Interview with New Head of Haiti’s Social Services Agency, Arielle Jeanty

“Two years ago, a massive earthquake struck Haiti. According to the country’s government, more than 300,000 people died.

Erica Hill recently traveled to Haiti to see what’s happened to some of the children who survived. Children were among the hardest-hit victims, with many orphaned when their parents died in the devastating quake.

However, no one knows the number of Haitian orphans, and there are no state-run orphanages; they live in an estimated 700 private facilities.”

“Hill shared the story of a couple from Ohio, Jon and Julie Kraner, who want to adopt a child but face challenges with the process.

The new head of Haiti’s social services agency, Arielle Jeanty, is trying to turn things around in the country. But she doesn’t see international adoption as the answer, calling it “the last option” for these children.

Jeanty has two major concerns: Child-trafficking, and also the future of this country — if the children leave, who will lead Haiti into its next chapter?

Even before the earthquake, Haiti was the poorest country in the Western hemisphere. There is no free public education and barely half of the adult population can read. There are few social services. For many, daily life is simply a game of survival. And since the quake, it’s only gotten worse.

Many children in Haiti’s orphanages have parents, Hill noted, because their parents consider adoption services their best option for their kids.

Just last year, Haiti for the first time signed the Hague Convention on International Adoption, which helps protects the rights of children, birth parents, and adoptive parents.

Erica Hill, Gayle King and Charlie Rose discussed the issues surrounding adoption in Haiti and more.”

Click on the video in the link below for further details. Jeanty states that international adoption is the “last option” and that she has no plans to change the 10-year marriage requirement. The “challenges” that the family profiled is facing is that they have not been married very long at all. They also have 8 children. The orphanage that the child is at is NOT participating in international adoptions, yet the couple has applied to adopt her anyway.

Ordeal for Haiti quake orphans endures
[CBS News 1/12/11]

REFORM Puzzle Piece

Haiti has signed the Hague agreement and though not fully in force, they are moving towards accounting for the children in the facilities and placing domestically.