NCFA Response to Haitian Crisis

NCFA Response to Haitian Crisis

The National Council For Adoption (NCFA) is deeply saddened by the devastation and loss of life resulting from last Tuesday’s earthquake in Haiti. Currently, worldwide humanitarian efforts are and should be focused on ensuring the survival and well-being of the people of Haiti.

There are approximately 167 licensed orphanages in Haiti. As a first step, we ask the U.S. government and the Red Cross to prioritize and secure the safety of the children in these orphanages.

In 2009, 330 children were adopted from Haiti by U.S. citizens. With 10,000 orphans in Haiti, sources estimate that there may be between 600-900 orphaned children whose adoptions were in process when the earthquake struck. For those cases in which the U.S. families had already attained a custody order or a formal decree of adoption prior to the earthquake, NCFA joins Members of Congress in calling on the U.S. government to employ humanitarian parole in order to expedite their adoptions. The Department of State asks all families adopting from Haiti whose adoptions are in process to contact askci@state.gov and provide a list of all known information about your child. Adoption documentation in Haiti may have been displaced or destroyed, so it is essential to remain patient while the necessary information is retrieved.

NCFA and other adoption advocates are very concerned about the potential for child trafficking in Haiti. As such, NCFA urges that there be no expedited efforts made to process new adoptions in Haiti at this time. Additionally, NCFA discourages the altruistic practice commonly referred to as "baby lifts". Adequate time is needed to ensure that presumably orphaned children have no surviving family. Even in the name of humanitarian interest, we cannot risk the premature adoptions of vulnerable children who may have been separated from their families by this tragedy.

NCFA is deeply grateful for the swift response of the U.S. government, the U.S. Department of State, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the Red Cross, child welfare and adoption advocates, and charitable organizations in the U.S. and around the world. We are hopeful that every effort can and will be made to secure the safety of the people of Haiti, especially its most vulnerable citizens.

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