Wednesday March 3, 2010 from 6:00-7:30 pm

In Room CE  409: IUPUI Campus Center – at the corner of Michigan Street & University Boulevard (This is a new building with Barnes & Noble is above)

Panelists Include:

• Dr. Didier Gondola (Professor of History)
• Dr. Tim Brothers (Associate Professor of Geography)
• Dr. Una Osili (Associate Professor of Economics and Director of Research, Center of Philanthrophy)
• Dr. Amy Reinsel (Adjunct Professor of World Languages and Cultures)
  Leonce John-Baptiste (IUPUI Alum and Member of Haitian Association of Indiana)
• Patricia Jordan (IUPUI Student, Olaniyan Scholars Program)

Creative Performance choreographed and scripted by Dr. Regina Turner, Associate Professor of Communication Studies and University College.

Speakers will:

• Address the myths and misunderstandings about Haiti and its history
• Learn about the environmental context and natural hazards
• Provide information about Haiti’s complicated relationship with the U.S.
• Share resources to help with the effort to rebuild the Haitian nation.

For more information:

Jennifer Thorington Springer, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of English
IUPUI – Cavanaugh Hall 501K
425 N University Boulevard
Indianapolis IN 46202
Phone: (317) 278-2636
Fax: (317) 278-1287
Email: jtspring@iupui.edu

**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.

Mesi Anpil, thank you, thank you for all your expressions of support, prayers, and thoughts in this hour of greatest need for our sisters and brothers here in Haiti. As you have seen on all the broadcast and in print media, this has been a catastrophe of unimaginable proportions.

We have been overwhelmed and grateful with the desire of our PTPA members to help, many of whom wish to organize teams to come to be of whatever assistance they can . These volunteer requests range from individuals who wish to bring medical teams, work crews, students on spring break, Jesuit novices, those who want to go to their parishes in the countryside, etc., to those who will do anything that is needed at Matthew 25. We have received many inquiries about the best way to get down here: are cars available to rent, is fuel, water, and food available, etc.

Because we are one of the few guest houses still functioning in PaP, (Norwich House, Hospice St. Joseph, and Providence House are down) and have had almost uninterrupted power (with our batteries, inverters, and generator) and Internet access, we have had many requests from journalists, small NGO’s, medical people, etc., for housing, such as it is. Our first priority has been for the medical volunteers that are working in our makeshift field hospital, and for workers from the small NGO’s as they have contacts and resources to get things done. Several of them attend daily meetings of the UN clusters on health, food, housing, etc.

As much as we would like to respond to each individual question and request, we simply do not have the resources to do that at this time. People in the US must research their own travel arrangements. Most are coming through the DR, or hooking up with a mercy flight or Missionary Flights International from Florida. As you know, no commercial airlines from the US are flying into PaP at this time. Some who are scheduled on Delta say they are flying to PaP as of Feb. 9; others scheduled on AA say they start on Feb. 19, but these dates have been pushed back several times.We do understand that Lynx Air is flying from Ft. Lauderdale to Cap Haitian

Information about the condition of Matthew 25 structure

We have just had earthquake engineers do an assessment of our property. Their report indicated moderate damage to our building, and certified it for restricted use only. That means we must not sleep in the building, and no one should be upstairs. The immediate need to make the building safer is to remove the third level porch, and the second level penthouse rooms. This will do away with the possibility of the upper levels collapsing upon the bottom floor or falling over (part of it is leaning) into an area where it could damage vehicles or people walking by. The perimeter walls around the immediate building have also been compromised. A section of wall about 6 feet long has come down.

Therefore, we are all (staff and visitors) sleeping outside in tents in the area directly behind the house. All visitors staying on the grounds must bring tents and some type of camp mattress. We do use the house during the day, and have two working toilets, sinks, and showers. Our in house kitchen is functioning as is the kitchen out back. Theremise our cook is working out there.

We have been averaging about 25 to 30 people sleeping on our grounds. This is of course in addition to the 1500-2000 sleeping and living on the soccer field next door.

All our visitors are doing some kind of disaster relief work, whether working directly in our field hospital or going into areas of PaP supporting already existing clinics or running their own mobile clinics.

The Immediate Future

We will accommodate visitors up to our normal capacity of 31, sleeping under the stars in tents. However, because the situation is so fluid regarding the airlines, fuel availability, and the medical needs of our community, visitors are not able to give us exact dates of their comings and goings, how many nights they will stay, etc. Some groups coming in on corporate jets or mercy flights have told us they are coming on a specific day at a specific time as they had a landing slot, only to be told by the US military (who have taken control of the PaP airport) that they had to give their slot away and they had to be rescheduled several days later. Some have told us they have a ticket from AA on such and such a date, but find out later the first day for flying to PaP has been pushed back AGAIN!

So we are doing the best we can with what we have. We will accept visitors on a first come first serve basis, and remain flexible. Please be understanding if we tell you we cannot accept your group at Matthew 25, or if we cannot help you find a way to PaP. If we can we will, but if we can’t we will tell you so.

Thank you,

Sr. Mary, Patrick, and Vivian

• USAID has developed a major initiative entitled “Operation Protect Children” to provide immediate and long-range response to the crisis of unaccompanied children in Haiti with the ultimate goal of assisting the Haitian government to repair and strengthen its child welfare system
• An NGO sub-cluster headed by UNICEF has been set up to assure the safety and subsistence of children
• UNICEF has set up interim care centers for unaccompanied children throughout the country in which 40,000 children have already been seen
• The International Red Cross and Haitian Red Cross have set up an in-country helpline to connect unaccompanied children to their parents or extended family members
• The Haitian government has dispatched 20 child protection brigades to the airport and borders to protect against child trafficking

The one question that they were unprepared to address is whether/how Haitian immigrants in the U.S. might be able to foster or adopt their child relatives known to be without other in-country family members.  Department of State said they have not yet developed a process to facilitate that situation.

Jean Beil

Senior Vice President

Programs & Services

Catholic Charities USA

Sixty-Six Canal Center Plaza

Suite 600

Alexandria, VA 22314

Direct: 703-236-6229

Fax:  703-549-4183

Our group of doctors and nurses continue to work very hard in Haiti alongside others medical professionals from New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Florida. They are currently in Petite Riviere de L’Artibonite, ~50 miles north of Port-au-Prince, They have worked on a lot of patients ~100 now.Yesterday Sunday, the group performed 14 surgeries. Among them are 2 neuro-surgeons, 1 cardio vascular surgeon, 3 orthopedic, 1 plastic surgeon,

Volunteers need to be medical professionals, trained in disaster relief or already familiar with Haiti because of previous travels there.

The group is currently in Saint-Marc, one of Haiti’s major towns located 35 miles north of Port-au-Prince. They are in Saint-Marc because patients are scattered in all the hospitals throughout Haiti. We are continuing to find ways to help with medical personnel and medical supplies; however, as you can imagine, working through all the logistics remains a real challenge for the “Indiana Haiti Earthquake Relief Organization”.

Initial feedback from the Hoosier group in Haiti is that the needs are
huge and supplies are scarce. Integration plan has been developed with
several other international organizations that are on the ground in the hospital in Saint-Marc. Meanwhile, all are working to help the patients for whom they initiated the trip. My wife, Josee is among the medical team from
Indiana who was eager to be in Haiti and assist the injured from the January 12 earthquake .

I will keep you informed!
Regards,
Andre E. Angrand

Subject: Update of adopting Haitian Orphans

Update on Adopting Haitian Orphans

 In response to the many inquiries about adopting or sheltering Haitian orphans, here is an update on the information we have gathered so far.

On January 18th, DHS Secretary Napolitano announced humanitarian parole for two categories of orphaned children:

• Category 1 – Orphaned children who were living in Haiti, for whom the legal adoption process was already completed, i.e., they have a final adoption decree. These children will be permitted to leave Haiti and will be released to the adoptive parents here in the U.S.
• Category 2 – Children already in the process of adoption who have been matched with U.S. adoptive parents, but for whom a final decree has not yet been issued. Their prospective adoptive parents will be screened as possible sponsors; if they are eligible the child will be released to them. If not, the child will be the responsibility of HHS, the Office of Refugee Resettlement, Undocumented Minor Program and will be placed with the usual U.S. providers.

Families who had begun the adoption process before January 12th, and whose prospective adoptive children fit either category should send detailed information to the state department: HaitianAdoptions@dhs.gov

Any children who have been transported to the U.S. without prior authorization will be placed in the Undocumented Minors program. At this time no other children are being allowed to leave the country and UNICEF is trying to establish safe locations in Haiti for children who are still in danger.

If an agency becomes aware of U.S. citizens who left their Haitian children in the care of relatives in Haiti who were killed in the earthquake, and who now want to bring those children into the U.S, contact can be made with Michele Bond at the State Department via e-mail: bondmt@state.gov

Although the response of the American people to the needs of the orphaned children has been inspiring, there will likely not be a need for Americans to open their homes to these children. These individuals should be encouraged to consider a domestic or international adoption in the future or to begin the process to become a foster parent for the many American children awaiting care.

If you have additional questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Jean Beil
Sr. Vice President, Programs and Services
(703) 236-6229
jbeil@catholiccharitiesusa.org

**This info is an excerpt from a communication from Vincent Caponi sent Jan. 14

Seton International, the international outreach arm of Ascension Health, is coordinating system-wide relief efforts on behalf of Ascension Health ministries. Seton International will be collecting funds and funneling them to:

(a) the Daughters of Charity in Haiti, who will continue helping people most in need at this time; and

(b) the Catholic Consortium for International Health Care, an organization affiliated with the Catholic Health Association that has ongoing supportive relationships with organized medical facilities (hospitals, clinics, etc.) in Haiti. 

In response to the needs of the of the Haiti earthquake victims, St.Vincent Health is taking the following steps and we invite your participation as you feel called: 

• St.Vincent Health will donate $50,000 to Seton International in support of the Sisters’ disaster relief work and medical relief work in Haiti.    
• The St.Vincent Foundation is accepting donations from associates, physicians and the public that will be earmarked for Haiti Relief. One-hundred percent of the funds raised for Haiti Relief will be combined and the Foundation will write a check to Seton International to use in disaster and medical relief efforts. 
• All contributions are tax-deductible and receipts will be distributed. If you would like to make a credit card contribution, please click here:  www.give.stvincent.org

The St.Vincent Physician Outreach Network is collaborating with other Indiana medical outreach organizations to plan and coordinate a sustained series of physician and caregiver trips to Haiti to render direct medical care to people in need. Because the conditions in Haiti are so primitive, and because logistical considerations are extensive, direct relief efforts are being carefully planned and coordinated by physicians leading the Physician Outreach Network. Please check the Physician Outreach Network website at www.stvincent.org/outreach for updates, which will be posted as further details are available.   

• St.Vincent Indianapolis Hospital is providing medical supplies that will be used by the Physician Outreach Network. Supplies will be made available to support care for approximately 1,000 patients. 

I participated in the Department of Homeland Security conference call today on the topic of Haitian orphans and adoption. There are far too many details to share, but the bottom line is that there will not be an opportunity to bring orphans for adoption to Indiana any time soon.

As I think was shared yesterday, the only orphans that have left and will leave in the near future are those that were already approved for adoption and have an identified and qualified family here in the U.S.  These are children that fit into either category 1 or 2 as identified in the hand out that I passed around yesterday with the announcement from DHS secretary Napolitano.

DHS is working very hard to try and ensure that everyone is going through the proper processes to bring in Haitian children. In fact they referenced the fact that in the haste of getting the children out of Haiti that went to Pittsburg, 5 or 6 of them were actually supposed to go to other countries.

Let me know if you want any more details

Peace,

David