Haiti Orphans

I was going to post that today is our 1 year anniversary of moving to Germany. But that is more of a Facebook status update than a blog post. The orphan situation in Haiti was bad before the earthquake (approx 300,000 orphans in a country of 9 million), and now has at least doubled, maybe even tripled or quadrupled. Coincidentally, someone contacted me the day before the earthquake about adoptions from Haiti. I went to the website and said "I'll consider it". But now adoption groups are flooded with well meaning citizens asking how they can get their hands on one of those Haitian orphans.

Catholic relief workers from orphanages that were badly damaged or destroyed are working to have orphans that were already matched with families before the quake airlifted to the States. Pennsylvania's governor Ed Rendell even flew to Haiti with his wife to assist in the evacuation of some 50 orphans that had been matched with PA families. In order to meet the immediate needs of the scores of new orphans, some aid groups have suggested a large scale airlift a la Operations Babylift or Pedro Pan may be the best option. The children would then be placed in group homes around Florida or foster care. For now, the US is only giving humanitarian visas to children that were already matched with families before the quake. Why? Because the "new" orphans may have family members that are searching for them. Airlifting them to the States may meet their immediate needs, but makes reunification with their birth families much more difficult and adds the additional trauma of being removed from the place they call home. Since the chance of these kids being reunited with family that can afford to take care of them is quite slim compared to the risks of remaining in a country where resources have become even more scarce, it seems that temporary relocation may be the only option for some orphanages, especially where their facilities have been badly damaged. I pray that all these little children will have their needs provided and one day find themselves in a loving home either in Haiti or abroad.

Photo courtesy of Gloria Kreps/UPMC: Jamie McMutrie with one of the orphans and Gov. Ed Rendell.