Haiti: Imminent End to Private Adoptions UPDATED

By on 6-24-2011 in Haiti, International Adoption

Haiti: Imminent End to Private Adoptions UPDATED

President Martelly announced the imminent end of private adoptions at the meeting of representatives of ten receiving countries yesterday.

As noted in this June 21 adoption notice , Special Advisor for Children’s Issues Ambassador Susan Jacobs represented the US.

” Representatives from ten countries adopters, including France, the first host country of Haitian children in 2010, were gathered Thursday morning, in a reunion at the Plaza Hotel in Port-au-Prince, in presence of the President Michel Martelly, to provide an update on the adoption in Haiti.

At this reunion, organized by a group of Montreal on international adoption, whose purpose is to consider the resumption of the “frozen” adoptions, the President Martelly has committed before the participants to ratify, during his mandate, the Hague Convention on the adoption, that prevents the so-called adoptions “private or individual”.
“While awaiting the vote of this law, within time limits that I wish as close as possible, I intend to make a presidential order requiring the passage of the applications for adoption with the approved bodies, as provided for in the Convention of the Hague” declared the Head of State.

This will prevent de facto, all the individual adoption procedures of Haitian children.”

Haiti – Social : The President Martelly announces the imminent end of the private adoptions[Haiti Libre 6/23/11]

“President Michel Martelly will issue a decree to make law the adoption of Haitian children subject to institutional processes.

The law had begun forming during the Preval administration and has passed a vote in the Chamber of Deputies but is awaiting passage in the Senate.
As the nation is awaiting the ratification of a prime minister, the vote in the Senate is postponed. The President, believing no time can be wasted on the matter, will enact the decree in the meantime.
“While waiting for a vote on this law, a delay I hope will be as short as possible, I intend to issue a presidential decree making it obligatory for adoption applications to go through authorized organisms, as the Hague Convention outlines,” Martelly was quoted.

The measure will effectively ban private adoptions, the President concluded.”

Haiti Presidential Decree to Tighten International Adoptions [Defend Haiti 6/24/11 by Samuel Maxime]

” Haitian President Michel Martelly said Thursday he would issue a presidential decree to tighten up Haiti’s adoption procedures and ensure all applications go through authorized entities.

Legislation to that effect has already gone through the National Assembly and is expected to pass the Senate soon, but Martelly, who was sworn in as president in May, is struggling to form a government to sign off on the law.
Martelly’s first pick as prime minister, businessman Daniel-Gerard Rouzier, was rejected by a parliament dominated by his predecessor’s ruling party earlier this week.
“While waiting for a vote on this law, a delay I hope will be as short as possible, I intend to issue a presidential decree making it obligatory for adoption applications to go through authorized organisms, as the Hague Convention outlines,” Martelly said. The president vowed to ratify the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption, which sets forth guidelines and procedures and outlaws private or individual adoptions, during his five-year term. He was speaking at a Port-au-Prince gathering of 10 adopter nations, including France, the former colonial power which took in more Haitian children than any other country in 2010.
This “eagerly awaited” measure will effectively ban individual adoption procedures, Martelly said.”

” A total of 318 adopted Haitian children were included in a special program and flown to France last Christmas Eve. The children were all in the process of being adopted when the quake struck on Jan. 12, 2010, causing adoptions to be delayed with some records lost in the rubble.”

Haiti to tighten adoption rules[Edmonton Journal 6/24/11 by Agence France Presse]

Update: The US Department of State has issued an alert about “risks” of private (independent) adoptions. Smiley raising a sign: “Huh?”  I guess this is diplomatic-ese for President Martelly saying “While waiting for a vote on this law, a delay I hope will be as short as possible, I intend to issue a presidential decree making it obligatory for adoption applications to go through authorized organisms, as the Hague Convention outlines.” and concluding that the measure will effectively ban private adoptions.

Additionally, while many prospective adoptive parents have begun their process after the earthquake (padding the pockets of the adoption industry with all of those upfront fees), very few have completed the process outside of the Humanitarian Parole cases. Why wouldn’t the Department of State be more assertive in their statement that it is unlikely that an independent adoption will reach conclusion due to what what JUST said to their faces a few days ago?! What spin!

The alert can be found here and pasted below.

“Alert: Pursuing Independent Adoptions without Licensed Agencies Increases Risks of Delays and Fraud

The Department of State has seen a recent increase in U.S. citizens seeking to pursue adoptions in Haiti through independent agents instead of licensed adoption providers. While these “private” adoptions are currently permissible in Haiti, prospective adoptive parents should be aware of the risks associated with not utilizing experienced, licensed agencies. Non-licensed facilitators may lack experience in navigating the complex Haitian adoption process, and this could lead to delays and critical mistakes in processing the case. Haitian facilitators may also not be familiar with U.S. immigration law governing intercountry adoption processing. Prospective adoptive parents pursuing an independent adoption may place their trust in private facilitators engaging in unethical or illegal practices in Haiti. The Department strongly encourages prospective adoptive parents adopting from Haiti to research U.S. immigration laws and Haitian adoption procedures through the use of a reputable, licensed agency or experienced facilitator.”

Update 2: Haiti orphanage that completes independent adoptions comments on this event on July 9, 2011. They apparently were not aware of what transpired until this time and learned of it via a radio program.

“I cannot tell you the number of times I have spoken to journalists and they did not use the information that I gave them because it wasn’t dramatic enough. They didn’t want to tell the adoptive family side of the story or if they did it showed the family as over dramatic and not looking at the whole picture!

So, we are driving up and the radio is talking about this article that appeared in the paper and President Martelly was interviewed and said that private adoptions would no longer be allowed in Haiti. All adoptive families must use a licensed agency who will have direct contact with the orphanages. This is the first time, that I have heard him say this exactly. I asked Wadson to tell me what he heard so I could make sure that we heard it correctly.

This means that adoptive families cannot contact the orphanage directly looking to adopt a child. Neither can families contact a lawyer and adopt a child through a lawyer without going through an agency and a licensed orphanage.

This should not affect any dossiers that are already in Haiti waiting for a proposal. I cannot guarantee this, but that is what my staff thinks at this time.

I understand totally why the Hague ratified countries along with UNICEF have been pushing for this change. They do not want families to contact lawyers or orphanages asking for a child and then have the lawyers or orphanages go find a child for them. UNICEF calls this child trafficking. But I do not quite understand why qualified, paper ready adoptive families cannot work directly with a licensed orphanage?

We are working with several agencies in the USA now and also in the Hague ratified countries. This change should not be a problem. Our American office staff is in contact with the American independent families who this might affect and told them what they need to do to qualify to adopt now.”

“I want what is best for the children and if some lawyers and orphanages are not doing things the correct way which causes the government to make new rules, then I accept the new rules because it is all about protecting the children.  ”

http://godslittlestangelsinhaiti.org/andlifegoeson/2011/07/09/official-statement-by-president-martelly-about-private-non-agency-adoptions-in-haiti/

What stuns Rally is that there is an unawareness by people in the adoption business that others have done untoward things in Haitian adoptions or that people in the adoption business had no clue that there was a major meeting of ten countries about adoption in the country that one operates in!Granted the US Press has kept this hush and the milquetoast DOS notice was not helpful, but really? One finds out on a radio show?

REFORM Puzzle Piece

One Comment

  1. MFHCM August 8, 2011 at 7:59 pm

    Great blog love all the posts! Thanks for keeping us updated.

    http://www.mannaforhaiti.com
    http://www.mfhcm.org

    Reply

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