Orphan Crisis in Haiti
On January 12, 2010, Haiti was struck by a magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake. This earthquake killed hundreds of thousands of Haitians and left over a million people homeless and in need of the basic necessities for life.
America World Adoption is greatly concerned about the well-being of all those affected by this disaster, especially the children in Haiti. We continue to pray for the orphans that have been affected by this earthquake.
Many children have been separated from their families – humanitarian efforts are underway seeking to reunify these families. Many other children tragically lost their parents in this disaster and aid organizations are seeking to find relatives who can appropriately care for these children. In other circumstances there are orphans that have nobody who is capable of providing for them; in these situations America World Adoption believes it is imperative that competent authorities prioritize finding safe, permanent families for these children.
We support the UN’s Declaration on the Rights of the Child and the efforts of reputable organizations to protect orphans against trafficking and from being inappropriately separated from their families. We’re also supportive of those efforts to prioritize and expedite the processing of orphans’ cases by making best interest determinations regarding placing children into safe, permanent and appropriate families.
Is adoption currently possible from Haiti?
At this time, the only children being processed for visas are those children who either had their adoptions 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.
America World Adoption intends to work with families whenever and wherever possible to promote appropriate adoptions from Haiti. We will be monitoring the situation very carefully and can update families on the ability to adopt from Haiti. For those interested in receiving updates from us directly, please email your name and email address to info@awaa.org with the subject line “Haiti Adoption Interestâ€.
Is God calling me to adopt from Haiti?
God works in mysterious and unpredictable ways; He can take awful situations and use them to produce blessings. Many families are now interested in adoption after learning about the tragedy in Haiti. Perhaps God is using this tragedy in Haiti to show us that there are orphans all over the world in need of families.
Instead of an earthquake, tens of thousands of children have been left as orphans in Ethiopia because of HIV/AIDS, poverty and famine; your family can get more information about Ethiopia adoption by going to our website or emailing ethiopia@awaa.org. In Rwanda, the aftermath of the genocide, HIV/AIDS and extreme poverty have left many children as orphans; this is one of our newest programs and we’ve been encouraged to see the results; families can email a Rwanda Family Coordinator at rwanda@awaa.org. Our China Waiting Children Program has children available age six months to fourteen years, including young children with minor and medically correctible special needs; please email waitingchildren@awaa.org for more information about this program.
We encourage you to pray and seek the Lord’s will for your family. And please continue praying for those in need in Haiti – a crisis of this magnitude will require years and years of help – and we pray that by the mercy and grace of God this will not be a time when orphans are left by the wayside, but that permanent families will be sought for all the children in need of parents to care for them, in Haiti and throughout the world.