From Catholic Relief Services: Situation of Haitian Children

 Wednesday, February 03, 2010

**This is an excerpt from their full memo. To see all the information, visit: http://uspartners.crs.org/downloads/jointmemohaitiankids.pdf

In the aftermath of the horrific earthquake that shook Haiti January 12, the needs of orphaned and unaccompanied children are foremost in the minds of those who want to help. There has been an outpouring of interest and good will on the part of U.S. officials and the general public, but it is essential that efforts to help these children are carried out in a responsible way that takes into consideration the safety and best interest of each child.

As organizations with long histories of service to vulnerable children, Migration and Refugee Services/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (MRS/USCCB), Catholic Relief Services (CRS), and Catholic Charities USA (CCUSA) are doing all we can to help protect the children displaced by this disaster. We are closely monitoring the situation on the ground and, while supportive of the UN-led child protection effort underway, have concerns about the way in which some actors are responding to the needs of children.

While some Haitian children were legally confirmed as eligible for inter-country adoption prior to the earthquake and have been matched with approved adoptive parents, they constitute a small portion of the overall population of unaccompanied children. Other children lived in orphanages prior to the earthquake but still have living family members, as it is common for Haitian children to be placed in orphanages temporarily while their families are unable to care for them. There are also those children who have been temporarily or permanently separated from their caregivers by the earthquake. These children do not yet know if they will find their families. In still other cases, U.S. citizen and non-citizen children in Haiti have family here in the United States, or are living abroad but have family still in Haiti. Each of these groups of children requires a different response to correspond with their best interests.

 It is important to know that children who have not been legally adopted or who are in the process of adoption but have not been finally approved must go through many important processes before adoption becomes a possibility. While it is natural to want to bring these children immediately to the United States and place them for adoption, this is not necessarily in the best interest of the child.

To see this full memo from Catholic Relief Services, visit http://uspartners.crs.org/downloads/jointmemohaitiankids.pdf.