Haiti Ratified Hague Convention on Haiti Children’s Day, June 11, 2012 UPDATED

The prelude to the ratification: “On the occasion of the “Week of the Child,” a group of 27 children whose 8 girls endorsed last week, the role of parliamentarians the time of a visit t to the National Assembly organized by the Institute of Social Welfare and Research (IBESR) with the support of the Unit for Child Welfare of the Minustah and the participation of the Brigade for the Protection of Minors of the National Police of Haiti, several other national and international like World Vision, Save the Children, Plan International, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the Organization of American States (OAS) and the Foyer Saint Vincent.

This outreach activity and advocacy in favor of the ratification of the Hague Convention, on international adoption, was done in the presence of Simon Dieuseul Desras, President of the Senate, the Senator Andris Riché, Vice president, and several senator.

According to IBESR, about 1,500 Haitian children are adopted each year since 2000. Since 1993, the Convention on the Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption, better known as the “Hague Convention”, helps to ensure, through the enactment of laws by the signatory States, a protection to children and prevent child trafficking.

A Convention which has not yet been ratified by Haiti… but that the Senate President has promised to ratify this Monday, June 11, 2012, to mark the Haitian Children’s Day, paving the way for the establishment of a legal adoption procedures in the country.”

Haiti – Politic : Ratification this Monday of the Hague Convention ?

[Haiti Libre 6/11/12]
“The Chief Commissioner Jean Gardy Muscardin, Head of Child Protection Brigade, recalled that Haiti “has legal instruments to fight against the abuse suffered by children” with two laws passed in 2001 and 2003 respectively on corporal punishment and the elimination of Chapter 9 of the Labor Code which addresses “Children in service”, but the country has not ratified the Universal Convention of International Labour Office on Child Labour [the Hague Convention was ratified yesterday Monday, June 11, 2012 to the Haitian Parliament.]

Despite the lack of recent statistics in Haiti, all protection actors agree that children in domestic service, commonly known in Haiti “restaveks,” are the most vulnerable fringe “These are the invisible,” explained Jean Liby, the Chief of Child Protection within UNICEF “They are in homes, sometimes even in your homes.” Placed by recruiters in families, these children are treated differently from children of the host family, and in majority they don’t have access to education or medical care. A situation who, according to the representative of UNICEF, is “not acceptable”, knowing that they are “particularly vulnerable to physical violence and abuse.”

Also, to raise awareness the public about this phenomenon who, according to the spokesman for the Coalition Against the System Restavek, Nadine François, “concerns us all,” IOM this week launched a major campaign. Important point of this campaign against child labor, the reopening of the toll-free, the 188, should allow victims or witnesses of abuse and exploitation of children to report these crimes and to trigger the intervention of the Minors Protection Brigade.

Jean Gardy Muscadin, who leads the Minors Protection Brigade has 35 officers within the PNH, invites the public to report such cases to prevent and punish any individual engaged in violence or exploitation of children.”
Haiti – Social : Put an end to the Children in Domesticity

[Haiti Libre 6/12/12]

Central Authority: The Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour.

Next steps for entry into force:

Chapter 7, Article 43 of the Hague Convention states “2)  It shall be ratified, accepted or approved and the instruments of ratification, acceptance or approval shall be deposited with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, depositary of the Convention.”

Article 46

“(1)  The Convention shall enter into force on the first day of the month following the expiration of three months after the deposit of the third instrument of ratification, acceptance or approval referred to in Article 43.

(2)  Thereafter the Convention shall enter into force –

a)  for each State ratifying, accepting or approving it subsequently, or acceding to it, on the first day of the month following the expiration of three months after the deposit of its instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession;”

See full text at http://www.hcch.net/index_en.php?act=conventions.text&cid=69

REFORM Puzzle Piece

“The Week of the Child ended on an encouraging note for the rights of children in Haiti. UNICEF welcomes : the presidential pardon to eighteen children in detention ; the ratification by the Parliament of the Hague Convention of 1993 on international adoption ; the launch of the first book of children’s homes as well as the put into operation of two freephone numbers for children at risk (511 and 133).

The presidential pardon granted to eighteen children in detention is an important step in the field of juvenile justice, says the UNICEF office in Haiti who wishes that the State promotes alternatives to juvenile detention. Currently, 245 children are still detained in Haiti, or convicted, for the most part, awaiting trial.

“No minor child shall be detained on the eve of the 2015. The willingness of Haitian President and the act he has just placed with a presidential pardon demonstrate his determination to respect the rights of children,” declared Ms. Françoise Gruloos-Ackermans, UNICEF Representative in Haiti.

UNICEF also welcomes the ratification by the Haitian Parliament of The Hague Convention of 1993 on the Protection of Children and Cooperation in International Adoption. This Convention, already ratified by 80 countries, helps to ensure a set of mechanisms indispensable for the proper functioning of international adoption. Haiti signed the Convention March 2, 2011, it remained to parliament to ratify it, which was made June 11, 2012.

“This is a historic moment for the country. Haitian law is thus harmonized with international standards contained in the Hague Convention. Haiti needs the support of other signatory countries to develop a system that meets international standards according to the principle of reciprocity (Article 39 of the Convention),” stressed the UNICEF Representative.

Publication of the first book of children’s homes presented by the Institute of Welfare and Research (IBESR) puts, finally, in application of Decree Law of 1971. Thus, 725 children’s homes are now listed. 372 of them were evaluated according to the minimum standards. But only 9% (67) of these children’s homes are accredited. The database has recorded more than 15,000 children, assures them an early protection and gives them recognition and to their families. “A child is not born to live in institutions but in his family. If the institution is the ultimate solution, this place must be protective and the State must take the responsibility,” reiterated the UNICEF Representative in Haiti.”

UNICEF congratulates and encourages the Haitian State for its determination

[Haiti Libre 6/17/12]

Update 2: DOS releases an alert over one month after ratification (July 16, 2012)

See here and pasted below.

“Alert: Haiti Approves Ratification of the Hague Adoption Convention

Haiti’s adoption authority, l’Institut du Bien-Etre Sociale et de Recherches (IBESR), confirmed that the Haitian Parliament approved ratification of the Hague Adoption Convention on June 11, 2012, although it is our understanding that Haiti has not yet deposited its instrument of ratification to the Convention.  The Convention will enter into force for Haiti three months after Haiti deposits its instrument of ratification with the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince continues to seek clarification on Haiti’s timeline for ratification and implementation of procedures for processing Convention adoptions and transition cases.  The United States Government continues to encourage the Government of Haiti to prepare fully for implementation of the Convention before depositing its instruments of ratification, so that the adoption program in Haiti can continue as Haiti prepares to become a member of the Convention.”

Update 3: DOS announces new Haiti procedures in September 14, 2012 alert

http://adoption.state.gov/country_information/country_specific_alerts_notices.php?alert_notice_type=notices&alert_notice_file=haiti_3

“Notice: Haiti Announces New Adoption Procedures

Haiti’s adoption authority, Institut du Bien-Être Sociale et de Recherches (IBESR), announced new administrative adoption procedures, which will take effect on October 1, 2012.  Although these new procedures are part of the Government of Haiti’s efforts to become a Hague Adoption Convention partner with the United States, at this time Haiti is not party to the Convention, and the U.S. government will continue to process adoptions under the non-Hague system until the Convention enters into force for Haiti.

The Department of State’s understanding of the new adoption procedures is as follows:  IBESR plans to regulate orphanages, crèches, and children’s homes in Haiti through an authorization process.  [See my previous update for the numbers that they have assessed] In addition, IBESR plans to implement an authorization process for certified adoption service providers (ASPs) or their agents to facilitate adoptions and to begin requiring families to use the services of an authorized ASP.  Children will be eligible for adoption only if they reside in an authorized facility.  We continue to seek further clarification and will update this notice as information becomes available.

IBESR informed the U.S. government that beginning September 2012, they will accept applications from ASPs wishing to facilitate adoptions in Haiti under the new procedures.

New procedures may prohibit prospective adoptive parents from establishing contact with the child they are seeking to adopt before they are officially matched to that child by IBESR in coordination with the ASP and orphanage, crèche, or children’s home. [Doesn’t Hague already prohibit this?]  Some exceptions, such as intra-family adoptions may be allowed, even with prior contact.  IBESR may consider exceptions to this policy for new cases in which prospective adoptive parents have already had contact with the child on a case-by-case basis.

IBESR has informed the U.S. government that it will process adoption cases submitted prior to May 7, 2012 under pre-existing adoption procedures.  IBESR has also informed the U.S. government that they will review new cases submitted up to and including September 15, 2012 to determine if they can be processed under the old procedures.

If you have questions about the status of your adoption case, please work closely with your adoption agency or facilitator.  The U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince is continuing to seek clarification on the new procedures.”

Update 4:  Adoption ministry God’s Littlest Angels http://www.glahaiti.org/adoption_news reports that ISEBR brought together the directors of adoption homes on September 25, 2012. They state that new Hague policies will be in force on November 3, 2012 meaning that all PAPs must work with Hague-approved agencies at that time. ISEBR stated that they will LIMIT the number of agencies that they will work with and that training for adoption homes will occur the week of October 1, 2012.

Update 5: US Department of State updates its September notice on October 17, 2012

See here and pasted below

“Alert: Update On Haiti’s New Adoption Procedures

This alert updates the Department of State’s September 14, 2012 notice pertaining to Haiti’s new administrative adoption procedures.  Haiti’s adoption authority, Institut du Bien-Être Social et de Recherches (IBESR), has postponed the effective date of the new administrative adoption procedures from October 1 to November 5, 2012.  Although these new procedures are part of the Government of Haiti’s efforts to become a Hague Adoption Convention partner, Haiti is not yet a party to the Convention.  The U.S. government will continue to process visas for adopted children under the non-Hague system until the Convention enters into force for Haiti.

IBESR has indicated that it plans to process adoption applications for which a completed file is submitted to IBESR prior to October 31 under current adoption procedures and cases filed on and after November 5 under the new procedures.  Since November 1-4 is a long holiday weekend in Haiti, IBESR’s offices will be closed those days.

Under the new procedures, IBESR plans to counsel the child’s biological parents and to obtain their pre-consent to adoption of their child.  This pre-consent will be a prerequisite of IBESR’s adoption authorization.  Prospective adoptive parents will likely be required to work with a U.S. Hague accredited adoption service provider that has been authorized by the Government of Haiti to participate in adoptions involving Haitian children.

Note that with the new procedures, IBESR plans to oversee matching of the child with the prospective adoptive parents.  These procedures may prohibit prospective adoptive parents – except in cases of intra-family adoptions – from establishing contact with the child they are seeking to adopt before they are officially matched to that child.  For further clarification on IBESR’s requirements, please work closely with your adoption agency or facilitator.

The U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince continues to seek clarification on the new procedures and the information in this update is subject to change.  Please refer to our website adoption.state.gov for updates on adoptions in Haiti.”

I am shaking my head at two things: That they say a PAP will only “likely be required to work with a U.S. Hague accredited adoption service provider that has been authorized by the Government of Haiti” Likely? Wouldn’t that be an absolute REQUIREMENT for it to be a Hague adoption between two Hague-participating countries?

Also, contacting a child prior to referral…again, isn’t that what Hague adoption procedures are all about? You can’t just be a foreign person going in an selecting a child?

Additionally, God’s Littlest Angels has an interesting post on the surprise IBESR inspection. It is great to see that IBESR is having surprise inspections and this post also shows how lax IBESR was in the past as they state that their toddler house had NEVER been inspected prior. See  http://godslittlestangelsinhaiti.org/andlifegoeson/2012/10/10/visit-from-ibesr-today/

Also, there is an article about a newly constructed orphanage Inauguration of the orphanage Amadeus in Mirebalais
 [Haiti Libre 10/18/12] that I want to highlight as this and the other orphan projects it is undertaking are under the auspices of development, not adoption. When development NGOs are in charge, the focus is how to integrate the children into the community, not adopt them out.

“Amadeus, the global travel industry, in partnership with the Great Commission Alliance (GCA) has recently proceed to the official inauguration of the Amadeus Orphanage in Mirebalais with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and celebration. In the presence of Vic Pynn, Executive Vice President, Amadeus North America, project sponsor, Amadeus team members and partners, GCA officials, and the Mirebalais community.
The Amadeus Orphanage in Mirebalais, Haiti, is designed to provide shelter, education, and services for up to 100 children ages 4 to 8. The building’s first floor is now open and 50 children are being housed, and more will be accommodated as the second floor is completed. Thanks to a variety of employee and customer fundraising events, over $193,000 was raised to help build the orphanage. In addition, numerous Amadeus North America employees have volunteered in Haiti toward the building effort.

The Amadeus Orphanage is part of a larger project by GCA to bring sustainable recovery and growth to Haiti. On the grounds, GCA is also establishing running electricity to the area, a water filtration and drainage system, a school facility, medical clinic, and community center.
The costs of sustaining the orphanage will be made possible through a child sponsorship program. ”

You can read about the GCA at their website here and watch a 2011 video about this orphanage here

Update 6: “Haiti is overhauling its adoption laws for the first time in nearly 40 years in an attempt to end practices that have allowed thousands of children to be trafficked out of the country or suffer from neglect as they languish in squalid orphanages.

The proposed legislation is meant to bring Haiti in line with international laws that seek to protect children under consideration for overseas adoptions, said Arielle Jeanty Villedrouin, general director of the government’s social welfare agency. The legislation has gone before the Senate for review and awaits approval from both houses of Parliament.

The proposal includes a requirement that both biological parents give informed consent for adoptions. It also establishes Villedrouin’s office as the “central authority” for all overseas adoptions, which is a requirement of the Hague Adoption Convention, and prohibits adoptions that aren’t authorized by the government.

“A parent who wants to adopt a child can’t just go to a website and say, ‘This is a child I want.’ The children aren’t merchandise or cars,” Villedrouin said in an interview.

Other reforms hope to help the child land in a stable home, including requirements that couples adopting a child must be married for five years, with one spouse at least 30 years old. A single person filing for adoption must be at least 35.

Adoptions will also only be permitted once all other forms of support for the child have been exhausted.

Ann Linnarsson, a Haiti-based child protection specialist with the UN children’s agency UNICEF, welcomed the proposed changes.

“It will mean that the child being adopted needs a new family and that you will know this child has been screened,” Linnarsson said. “There will be some accountability. … The adopting parents will know that their child has not been trafficked or stolen.”

The need for new legislation is acute in Haiti, where an estimated 50,000 children live in orphanages in part because many parents give up their children because they can’t afford to take care of them.

Many orphanages are poorly run and have little oversight. U.S. missionaries managed to get the government to close one home last year in Carrefour, one of the cities that make up the Haitian capital region, after they noted that several children disappeared and the operators didn’t offer credible explanations for what happened. [See our post here ]

It’s not entirely known how many Haitian children are trafficked into neighboring Dominican Republic or elsewhere. But UNICEF recently estimated that at least 2,000 children were smuggled across the border in 2009.

The changes were welcome news to Shasta Grimes and her husband, who have been waiting for more than two years to adopt a Haitian boy who’s 5 years old.

“The laws they’ve had — they’ve been up to interpretation,” the 32-year-old woman said by phone from her home in Arcadia, Florida. “It’s been really difficult for anyone to know what the standard is or the correct procedure is. With legislation in place it’s going to really set in place an international standard.”

The vulnerability of Haiti’s children was dramatized in the weeks after the January 2010 earthquake when Baptist missionaries from Idaho tried to take 33 children they believed were orphans to the Dominican Republic. [Lies! See our Silsby post here] Police arrested the Americans for lacking the proper documents to take the kids, all of whom turned out had living parents and had been voluntarily turned over to the missionaries.”

Even if the new legislation passes, enforcement may prove tricky. Officials have long complained that child welfare workers lack the resources and training to investigate allegations of criminal behavior.

Over the past year, Villedrouin said, the government has closed 26 orphanages for operating in substandard conditions. She said under the new law, more “sanctions will be taken.”

Absent from the legislation is any reference to Haiti’s informal internal adoption system, in which parents hand over their children to other families to clean homes and do other chores in exchange for money or school tuition. Between 250,000 and 500,000 children in Haiti are forced to work as domestic servants known as “restaveks,” Haitian Creole for “stay with,” according to the International Organization for Migration.

The government has created a “restavek” hotline for people to call and report cases of abuse, Villedrouin said.

Haiti Seeks to Fix Broken Adoption System

[ABC News 11/30/12 by Trenton Daniel]

Update 7: Trying to Close Orphanages Where Many Aren’t Orphans at All [New York Times 12/4/12 by Emily Brennan] explains that”Chris Savini, a missionary from Illinois, rocked a 10-month-old boy to sleep. The infant’s mother had died, and his father, Luxe Étienne, overwhelmed with eight children, turned over six of them to orphanages.

“He knew it was his son’s best shot,” said Mr. Savini, who arranged with the father for an American couple to adopt the baby from Mission Une Seule Famille en Jésus Christ, on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince.

Such arrangements have long been commonplace here.”

“Of the roughly 30,000 children in Haitian institutions and the hundreds adopted by foreigners each year, the Haitian government estimates that 80 percent have at least one living parent.

The decision by Haitian parents to turn their children over to orphanages is motivated by dire poverty. Also, large families are common, and many parents unable to afford school fees believe that orphanages at least offer basic schooling and food.

On a recent visit to the orphanage caring for three of his children, Mr. Étienne said he struggled to make a living as a contractor and could barely support his two children who remained at home. Their private school fees, the equivalent of $237 per year, add to his burden.

“If I had enough income, I would have taken them back home,” he said, holding his cooing son.” [So WHY don’t these missionaries provide him the money for the children’s education? The solution always seems to be to TAKE the child from the impoverished.]

“Under rules put in place last month to comply with the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoptions, the Haitian government intends to play a larger role in regulating adoptions. In cases involving children who are not orphans, the government intends to meet with the birth parents at the beginning of the process to obtain their consent and offer assistance like job training if they want their children to stay with them.       

“We don’t want poverty to be the only motivation,” said Arielle Jeanty Villedrouin, who took charge of Haiti’s child welfare services last year. “For many cases in the past, that was the only motivation.”

To reduce the number of orphanages, the government has also begun inspecting institutions here in the capital and in the far-flung provinces and trying to close those in the worst shape and reunite as many children as possible with their families. A vast majority of the orphanages are unauthorized, and only 112 are accredited. Before this year, the government did not even have a count of the institutions.

Mission Une Seule Famille en Jésus Christ, where Mr. Étienne’s son awaits adoption, opened in 2005, but its director, Joseph Kesnel, said he picked up an application for accreditation only in October. Inspectors had not yet visited the orphanage, but there were troubling signs, including children complaining of not having enough to eat, a smell of urine and a baby without a diaper in the dirt courtyard.

With a team of 160 inspectors, financed in part by Unicef, the government has reviewed 725 orphanages and has found 72 to be of such poor quality that they should close. But actually shuttering them is another matter. Since September 2011, only 26 have been closed.       

When one orphanage, Soeurs Rédemptrices de Nazareth, in the hills outside Port-au-Prince, was closed in June, 3 of the 64 children had to be hospitalized because of malnourishment, officials said, and others showed signs of rat bites and scabies. The director, Sister Dona Bélizaire, has been jailed on suspicion of child trafficking. Her backers have started an Internet campaign asserting that she is being held without cause.

 

The closings, though, have halted, because there are so few authorized orphanages that can take in children while the government tracks down their families, said Mrs. Villedrouin, the child welfare official.

“I should maybe close 60 or 100, but the other orphanages are already full, and I don’t have the space to relocate the children,” she said. To ease the transition, the government plans to give reunited families several hundred dollars, as well as pay for at least a year of schooling. But the more challenging issue is persuading families not to turn their children over to orphanages at all.

Ulsonyte Pierre Louis Dauphin placed her two nieces in an orphanage, Croix Glorieuse, after their out-of-work parents could no longer care for them. Last year, she received a call from officials saying that they were closing the orphanage and that the girls had to return to relatives.       

Officials did not share the main reason for the closing: they suspected that workers had abused some of the children. Because the Justice Department did not have enough evidence to bring criminal charges, officials said, they confided their suspicions only with the parents whose children they believed had been victims.

 

Officials did tell Mrs. Dauphin that the orphanage had insufficient food and poor sleeping conditions, she said. “Some people open an orphanage, and they’re helping people who need help,” she said. “But others open orphanages and don’t take care of kids, and they’re making millions.”

 

Brad Johnson, the director of the orphanage and school at Mission of Hope Haiti, applauded the government’s goal of keeping children in families, but he said it was not likely to become a reality until Haiti’s economy improved. Many Haitians remain in such a precarious financial position, he said, that any time a family experiences a death or a job loss, parents consider placing their children in orphanages.

 

“When there are not kids sitting on the street dying, we’ll stop having an orphanage,” he said. “Right now, the reality is that there has to be orphanages in Haiti.”

Update 8: DOS publishes a list of approved US agencies in a February 8, 2013 alert

See here and pasted below:

“Alert: Haiti authorizes U.S. adoption service providers

Haiti’s adoption authority, Institut du Bien-Être Social et de Recherches (IBESR), has authorized a limited number of U.S. adoption service providers (ASPs) to provide adoption services in Haiti pursuant to its new administrative adoption procedures, which became effective on November 5, 2012.  Although these new procedures are part of the Government of Haiti’s efforts to become a Hague Adoption Convention partner with the United States, at this time Haiti is not party to the Convention.  The U.S. government will continue to process adoptions under the non-Hague system until the Convention enters into force for Haiti.

In order to complete an intercountry adoption from Haiti, the adoption must comply with all of Haiti’s laws and regulations.  These include the eligibility of the prospective adoptive parents to adopt, the eligibility of the child for intercountry adoption, and the matching of prospective adoptive parents with a specific child.  The child must also meet the definition of an orphan under U.S. immigration law.  All adoptions filed with the Haitian government on or after November 5, 2012 must comply with the new procedures.

The Department strongly urges all U.S. prospective adoptive parents interested in pursuing an adoption in Haiti to work with an ASP authorized by IBESR.  The Department emphasizes that Haiti’s new procedures prohibit adoptions in which arrangements are made directly between the biological parents or custodians and the prospective adoptive parents (i.e. private adoptions).  The new procedures also prohibit adoptions in which prospective adoptive parents seek a match with a child without the assistance of IBESR or an ASP authorized by the Haitian government (i.e. independent/individual adoptions).  Similarly, Haiti will not approve adoptions where the child’s biological parents or legal representatives expressly decide who will adopt their child, unless the adoption is of a spouse’s child, is an intra-family adoption, is by a child’s foster family, or the child is the sibling of a child who has already been adopted.

The procedures (paras. 37-40) also specifically require ASPs authorized by IBESR to conduct post-adoption reporting on the child every six months for the first two years and annually for three additional years after the child is placed with the adoptive family.  These reports must include a medical evaluation of the child, a school report, a psychological evaluation, and a social evaluation.  The director of the authorized ASP must author the first four reports and forward them directly and solely to IBESR, whereas an independent expert may author the final three reports and the parents can submit them to IBESR.

According to IBESR, the following 19 U.S. ASPs have been authorized to provide adoption services in Haiti.  The Department will publish the names of any additional authorized ASPs upon receipt of official notification.  Publication of this list of ASPs does not constitute the Department’s endorsement of them:

• A Love Beyond Borders
• Adoption-Link
• All Blessings International/Kentucky Adoption Services
• All God’s Children International
• America World Adoption
• Bethany Christian Services
• Building Arizona Families
• Carolina Adoption Services, Inc.
• Children’s House International
• Chinese Children Adoption International
• Dillon International, Inc.
• European Adoption Consultants, Inc.
• Holt International Children’s Services, Inc.
• Lifeline Children’s Services
• Love Basket
• MLJ Adoptions, Inc.
• Nightlight Christian Adoptions
• Sunny Ridge Family Center, Inc.
• Wasatch International Adoptions

The U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince will continue to clarify the new procedures as they are updated by IBESR, and the information in this update is subject to change. ”

MLJ is for-profit. Love Basket’s accreditation was recently canceled in Kyrgyztsan.

Update 9: “The Assembly of Senators voted on Friday [May 9, 2013] the draft law on adoption. Out of 17 senators present, 12 voted in favor and four abstained. The text contains 79 items will be now submitted to the discretion of the Deputies.”

Vote on a draft law on adoption

[Haiti Libre 5/11/13]

Quotas

DOS has failed to mention quotas. With 19 agencies approved, that is an important issue that PAPs need to know about.

“The Service of International Adoption (SAI) informs the candidates for adoption, that the Institute of Social Welfare and Research (IBESR) announced the resumption of international adoptions in Haiti, from January 15, 2013. Quotas should be fixed later by IBESR concerning the number of applications, that the operators will be allowed to deposit each month. SAI wishes to recall that the adoption process in Haiti, must now necessarily be accompanied by an operator authorized by the SAI and accredited by the IBESR. The individual approaches of adoption are no longer permitted in Haiti.”

Resumption of adoptions in Haiti

[Haiti Libre 1/17/13]

Update 10: On January 16,2014 Haiti deposits its instrument of ratification for the Hague Adoption Convention. DOS issues a notice here:http://adoption.state.gov/country_information/country_specific_alerts_notices.php?alert_notice_type=notices&alert_notice_file=haiti_4

“The Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (the Convention) will enter into force for Haiti on April 1, 2014.   Haiti’s adoption authority, Institut du Bien-Être Social et de Recherches (IBESR), deposited its instrument of ratification with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands on December 16, 2013.

The Department is also currently assessing whether consular officers will be able to verify that the requirements of the Convention and the Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000 will have been met with respect to individual adoption cases by the date that the Convention enters into force for Haiti.  This decision includes determining if Haiti has designated a central authority and key competent authorities to undertake specific responsibilities outlined in the Convention as well as determining if those authorities have the capacity to fulfill their stated functions.  The Department must also review Haiti’s adoption laws, procedures, practices, and infrastructure to ensure that key Convention principles will be implemented.  Those principles include consideration of subsidiarity, adoptability of the child, effective consent, determination of habitual residence, prevention of improper financial gain, and prohibition against prior contact with a child’s legal guardian(s) until the appropriate time in the adoption process.

The Department of State expects to inform the public by April 1, 2014 whether the United States will be able to certify Convention adoptions from Haiti.  The Department of State will provide updated information on adoption.state.gov.

USCIS will continue to accept I-600A applications specifying Haiti until March 31, 2014.  However, we encourage adoption service providers and prospective adoptive parents to contact IBESR prior to initiating a new adoption from Haiti.  If you have questions about the status of your adoption case, please work closely with your adoption agency or facilitator.

Please refer to our website and to USCIS’ website at uscis.gov for updates on the status of the U.S. adoption program from Haiti as we approach Haiti’s entry into force date.  If you have any questions about this notice, please contact the Office of Children’s Issues via email at Haitiadoptions@state.gov.”

[Washington Post 4/4/14 by Associated Press]

Update 11: DOS issues a notice. View it http://adoption.state.gov/country_information/country_specific_alerts_notices.php?alert_notice_type=notices&alert_notice_file=haiti_6 and it is pasted below:

“Notice: Adoptions from Haiti to Begin Under the Hague Adoption Convention on April 1, 2014

The U.S. Embassy in Haiti has heard reports from a number of prospective adoptive parents regarding certain adoption service providers requests for substantial additional payments.  These adoption service providers are claiming that these fees are charged by the Haitian authorities to expedite the adoption process.  The Embassy has verified with Haiti’s adoption authority, the Institut du Bien-Être Social et de Recherches (IBESR), that the Government of Haiti does not charge expedite fees in association with adoptions in Haiti.

Likewise, the U.S. government does not charge expedite fees in any visa cases.  All possible immigrant visa fees are published on travel.state.gov.  The Department of State and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in Haiti do not charge fees for additional visas services, including any expedite fees.  All visa processing fees are collected on the U.S. Embassy premises at the time of the visa interview.

If you are applying for a U.S. immigrant visa for an adopted child, do NOT pay any fees at cybercafés, banks, or to anyone outside the U.S. Embassy claiming to act on behalf of the U.S. government.  Prospective adoptive parents who are asked to make payments for expedited visas fees to an adoption service provider should immediately report such behavior to PAPFraud@state.gov.

The U.S. government does not require adoptive parents to travel to Haiti at any point during the adoption process, although the Haitian government may have such requirements.  We also remind prospective adoptive parents that the U.S. government is not involved in the local adoption process.

Contact information for the U.S. Embassy in Haiti is listed below:

U.S. Embassy in Haiti
Consular Section (Adoptions Unit)
Boulevard du 15 Octobre
Tabarre 41
Tabarre, Haiti
Tel: 509-2229-8000 (within Haiti); 1-866-829-2482 (from the United States)
Email: papadoptions@state.gov
Internet: haiti.usembassy.gov/

The Department of State will continue to publish updates on intercountry adoptions in Haiti on adoption.state.gov.  Please direct any questions related to Haitian adoptions to AdoptionUSCA@state.gov, 1-888-407-4747 within the United States, or 202-501-4444 from outside the United States.”