Haitian Adoption

I am writing to update those who are interested in Haitian adoption.  I participated in a conference today involving USCIS, US Dept. of State and the Dept. of Health and Human Services.  At this time, the only children being processed for visas are those children who either had their adoption finalized within Haiti prior to the January 12th earthquake or those children who’ve already been accepted as a referral by families working with an adoption service provider.  New adoption cases aren’t currently being processed. 

There is consideration of a policy to allow children in desperate circumstances to enter to the United States on a special humanitarian visa – but there are not yet details regarding which children might qualify and what their status would be regarding adoption. 

There is still much chaos and confusion in Haiti and many families are still trying to locate their loved ones.  We were encouraged to know that the US government is very serious about not placing children who could still have a family or would not be appropriate for adoption.  Our hearts and prayers are going out to the people of Haiti – especially the orphans in that country.  When Haiti does have children available for adoption it is our agency’s intention to help find families for those orphans.  If your family is interested in Haitian adoption, please email info@awaa.org with the subject “Haiti adoption interest.† We’ll compile a list of names and email addresses and inform families when there is more information.

— Brian Luwis