Adopting from Haiti

A lot of folks have been asking us about adopting from Haiti. It has been incredible to see the response and the interest. I pray that continues to grow and does not wane as the news coverage does. The challenge is with the current devastation there is no infrastructure to facilitate adoptions. We hope and pray that will change in the near future as the children who were orphans and have become orphans because of the earthquake desperately need permanent families.

I will be following the developments as close as I can and will try to update the blog. In the meantime, my good friend Aaron Ivey, who has adopted from Haiti and is currently waiting to bring home their son from Haiti, shares the best advice on this that I have read:

If you are wanting to pursue Haitian adoption, we advise you to wait and pray. Pray for all the children that just lost one or both parents. Pray for the orphanages there. Right now they are working to take care of the kids that were already there due to lack of supplies since the earthquake. There will be a massive need for families to adopt from Haiti in the near future. The Haitian adoption process is not an easy one, and it could potentially be even harder. Ask God to guide your heart in the direction it needs to go.

The most pressing need right now is humanitarian aid, and getting needed supplies to current orphans and new orphans affected by this crisis.  People have asked for our contacts in Haiti regarding initiating adoptions.  Right now, it’s impossible for these orphanages in Haiti to process new adoptions, as all efforts are in “survival mode.”  Before overwhelming these orphanages with new adoptive parents, we must address the pressing needs of humanitarian aid in the crisis along with releasing the thousands of pending adoptions immediately.  For the thousands of pending adoptions already in Haiti, THE SOLUTION IS HUMANITARIAN PAROLE FOR ADOPTIVE CHILDREN. These children have willing families to care for them and can be brought to the US for care. While granting a humanitarian parole is outside the normal procedures, the United States government has granted them in the past (e.g. Cambodia and Romania). THIS IS NOT AN EXPEDITED ADOPTION. The adoption process is now completely incapacitated, but when it resumes the United States seeks to honor the adoption process established in Haiti. This is a humanitarian effort to care for these kids, and the adoption will be processed using the usual procedure at a later time.

If you would like to contact an agency here in the USA that deals with Haitian adoptions I’m sure they could give information, but we would suggest waiting before contacting anyone in Haiti for the time being.  We will know more in the next few weeks about how adoptions in Haiti are progressing, along with any new systems that might be in place for families to initiate new Haitian adoptions.  This is not meant to stifle any stirrings that families in the USA are experiencing right now as they see the plight of orphans rise in Haiti, but realistically we must address the most pressing issues without overwhelming the orphanages and embassy more than they already are in this crisis.

keep praying.  keep longing for adoption.  and keep advocating for orphans.  and pray specifically that in the coming weeks, pending adoptions are released, orphanages are given vital supplies and food so that they can bring in the many new orphans and begin addressing how to progress with new adoptions.