build attachment. Consult with a professional about your expectations for your new child’s behavior upon arrival at home, in a year, in ten years. Are you adopting a child because you hope to become someone who can love him, or because you hope him to become someone you think you can love?

There are a few characteristics I’ve found happy adoptive parents have in common:

Flexibility
A sense of humor
Reasonable expectations
The ability not to take a child’s feelings personally (it’s not about us, most of the time!)
Faith
Support
The knowledge that love is a verb, not just a noun
Absolute commitment to their child
Eagerness to become a whole new kind of family

Have you completed your adoption or spent a lot of time with your child in Haiti? Please put in your two cents. What do adopting parents need to know when recreating their families?

On the Road Again...

2009-11-07T08:06:00.000-08:00

After only a few weeks at home, here I am back in Haiti again. The kids and staff were very surprised to see me. For once the amazing Haitian grapevine failed to notify everyone of plans. But they were very happy to see me nonetheless, and the older kids made sure to assure me that Manno had indeed bought chicken with the money I left here last time.

A few things have changed. One little girl at BRESMA II has left for France, and a pair of toddler twins from Jamie’s House is now safe at home. The little boy I brought here from BRESMA I on my last trip no longer has any sign of the scabies or scalp fungus afflicting him before.

The kids played a long, loud, and rowdy game of Kidnappers. The older boys were the bandits, of course, and they marched back and forth from the front yard to the back, chanting ‘left, right, left ,right’ in unison. They would select a target (one of the older girls, or even me, once) and drag their victim back to the front yard amid wild shrieking and giggling. Then Manmi Lis would run to the front yard and pretend to chase the boys around with the belt she wears around her shoulders as a threat. The game went on for hours. I couldn’t help but think over the deafening noise of 29 children, that this place does not sound like an orphanage. It sounds like a noisy home.

I am here on such short notice as I have been summoned by the US Consulate. Vice Consul Linda Percy has asked me, three other adoption professionals, Judge Rock Cadet of Parquet Court, and Madame Pierre Bernard, the Director of IBESR, to a workshop to discuss the feasibility implementing the Hague Convention on International Adoption here in Haiti.
Initially I was flattered, intimidated, and a bit confused why I, of all people had been asked. I am quite ignorant of the Hague. Or at least, I was until a few days after the invitation. After quite a bit of intensive study of legal documents, statistics, and history, I am grateful to be given the chance to speak.

The Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-Operation in Respect to Intercountry Adoption is a simple document. It is only fourteen pages long, and covers many basic human rights, as well as outlining structure for uniform processing of adoptions throughout and member country. It’s the implementation that is tricky. And expensive.
The United States signed the Hague Convention in 1994. And then it took us fourteen YEARS to be able to create and implement policies allowing us to conform before we ratified the treaty in 2008. And we still have loopholes, bureaucratic struggles, and allegations of politics interfering with the accreditation process.

I am grateful to have a chance to speak before a group who seems pre-disposed to listen so that I can say that I think the Hague could be a wonderful thing to Haiti, IF and only IF it were implemented correctly! This would involved a multistep process, taking several years, culminating in Haiti successfully following all Hague standards internally for at least 12 months before ratifying the Convention. Reform is certainly needed in the adoption process, but as Tom DiFilipo, President of the Joint Council always says, we must not try to remove a splinter with a chainsaw.

I hope to witness a step of the process I have not done yet on Monday. Margarette is still in France, rallying for more funding for more new schools and attending BRESMA reunions of French children. She’s assigned me the task of taking him for his Visa appointment, which the Consulate was so kind as to grant me immediately so that I can hopefully escort the young man in question all the way home to Denver on my lap.

I’m no fan of escorting, but this little guy’s mother was just here a few weeks ago to file form I-600 and He’s super outgoing. I made a point of spending some time with him this afternoon. I think he’s feeling pretty comfortable with me, because threw a really impressive, first class tantrum when I put him down because I had to leave.

The few times I have agreed to escort a child, it has been a real thrill. Seeing parents reunited with their children is one of my greatest joys in this stressful, challenging work. My favorite escort trip had to be one where I brought a little boy bound for Canada to meet his mother in Miami. Upon my arrival, I suddenly realized I had never met the woman, nor had I ever seen her picture. While I was in Haiti I kept thinking I would identify her the same way I always identify and adoptive family I’ve never met before when I pick them up at the airport – they will be the white ones. A highly effective system of identification here, but not so useful in Miami.

I needn’t have worried. Not only did the baby lean towards a particular woman in the crowd, but I imagine one only makes that face once in a lifetime, at the moment of greatest joy.
I don’t know what this mother looks like either, and there are a lot of white people in Denver, but I’m not worried. We’ll find each other. This baby boy is coming home, after months of working and waiting. It was meant to be.

IBESR moves forward

2009-10-27T08:10:00.000-07:00

Some good news from the front: late on Friday night I came home from a high school football game to find an email from Margarette - 7 children were out of IBESR!!

I got to wake up several families with some wonderful news. When I tell you that I will call you, day or night, weekend or Christmas, with any good news, I am not kidding.

The statistics are as follows:

in IBESR 6/19/2009, out 10/22. Family has two bio children.

second child for the same family

in IBESR September 2008, out 10/22/2009. Family had two bio children at the time of application and had been married for 9 years. No idea why they had to wait so long - perhaps they sat on the case until the parents' 10th anniversary?

in IBESR 6/19/2009, out 10/22. Family has two bio children

in IBESR 6/19/2009, out 10/22. Single mother meets the law of 1974

in IBESR 3/4/2009, out 10/22. Family has three bio children

same family as above

My heart breaks for the children who had to wait for so long during the long period where nothing was moving forward. We have one family who started two separate adoptions well over a year apart, and it appears their daughters will leave Haiti on the same plane.

As you read the statistics above, please keep in mind that what has happened in these cases does not necessarily predict what will happen in your adoption case. Really the only thing you can count on is that Margarette and I will do everything in our power to bring your children home as fast as we can.

These quick Dispensations for three of the families gives us great hope. At this time, Parquet court and the Ministry of the Interior are generally processing legitimate adoption cases smoothly. We must hope for swift passage home for all of the children at BRESMA, and all of the waiting children of Haiti.

Notre Maison

2009-10-12T07:54:00.000-07:00

Every year I vow not to visit Haiti in August (although generally I end having to do so for one reason or another. This year I avoided August and arrived in October to a record breaking heatwave. I’m just not getting used to it, but neither is anyone else. Everyone is complaining about the heat. It’s too hot to eat or sleep. I just don’t know what I would do if we did not have our working inverter so that I can have a fan in my bedroom.

This morning I visited Notre Maison, a small orphanage primarily serving handicapped children. The house is down on the plain, aptly called ‘La Plenn’, behind the airport. I was quite impressed with the care of the children. Keeping children with serious physical and developmental handicaps healthy is not easy even in the States.

These children appeared healthy, and they had the alert and eager look of children who have been loved and played with as a matter of course. Some of them might have a very different future in the US. I was particularly drawn to one bright eyed little girl who does not have the use of her legs, but certainly has the use of her intelligence. In a country where the bright, beautiful, and able-bodied can starve to death while searching for work, without the aid of a place like Notre Maison she wouldn’t have a chance.

I spent a few more hours lounging around the house, watching and playing with the kids, and braiding hair before Franck came to pick me up in the late afternoon to meet with Margarette.
Margarette was tired but invigorated from her trip to Jeremie. The BRESMA foundation has built and inaugurated the first school in Jeremie. Prior to this year, children who wished to attend school had to walk for three hours each way. Read that again – three hours. A six hour walking commute for children, five days per week. Now they won’t have to walk, and those who can’t afford it won’t have to pay either. Free education, uniforms, shoes and a generous meal every day will allow many children who would otherwise have had to be placed for adoption to remain with their birth families.

We went over my case load. This is the most encouraging meeting we’ve had in years. Cases are moving! Nineteen children will be leaving for home shortly, and many more are making steady process. A few remain frustratingly stuck, but we will never give up on a child.

In the evening Jamie and I discussed their plans for their big fundraiser on November 28th. The girls need to raise much of their rent money, and some extra to cover the costs of care for the children they take in before they are matched to a family. I’m hoping to find a way to attend, and maybe even bring some of my own kids to show everyone exactly what we do for kids here at BRESMA.

Tonight was time for phone calls. Parent after parent called in to talk to their older children on the phone. The kids can’t understand much of what their parents say, but they are thrilled to hear their voices. They all have one burning question – when are you coming to see me? My families are always anxious that the children won’t understand why their adoptive families leave them here at the end of a visit. But the kids to understand. We talk to them about it all the time, how the families will come and visit and go away, and finally Manmi Margarette and Manmi Diana will finish their adoption cases and they will be able to go on the airplane. They all know that their families are just as sad as they are that they cannot go home today. The bonds that form between parents and children are worth the pain of parting repeatedly. When at last the children can go, they are not going home with strangers and they have no doubts left that they want to go ‘home’ to the home they have never yet seen.

I’m on my way early tomorrow morning, and I won’t arrive until the wee hours of the 14th. It’s a long day, and I’ll spend it missing all of my kids in both of my homes. I must admit I’m looking forward to air conditioning, and snow, and scheduling my next trip to Haiti.

Megamart and the cockroach war

2009-10-11T07:47:00.000-07:00

Megamart is a fascinating international version of a Sam’s Club or Costco. You have to have a membership card to be allowed to shop, and you can buy products in quantity. But they have many unfamiliar brands and labels from all over the world. Some are from South America, but French products are also popular. There are even a few labeled in the Arabic alphabet.

I bought a few packages of sponges, all of the generic dandruff shampoo they had, about 20 bars of soap and 24, count ‘em, 24 aerosol cans of roach killer. I ended up paying about what I might have expected to pay in the States. Most things here cost more than we are used to paying, as everything is imported.

We brought our loot back to the house and I had the older boys help me carry it all in. They actually love it when I give them chores. It makes them feel useful and important. Then Manno, our groundsman and janitor, and Manmi Lis, now head of the house, went to war. All the cabinets in the kitchen area of the house were thrown open. The skittering of hundreds of tiny feet was audible, and the walls seethed with motion, and the battle was on! I had to leave the room quickly, and I herded the kids out with me. Over my shoulder I called a warning to Lis and Mano not to inhale too much poison, but I think they failed to hear me in the frenzied joy of killing hundreds of roaches at the touch of an aerosol button. We cheered them on from the doorway. The carnage was unbelievable. There was literally a coating of dead roaches on the counter and floor when they finished, and hours later they are still limping out of crevices and falling from the cabinet doors. There must be well over a thousand dead in the one room. I’m trying hard not to think about just how much company I undoubtedly have in my own room right this moment…

I got to spend the afternoon just relaxing with the kids, which is what I like to do best. They are amazingly inventive with the limited number of toys surviving at any given time. Three scooters whizzed back and forth between the backyard and the front. Smaller children played games of pretend with dolls and small toys under the tables. A large group of mixed ages and both sexes played with the one jump rope they have not yet destroyed from the last missions group. In the background a group of rowdy older boys played some sort of very complicated ‘police and bad guys’ game with squirt guns. As today’s high was 98 degrees with 100% humidity, I was very tempted to join their game. The older and quieter girls retreated to their bedroom upstairs to color, draw, look at books, and play with dolls.

I braided a few girls’ hair, and Gertride and Beattha gave me thick cornrows twisted up into a bun at the back. Generally I need to remove their creations before I leave the house. Tonight I went out to a restaurant with a really beautiful hairdo by American standards. Every girl whose hair I did not braid today wants hers done tomorrow. Sure wish I had more time and less arthritis!

Our current number of 30 kids and 8 to 10 staff members seems to be a really good ratio. I’m noticing tremendous improvements in the respect for each others possessions and better overall order and discipline in the house.

I don’t quite understand how this is, but I am the boss of this house. I am younger than Manmi Lis by quite a bit, I’m a foreigner with very mediocre Kreyol, and I never tried to assert authority when I began visiting Haiti, but there it is. I guess that can be advantageous. If I ask for something to be done, it does seem to happen even in my absence.

On my last trip, I noted that the children were eating their food with their hands, unattended and uncorrected. I told my nannies that it embarrasses us all when the children go to the hotel and eat like pigs. That made them laugh. I asked that someone sit in the dining room at every meal to enforce some sort of table manners. Granted, lower socio-economic class Haitian are not greatly concerned with table manners, but they do know how to use utensils. Six months later, at least one person is in attendance at every meal, everyone but the smallest or most challenging kids are using their spoons, and those who do not are corrected.

I’m really pleased on two levels. The kids are learning better manners, and it’s hard to bully or tease anyone with a nanny looking over your shoulder. More importantly, I’m living in an orphanage in the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, and I’m worrying about table manners? We are so blessed! I will not write about some of the other orphanages I have seen in Haiti, or what my colleagues have described in other countries. Let us just be grateful that we are able to be annoyed by someone eating rice with his fingers.

As usual, I can’t begin to imagine anything to work on with the care of the kids at Jamie’s House. It’s better than the daycare any of you will be able to find once you bring your children home. The only better place is at home with a permanent family.

Here at BRESMA II, I feel that we need more meat and that the kids need to be eating fresh fruits and vegetables each day. We need a lot more shoes (they go through them so fast!) and I’d like to throw some of the clothes into the rag bag. We’ll need to replace them. Our big issue remains simply the slow speed of adoptions. Some of these kids have been waiting here far too long.

It’s getting late, so I’m off to take my cold water bucket bath. The light in the bathroom is broken, so I’ll wash in the dark. I suppose that is an advantage, because then I won’t be able to see any of the roaches I am absolutely sure are waiting for me. I’m sure they’ll want vengeance for their fallen comrades.

Empathy training

2009-10-09T14:35:00.000-07:00

A much slower day today, thank goodness…

In the morning I took pictures at BRESMA II and then went to Jamie’s in the hopes of downloading them to my computer using her card reader. No luck there, which is a real shame. I would have liked to show the pictures and film clips to the kids on a bigger screen.

I spent some time just playing with and observing the kids at Jamie’s House. It’s amazing to see the changes in those who were so sickly when last I was here. A very high staff ratio, rigorous rules and training, and excellent nutrition can work true magic.

In the afternoon we went to the Karibe hotel to meet with the director of a new non-profit. I was told that they were looking for projects to fund, but unfortunately at the moment they are looking for non-profits to buy their products at cost, and then their company will donate into a projects fund. It’s a great idea, and a fantastic deal for non-profits who need to buy t-shirts. Unfortunately what we need is money for the newly arrived medically fragile infants and Jamie’s and the renewal of BRESMA’s women’s literacy, education, micro-grant and empowerment program.

I tried to check my email from the Karibe, but the connection was just terrible. It’s easy to forget that I am still in Haiti when I’m inside the luxurious Karibe, but one really can’t count on electricity, much less internet, when in Haiti.

Two new children whom I brought over here yesterday from BRESMA I are thriving and having great fun at ‘my’ house. It’s nice to have a day with time at home just to be with them kids.
Discipline here is a difficult thing. I’ve done a head count, and we have thirty kids in the house. There are about 8 to 10 adults here at any given time, but many of them have specific duties other than childcare. Someone has to wash the laundry, cook the meals, and clean the house. It’s pretty easy to get away with being destructive or even bullying other kids. The little children have learned that they can stay near a nanny while they are playing with toys to ensure that they get to keep them, but we do have several kids in the house who like to tease on purpose. I’ve been working on that today some. I’ve seen a few instances of bullying or mean teasing, and taken that child (in all cases, one of the older boys) aside, leaned down, and whispered in his ear.

“How do you think xxx feels when you tease him?” I ask.

“Mad,” or, “Sad,” the little perpetrator will answer.

“Yes, you are right. You don’t like it when people tease you and make you sad or mad, do you?” I ask.

Usually I get a bit of embarrassed and regretful headshaking here.

“What do you think you need to say to xxxx?” I ask.

I know those ‘sorrys’ are coming more from embarrassment than from genuine regret, but it’s a good way to demonstrate the behavior I want them to have. I’ve already seen a few boys who were bullies themselves just hours ago telling other kids to be nicer. Too funny!

It’s interesting to see how respect works here too. I’m not quite sure what the difference is, but I’ve never had trouble getting most of the older kids to obey me. The little ones are a different matter. Sometimes I’m about to drown in very hot, small bodies, and I can’t get them up and off for the life of me. Perhaps because I’m not genuinely disappointed in them, and just overheated? But I do know the kids tend to be raucous and wild when missionary trips come to visit. It would help if all of the ‘blan’ would insist on good manners before they handed out treats. I feel sorry for the kids living in the orphanage too, but I feel even sorrier for them when they are learning to behave in ways that will cost them friends when they go home at last.

Tomorrow Jamie and Ali and I will head out to Megamart to buy a few necessities. Manmi Lis asked me for roach poison. This morning, there was a cockroach will over an inch long in my bedroom. So I will certainly be complying with that request!

Liberty, justice, and bureaucracy for all...

2009-10-08T14:19:00.000-07:00

A busy and somewhat frustrating day. Margarette is still in Jeremie, so Irlande and I attended a Visa appointment with a pair of toddler twins whose adoption is complete, passports are in hand, and I600 form is adjudicated. Imagine my surprise that even when I pointed out the Power of Attorney form in the packet from USCIS as the Consular officer looked over our paperwork, and was told that they cannot accept copies of powers of attorney. Which would make perfect sense, except that USCIS had sent the copy, not us! The original was included in the I600 packet. So apparently the copy of the officer’s legal document adjudicating the case is acceptable, but the copy of the power of attorney for me that he included was not. And we tend to think of the Haitian government as difficult and overly bureaucratic…

We left the Consulate with arms full of toddlers, but no Visas. On to plan B.
Holt International employees Mansour Masse and Mike Noah picked me up outside the Consulate and took me to the Villa Creole hotel while Jamie and Ali took the babies and Irlande back to BRESMA. Mike, Mansour and I had lunch, strategized for our meeting, and discussed various current issues in Haitian adoptions. We are very lucky to be working in a supportive community of honest adoption agencies and orphanages. The cooperation we share has benefitted all of us greatly.

At two we went back to the Consulate for a meeting with Garry Pierrot, Adoptions Unit Chief, and Linda Percy, his new co-chief. Ms. Percy will take over the Chief position for a few months when Mr. Pierrot leaves his post in December or January until his permanent replacement arrives. Ms. Percy lived in Africa for 13 years prior to coming to Haiti five months ago. She has an obvious heart for our kids, and was visibly disturbed when I described the effects the extreme delay in the issuance of Presidential Dispensations has caused to our children who wait and wait.

We discussed the quality of service at the Embassy. When I went this morning, our staff was somewhat skeptical that I would be allowed into the Embassy without a printed copy of the email confirming our appointment. I went in ready to fight for my right, as an American citizen, to appear for an appointment with or without a copy of an email! But I had no trouble whatsoever walking right in with Irlande and the kids after a quick check to verify that we did in fact have an appointment. I discussed entrance requirements with Mr. Pierrot and Ms. Percy, and was assured that nobody would be required to present an email to prove an appointment, and that verification with the Adoptions Unit or USCIS staff would be required regardless. Overall we were able to report that service has been excellent, although we were not able to get a consistent timeline for processing. We were assured that DOS will attempt to respond to all emails in a minimum of 72 hours.

The recent decision of Judge Rock Cadet to enforce the section of Haitian law requiring that adoptive parents appear in court. Although nobody has yet done so, apparently the law states that both the adoptive and biological parents must appear in court together at the time of relinquishment of the child. This presents immediate and grave ethical issues – at present no ethical facilitator allows any family to meet a child as their referral for adoption prior to the complete and legal relinquishment of that child to the orphanage. If birth and adoptive parents meet prior to the relinquishment, there is great potential for disaster. Adoptive families may be accused of incentivizing the Haitian family into giving up their child. Or the Haitian family might change their minds about the adoption when the implications are explained to them again by the court. Having a family change their minds and find a way to parent their own children is always our first and best hope for any child about to be relinquished. But if that child has already been introduced to an adoptive family as his very own, there is a chance for heartbreak on both sides.

Thus far Judge Cadet has accepted proof of visitation from families who began their adoptions prior to his ruling, and has accepted the signature of others before the same justice of the peace after the birth family relinquished their child. We’ll have to hope that he continues to do so.

The Department of State is in a most difficult situation. It is of course their duty to support Haiti in adhering to its own law, and yet the State Department has maintained a travel warning against Haiti for years.

Exhausted, filthy, and very, very hot, I returned to BRESMA II to find a bowl of excellent hot and somewhat spicy soup waiting for me. It was greatly appreciated, as I seem to have a knack for managing to miss meals here. There is no refrigerator filled with snacks waiting for me either – around here if you miss a meal, you just have to wait for the next one. And as hot is it has been today (just like it usually is in August!), missing more than one in a row is unpleasant. I am so spoiled as an American. Most of these children ate just one meal a day before they came here.

This late afternoon and evening were presents and phone calls time. I got to distribute care packages, photo albums, and gifts to the kids. They all ask the same question: “When are my parents coming to see me?” And then, like children everywhere, they examine their gifts and list what they want their families to send next time. I have to tell everyone I don’t take orders again and again.

I do hope that by next time I have a new cell phone with a good quality speakerphone feature. I’d like to be able to just sit back and translate conversations for children and families, and let them hear each other’s voices.

Tomorrow I’m off to another appointment at the Embassy; this one with USCIS-DHS. It’s only 8:00 but I’m ready for bed. It’s at least 90 degrees in this room, so it could take quite a while to fall asleep. Not to mention that there are about fifty noisy children in the house…

Lakay se lakay

2009-10-07T14:04:00.000-07:00

October 7th, 2009

Arrived in PaP after six months away. This is my 25th visit to Haiti. I’m running out of pages in my passport, and the city feels absolutely familiar. Jamie and Ali picked me up their marvelous air conditioned car and we drove to the office.

Margarette is in Jeremie at the opening of a new BRESMA school, so tomorrow I will attend my first Visa appointment for a client family. I’m pretty excited to be able to be present at the very last step of the process for two of ‘my’ kids. We were hoping to find a copy of the power of attorney the adoptive family notarized for me, but we had no luck. The originals should all be with the Department of State at the US Consulate, as they were given to USCIS when the family’s I600 was adjudicated. But I’m holding my breath. We did try calling DOS directly, but their number is disconnected. I tried USCIS, and voice mailbox of the person I needed to speak to is full. When I called back, the operator tried to transfer me to DOS and dropped the call. Typical Haiti!

The rules were changed just recently so that no representative who does not have power of attorney can attend a VISA appointment, with or without the adoptive parents. This would prove a real problem in this case, as the children are 17 month old twins. I’m imagining chasing them both around the Consulate by myself while I try to file the family’s paperwork! As it is, our secretary Irlande will attend with me. We have a power of attorney form for her in hand. I’m going along, hoping that they’ll just let me in as I’ve been there a few times before. If not, I guess we’ll see how fast Irlande can run while she is filing paperwork!

Next stop was Jamie’s House. The new house is really beautiful, and it’s an easy walk from BRESMA I and BRESMA II. It has a much better play area for the babies and toddlers outdoors and the neighborhood is safer too.

Jamie’s landlord agreed to build a new room onto the house as part of the lease conditions, but now he is reneging on his agreement. Unfortunately, here in Haiti there is really nothing we can do about his dishonesty. I do wish the house were a bit bigger. We have at least three children who will go home by the end of the month, but I must agree with Jamie and Ali that the house is overcrowded and that they should not let in any more children from the waiting list. A crowded house leads to a lower level of care. I’ve asked her to look into the cost of having a new room and bathroom built, and perhaps we’ll fundraise for that addition.

As always, the children are thriving. One baby boy who was so sick and starving the last time I visited that I burst into tears at the sight of him has become a sleek, healthy, very American looking boy. He retains his sweet ‘old soul’ eyes, but he laughs and plays and bounces up and down in his walker as if he’s never had a real problem in his short life. This does NOT look like an orphanage. It resembles a very high end daycare center, but with a better staff ratio.

Jamie and I went to pick up two of the oldest children from preschool. They go five days per week. One of them is my ‘nephew’, Fredo. He is the half brother of four of my Haitian children. Jamie’s parents are in the process of adopting him. He reminds me so much of my son Greg at the same age. Even his thick, strong wrists and hands are just the same.

Fredo is very proud of himself in his little uniform. All Haitian school children wear uniforms, and the girls wear lacy socks and usually matching ribbons in their hair every day. No matter how poor a family is, the children will be immaculately dressed and groomed. Haitian culture places great value on hard work, pride in personal appearance and behavior, and education is more important than anything else. A birth mother once told me, “L’ekol se la vi”: “School is life”.

On the way back from school Jamie dropped me off at ‘my house’, BRESMA II. This is the home of all of our older children, starting at about age four or five. The noise from the house deafened the whole street outdoors when I stepped out of the car. More than fifty voices let me know that it had been too long between visits, all at once. As I entered I was mobbed my small bodies until Manmi Lis herded them all into the main room and had everyone sit down at the tables. The children performed a welcome song for me. There are at least ten new faces, and I felt the familiar bittersweet joy when I missed those of a beloved pair of twins who recently went home. I’ll have a lot of sorting out to do with Irlande and Margarette about who is looking for a family when we get a day in the office together.

This evening Manmi Robert dropped by for a visit. Manmi Robert was the house mother for BRESMA II for several years, and was and is dearly loved by the children and staff. We were overjoyed to see her. I was able to deliver several albums and photos for birth families from adoptive families who have already brought their children home. Everyone was thrilled to see their dear friends so obviously thriving, and it gave hope to the children who are still waiting here. One considerate French family had sent an album of their baby, now a chunky and indulged toddler, just for the nanny who raised her with such love.

As we pored over the albums, the nannies told me about the many parents who come to the house again and again, praying and waiting for a photograph of their children. Some of them come more than once a month and leave in tears every time. Some have been coming for years, hoping against hope for some word about their lost children.

To those of you reading this blog, please don’t forget your child’s birth parents. We will never know what it is like to have to choose to place a child for adoption because we cannot care for him or her. They never forget for their little ones for one moment. Would you? In Haiti, children die every day. It is very hard for me to convince a birth mother that her child is still alive if I don’t have the pictures to prove it. You can do the right thing and ease your children’s first family’s heart just by sending a little album every few months or even once a year with someone who is travelling. And then, later, when your child grows older and has more questions about his adoption, you can show him how much you respect and value his culture, his birth family, and therefore himself. You can let him know that you cared enough about his birth family to remember them and give them peace that they made the right choice for their precious baby.

Joint Council Haiti Children & Families Initiative

2009-08-12T08:36:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,

Over the past three years, the processing of adoptions in Haiti have slowed to a crawl. Abandoned children are enduring adoption processes lasting two or three years before being united with adoptive families.

Not only is such lasting institutional care damaging to the children who wait and wait, but the slowed process has had a negative effect on the many desperately needy children of Haiti who are not waiting in orphanages. Orphanages in Haiti have traditionally been providers of humanitarian aid to their communities. Many support free medical clinics, schools, feeding programs and family preservation programs. Orphanages have been a resource for temporary care for children following a family crisis, such as a fire or illness. But now that children are languishing in orphanage care for years, orphanage directors report that the beds are full, the food and medicine supplies are insufficient, and the children needing temporary care are left on the streets with little prospect for life.

In a laudable effort to move towards transparent and democratic government, Haitian officials are now adhering to the Haitian Constitutional law regarding adoption, written in 1974 by Jean Claude Duvalier. While the law of 1974 places severe limitations on the size and age of those who may adopt, it does allow for Presidential Dispensation for those not meeting the family size or age limitations. Unfortunately, Haiti lacks an organized and transparent system for obtaining Dispensations. This confusion along with the absence of a sense of urgency regarding institutionalized children has caused extensive delays in the adoption process and further victimizes children who have already lost much.

Haiti has a pending solution to this legal logjam. A newly proposed adoption law will clarify who may adopt, increase protections for Haitian children, their birth parents, and adoptive families, and streamline the adoption process. This legislation is supported by the United States and French governments along with the NGO community and UNICEF.

The children of Haiti, the crèche directors who serve them and the adoptive families who wish to raise them need your help. We must encourage the Haitian government to pass the new adoption law and efficiently grant Dispensations in the interim.

What can you do? Make five simple phone calls and write one letter.

1. Call your U.S. Senator.
• You can find your Senators’ phone numbers at www.senate.gov
• Ask to speak with the Legislative Director or Chief of Staff

2. Call your second U.S. Senator.

3. Call your representative to the U.S. House of Representative.
• You can find your representative at www.house.gov
• Ask to speak with the Legislative Director or Chief of Staff

4. Call or fax UNICEF Haiti
• Ask to speak with Julie Bergeron
• Their number is 011-509- 2245-3525
• Their fax number is 011-502- 2245-1877
• Their email address is portauprincehaiti@unicef.org
Please note that calls and faxes to Haiti are international calls

5. Write letters for the Haitian Prime Minister, President of the Haitian Senate, and the Minister of Social Welfare.
• Your letter can contain the same information as specified below. If you are an adoptive family or are close to a Haitian-born adopted child, insert a picture of the child or your family in your letter.
• Describe your family’s commitment to Haitian culture and the country’s well being as a result of your contact with a Haitian-born adopted child.
• Mail your letter to Holt International, which has volunteered to collect letters and transport them to Haiti for hand delivery to the above government officials.

Holt International
Haitian Children & Families Initiative
P.O. Box 2880
Eugene, OR 97402

6. Forward this message to everyone you know who cares about the welfare of abandoned children in Haiti. Individuals need not be personally involved in a Haitian adoption to let their voices be heard on behalf of children who have no one to speak for them!

When should you call? August 13th, 14th, and 17th, 2009
• For maximum affect, we are asking you to make these calls within a 72 hour window!

What should you say or write to member of the U.S. Congress? Speak from your heart and give them the following information.
• Inform them that you are calling regarding Joint Council Haitian Children & Families Initiative
• Inform them that the Haitian international adoption process is unreasonably delayed.
• Inform them that children referred to U.S. families are anguishing in institutions
• Inform them that the backlog of children in the process of adoption is preventing orphanages, who serve as local humanitarian aid providers, from continuing to assist their communities.
• Inform them that due to the interruption of services provided by the orphanages, Haitian children outside the orphanages are needlessly dying.
• Ask that their office to sign the Dear Colleague letter regarding the pending Haitian adoption law, sponsored by Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers and Senator Sam Brownback. The letter asks that adoptions currently in process be speedily granted Presidential Dispensation and that the new adoption law be passed.

Sample Statement
Hello,

We are calling/writing on behalf of the Joint Council Haitian Children & Families Initiative. We, as your constituents, are asking that the Senator/Congressperson send two letters. First, the a letter to the Prime Minister or Haiti, the President of the Haitian Senate, and the Haitian Minister of Social Welfare. Second, a letter to UNICEF.

As you may be aware, the Haitian adoption process is unreasonably delayed.
Children already matched with adoptive families are languishing in orphanages for two and three years. The orphanages, which have traditionally served as humanitarian aid outreach centers, have run out of resources and are no longer able to offer assistance to their communities. Haitian children outside the orphanages are dying needlessly as a direct result of the delayed adoptions.

We are calling/writing on behalf of the Joint Council Haitian Children & Families Initiative. We, as your constituents, are asking that the Senator/Congressperson sign the Dear Colleague letter regarding the pending Haitian adoption law, sponsored by Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers and Senator Sam Brownback.

Sincerely,
(Your name here)

What should you say or write to UNICEF? Speak from your heart and give them the following information.
• Inform them that you are calling regarding the Joint Council Haitian Children & Families Initiative
• Ask them to support the rights of children and lend their considerable influence to ensuring that intercountry adoptions currently in-process be speedily processed to completion under the existing Presidential Dispensation clause.
• Inform them that many adoptions are taking two or three years to process, during which time children languish in orphanages.
• Inform them that due to the overextension of their resources, orphanages are no longer able to provide their traditional humanitarian aid services to their communities, such as free schools, medical care, temporary child care for families in crisis, and family preservation programs.
• Inform them that as a direct result of the orphanage’s inability to provide humanitarian aid due to overly taxed resources, children are needlessly dying in the streets outside the orphanages.
• Ask them again for their support of the Presidential Dispensation and the swift passage of the new adoption law.

Sample Statement
Hello,

• We are calling/writing on behalf of the Joint Council Haitian Children & Families Initiative
• As financial supporters of UNICEF (through our tax dollars), we are asking that UNICEF lends its support and considerable influence to the Joint Council Haitian Children & Families Initiative

As you may be aware, the Haitian adoption process is unreasonably delayed. Children already matched with adoptive families are languishing in orphanages for two and three years. The orphanages, which have traditionally served as humanitarian aid outreach centers, have run out of resources and are no longer able to offer assistance to their communities. Haitian children outside the orphanages are dying needlessly as a direct result of the delayed adoptions.

UNICEF must get involved to ensure that adoptions in process be speedily granted Presidential Dispensation so that they can be completed in a timely manner, and that the new adoption law be passed.

Sincerely,
(Your name here)

Can you explain the problem behind the current crisis? Here is some additional information…
• The current constitutional law, written in 1974 by Jean Claude Duvalier, severely restricts who may adopt from Haiti. The only method by which the Haitian government may permit adoptions to non-conforming families is via Presidential Dispensation.
• The lack of a defined and efficient Dispensation process has caused delays of up to three years for children in the adoption process. Prolonged institutionalization has been scientifically proven to be highly detrimental to children.
• As orphanages expend their limited resources caring for children in the process of adoption over extended periods, they are unable to provide their traditional humanitarian aid programs to their communities.
• The existing adoption law provides almost no protection for the rights of abandoned children, their birth parents, or adoptive families. It offers no safe guards against human trafficking.
• A proposed adoption law will alleviate the crisis by standardizing and streamlining adoptions, and will far better protect abandoned Haitian children from child trafficking.

What else can you do? In addition to your primary calls to U.S. Congress and UNICEF, you can call the the Haitian Embassy:

Embassy of Haiti in the U.S.
2311 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20008
Office Phone 1- 202.332.4090
Office Fax 1- 202-745-7215
embassy@haiti.org

Thank you to Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (WA) and Senator Sam Brownback (KS) for sponsoring a Dear Colleague letter and support among their colleagues.

A New Ruling from Tribunal Court

2009-07-20T08:15:00.000-07:00

At the end of last week colleagues in Haiti shared a summary of a meeting between our attorney, Sarah Pean Vieux, and Rock Cadet, chief justice of the Tribunal Court. At a work session on Hague issues UNICEF personnel reported incidents of abuse and lack of post-placement supervision following the international adoption of Haitian children. According to Mr. Cadet, coming in Haiti to meet the children first, then to pick them up, is an obvious manifestation of the adoptive parents desire to adopt the child and also a brake on any abuses.

Mr. Cadet has decreed that adoptive parents must appear before the justice of the peace who draws up the adoption act to confirm their willingness to adopt the child. The adoptive family will then sign a statement to that effect. BRESMA families which have already visited Haiti may provide evidence (passport copies, etc.) that they have met their children.

It is questionable whether Mr. Cadet’s ruling will stand, as clauses in Haitian law state that supplicants to the court may appoint a proxy using a power of attorney. In the case of adoptions, that proxy is the adoption facilitator. I will share any news from our attorneys and others working to overturn Mr. Cadet's ruling.

Traveling to Haiti to Meet Your Child: Some Advice for Newbies

2009-06-11T06:33:00.000-07:00

This posting was written by Ross and Jean, first time parents and first time travellers. If you have insights, advice, or information you would like to share with other families, please email your story to dboni@allforchildren.org.

Our recent trip was full of firsts: It was our first time in Haiti, our first time meeting our son (Alexander, 10 months), and our first time being parents. During our stay, we kept a list of things we were glad we brought with us and a list of things we wish we had. We also include some tips about the trip itself. Some of what we say here applies only to taking care of little ones, but hopefully we can help those of you adopting older children to create your own lists. We also hope that some of the more experienced travelers currently in the adoption process will supplement our meager attempts here.

Traveling to Haiti: We found this video to be a good primer for arriving in Port-au-Prince. Our experience looked just like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6J2vAg7mbc

A few random tips about preparing for the journey:

1. Pack a “life-raft.” We had a carry-on bag that included essential items so that if our checked baggage didn’t arrive, we could survive for a few days. In it, we packed things like medication, diapers, a change of clothes or two for each family member, and some key toiletries.

2. Haiti uses its own currency, but we used credit cards and American dollars. Be sure to call your credit card company and let them know of your travel plans so they don’t shut off your card.

3. We stayed at the Karibe Hotel. Many members of the staff there speak some English, and almost all of them speak French (and Kreyol, of course). The wireless internet connectivity in the central part of the hotel is very good and we were able to have a (free!) Skype video chat with the grandparents. The connection to the wireless in the rooms themselves is less reliable. You can make reservations on-line: http://www.karibehotel.com/karibehotel/index.asp

4. Book Denis, the driver whom Diana recommends, in advance. He is always on time and makes an impressive effort to avoid cavernous pot holes (the roads are in terrible shape). He’s also a good guide should you have questions regarding Haitian social customs and the like. He will require cash at the end of the trip, at which time, he’ll specify the exact amount, but a full day of driving is about $100.

(Denis Frantz is a Haitian citizen who grew up in Boston. He speaks perfect English and understands Americans' cultural needs. You can call him directly to schedule transportation at 011-509-3402-0932)

5. Your room will likely not have a clock in it, probably because the power goes out frequently and a plugged-in clock would always be wrong. The hotel has a generator that turns on almost immediately when an outage occurs. But if you want to know what time it is, bring a battery-powered travel clock or keep your watch/cell phone handy. Haiti is in CST.
Our cell phones through AT&T worked fine, but calls were expensive: $1.99/minute.

The arrival in Haiti and after:

1. When you exit customs, an official will likely check your baggage tag. Be prepared for them to stop you and request it.

(On the plane, you will be given two forms to fill in: a visitors form - usually green - and a white customs form. At you go through the lines where your passport is stamped officials will take the larger section of the green form and give you the smaller portion to keep. DO NOT LOSE THIS PIECE OF PAPER. You will need to present it when you leave Haiti. The white customs form will be collected when you leave the airport with your luggage.)

2. When you leave the airport (you’ll see that green fence in the video), go to the left. Several airport-approved drivers will approach you and offer to take you. If you have an arrangement with Denis, tell them you’re meeting someone and keep walking. Denis will find you once you exit the boundary of that fence.

3. Red-capped men will follow you very closely in the hopes of loading your bags into Denis’s van for a $2.00 bounty. They are persistent, and we found it wasn’t worth arguing with them. As long as just one person is following you, it seems easier to give him a few dollars.

4. Because the roads are in terrible shape, you may want to take something for carsickness if you are prone to it.

5. Within a day or so of your arrival, have Denis take you to a grocery store. You can only use bottled water for drinking, tooth brushing, and the like, and extra 20 oz. bottles (a junior suite gets 2 a day) cost $2 each at the hotel. At the grocery store, you can stock up on large liters of water for the same price, in addition to other essentials. Kid messes, we soon learned, taxed both the hotel room’s tissue box and its tiny trash can, so we purchased paper towels, trash bags, etc., and we were able to do so with a credit card. We left whatever water and supplies we didn’t use at Jamie and Ali’s house when we dropped Alex off.

6. When you pick your child up, be sure you ask about what they are bringing with them and what their schedule at BRESMA is. Ali gave us a stroller (that doubled as a high-chair for feeding), a few bottles, a change of clothes, formula, jarred food, and a pack and play. We arrived with clothes, toys, baby toiletries, a first-aid kid with some basic meds (Tylenol, etc.), and diapers.

7. Use hot tap water and dish soap (bring your own) to wash bottles. Allow them to air dry COMPLETELY before using them again.

8. The floors in the rooms are tiled, and while BRESMA is tiled as well, we didn’t want Alex crawling around on the hotel room floor because, well, it had the things you might expect to be found on a floor with lots of traffic (a small shard of broken glass, for instance). When we got home, we mentioned this to family members, two of whom asked, “why didn’t you just throw the bed spread down and let him crawl on that?” Duh.

Things We Were Really Happy We Brought (Not Necessarily in this Order):

1. A travel kit of laundry soap, a sink stopper, and a drying line for hand-washing clothes
2. Dish soap, hand sanitizer, and extra wet ones for cleaning everything else
3. Toys for Alex
4. A Kreyol dictionary, which we consulted on the sly when necessary
5. 100% DEET. Seriously

Things We Wish We Brought But Didn’t

1. A travel baby-changing mat (we really needed this!)
2. Beach towels for the pool
3. Tupperware for food and snacks (there are several foods like cereal at the Karibe’s breakfast buffet you can grab and have later)
4. Toys for the big kid house. The kids asked us if we brought them anything, and we felt like schmucks that we hadn’t
5. Baby bath towel (the hotel towels are kinda scratchy)
6. Wash clothes (the hotel does not provide these, so you if you are accustomed to using them at home, bring your own)

Diana will most logically suggest that newbies travel with families who have made the trip before, but as in our case, that’s not always possible. Hopefully, these lists will help those who have to go it alone for the first time. Above all, we hope that those of you traveling for the first time feel prepared enough to relax and enjoy the first days with your child, as we did. It’s an incredible journey. Good luck.

- Ross and Jean and baby Alexander

Dossiers With Dispensations Signed Out of Parquet

2009-05-15T10:51:00.000-07:00

Another bit of good news firsthand from the source - one of our trusted colleagues in Haiti reports that the three dossiers with Presidential Dispensation which she has presented to Parquet Court came out in approximately one week! May they all proceed as smoothly once they conform to the law!

The Haitian Adoption Process

2009-05-15T10:05:00.000-07:00

Current Haitian adoption law

The current Constitutional law regarding adoption reads as follows (translation):

Article 2. Adoption is only allowed for people of both sexes who are older than 35. However, it can also be requested by a married couple who are not separated, as long as at least one of them is over age 35, if they have been married more than ten years, and do not have any [biological] children from this marriage.

The adopters should have neither children nor descendants on the day of the adoption.

The adopters should be 19 years older than the people they propose to adopt, unless the latter are the children of their spouse. In this case, the minimum age difference required shall be no more than ten years and may even be less if given a dispensation by the Head of State.

Article 3. Without the dispensation of the President for Life of the Republic, adoption is only permitted in the absence of legitimate or biological descendants;

It was written in 1974 by Jean Claude Duvalier. Historically, the Haitian social welfare and legal systems disregarded the specific clauses of the law, and the Director of Haitian Social Services would specify the requirements for prospective adoptive families. These were typically as follows:

Couples with both parties over age thirty, married for five years, and with no more than three biological children. At present, only couples with both parents over 35 who can prove ten years of marriage or co-habitation are being accepted by IBESR.

Singles over age thirty or thirty-five, depending upon the individual Director’s guidelines. A few single men have adopted, but most orphanage directors will only work with single women.

At the present time, adoptions are proceeding smoothly for families who do meet the law of 1974.

A rough time line for conforming dossiers as of 11/15/2009:

IBESR 4 to 6 months

Parquet Court 2 to 3 months

Intermediate processing 2 to 2 ½ months

MOI 3 to 4 months

US Immigrations 2 to 6 weeks

Adoptions for families who do not meet the legal criteria of the law of 1974

Since the election of President Rene Garcia Preval in 2006, the country has been steadily moving towards a more lawful and transparent government. Parquet district court in Port-au-Prince began refusing to legalize adoptions authorized by IBESR to parents who did not conform to the law of 1974. Families who do not conform to the law must be granted a Presidential Dispensation in order to legally adopt a child.

Families which do not meet the law of 1974 and yet are pre-approved by IBESR will have their dossiers submitted for Presidential Dispensation. At this time there is no consistent estimate for the waiting time for a Dispensation.

The first Presidential Dispensations were granted in January of 2009. Thus far there have been no denials of Dispensation to families already provisionally approved by IBESR (Haitian Social Services). At this time there are hundreds of cases awaiting Dispensation. A few are granted each week in a slow but steady stream.

The pending adoption law

At the same time, a new adoption law has been proposed. It was authored with input from IBESR and UNICEF. The law is currently awaiting discussion, modification, and a vote from the Senate. Joint Council agencies and the Haitian Creche Directors Association are working together to lobby for specific changes to the proposed law, primarily consisting of broadening the criteria for adoptive families, especially in the cases of older children, sibling groups, and children with special needs.

As the proposed new law is currently written (as translated for us by Isabelle Gaellemart of France), the section discussing criteria for adoptive families includes to following:

SECTION 1 – Regarding adoptive parents

ARTICLE 2. – Adoption may be requested jointly by a married heterosexual couple not living separately, after five years of marriage if one of the couple is more than thirty years old.

If the request comes from one of the non-separated couple, the consent of the other is necessary.

ARTICLE 3.- Two people of opposite sexes, living together for at least ten years, may request to adopt a child. Their living together must be established by a certificate delivered by the competent authorities of the host country and the consent of both is necessary.

ARTICLE 4.- Candidatures of women, widowers or divorced, who are at least thirty-five years old, with no biological child, are accepted. A man must be a widower or divorced, with no biological children and at least 35 years old.

ARTICLE 5.- Priority is given to couples who are married or living together who do not have biological children at the time of the adoption. When the aforementioned heterosexual couple has a maximum of two biological or adopted children, they may only adopt children with special circumstances (handicapped, with health problems or older than 5 years of age).

If the couple already has biological or adopted children, the latter should give their opinion if they are 8 years of age or more.

ARTICLE 6.- The age of the adopters may not be over 50 for the oldest of the married couple or those living together in a common-law relationship.

This limitation of age does not apply for inter family adoptions.

The pending law offers far greater protection for Haitian families, their biological children, and even adoptive families than is afforded by the current law. It is important to note that independent adoptions (adoptions in which the adoptive family is not represented and monitored by a licensed adoption agency in their country of citizenship) will be discontinued. Specific post-placement reporting requirements are mandated, and all international adoption agencies will be registered with IBESR.

Summary

At present, the adoption process remains rocky and frustrating for non-conforming families and waiting children alike. However, it is very encouraging to see the rapid progress being made towards making the adoption process function within the law, and towards the passage of a much-improved adoption law for the future. All in all, at least in my opinion, the outlook is far brighter than it has been for a long time for the homeless children of Haiti.

Dossiers With Dispensations Signed Out of IBESR

2009-05-11T09:34:00.000-07:00

A bit of good news for a Monday morning - we are aware of four dossiers which have received Presidential Dispensation and been signed out of IBESR. One is from BRESMA. All four were released from IBESR approximately one month after Dispensation was granted.

To learn more about Dispensations and the current state of international adoptions in Haiti in general, you can read my posting about the Haitian Adoption Process.

We're hoping for more good news soon. All of the member agencies of JCICS are sharing information, so that we can share it with all of you who are waiting.

Success at Last!

2009-05-06T12:44:00.000-07:00

To the untrained eye, this looks like a picture of a stack of ugly boxes. Actually, I must admit it looks like that to me too... But this picture fills my heart with joy and relief.

Almost two years ago to the day, our organization was granted an amazing gift from Feed My Starving Children. We were given an entire forty foot cargo container filled with donated food.

Inside each box are several plastic packets of what looks at first glance very much like rice with a few simple spices. FMSC food is very easy to cook - all we have to do is add water and boil, and the flavor appeals very much to children. But it is not just a simple rice casserole. FMSC's food is specifically engineered to meet the nutritional needs of malnourished children. In addition to providing macro nutrients (vitamins and minerals), it has a very high ratio of highly digestible crude protein.

The majority of our children arrive at the orphanage suffering from protein deprivation malnutrition - either kwashiorkor ('dry' malnutrition) or marasmus ('wet' malnutrition). Once the body has become weakened by protein deprivation, it becomes even more difficult for the digestive tract to extract protein from less expensive food sources such as rice and beans and wheat. FMSC's soy additives are highly digestible even for the most fragile, at risk child.

Other organizations benefiting from the generosity of Feed My Starving Children have reported not only dramatic weight and growth increases for their children, but have noted a drastic reduction in illnesses and other conditions which can easily attach a child with a weakened immune system. Scabies, worms, and other parasites will suffer as our children gain strength.

We are deeply grateful for the many individuals who donated the money which enabled us to ship the container, all that time ago, and those who helped pay the 'ransom' to get it out of customs. We are particularly grateful to Lime Studios of Santa Monica, CA and Carousel Dinner Theater of Fort Collins, CO for their corporate level support.

The food will provide all the children of BRESMA who are on solid food with one meal a day for several months. As they are eating, I will be chasing down sponsorship and help for our next container. There are so many organizations who need our help - FMSC food is for sharing. We'd like to share it with the women participating in our Women's Literacy, Education, and Self-Sufficiency / Haitian Family Preservation project. We'd like to serve it every day at the two free schools BRESMA sponsors for children of Haiti's poor. We'd like to pass along a pallet or two to Angel Missions Haiti to use in their trainings for the parents of children with special needs. We'd like to share it with other orphanages, with hospitals, with anyone who needs it. And next time, we'll have some IGO and NGO help to be sure the container arrives in a more timely and less stressful manner!

It will cost us approximately $10,000 to ship another forty foot container, carrying 43,000 pounds of 'superfood' custom tailored to meet the needs of starving children. You can help feed some of the most desperate people in Haiti exactly the food they need to address not only their empty bellies, but the malnutrition that makes them such an easy target for parasites and disease. Go to The Alliance for Children Foundation to make a tax deductible donation, and specify that you'd like your donation to be used for our Food for Haiti program. It's a very concrete way to make a difference in the world.