Shifting, arbitrary rules impede Haitian adoptions
Posted on Sun, Dec. 14, 2008
Shifting, arbitrary rules impede Haitian adoptions
Andy Olsen
Haiti has largely avoided the international adoption scandals that have recently plagued countries such as Guatemala and Vietnam, where the State Department has temporarily suspended U.S. adoptions.
There have been isolated incidents of illegal adoption practices in Haiti — specifically involving a child-trafficking ring that was broken up last year in Port-au-Prince. But it's government regulations that have limited the pace of adoptions there.
In fiscal 2008, Kentuckians adopted 352 children from foreign countries. Five of them came from Haiti. By comparison, 147 children from Guatemala came to the state.
Some adoptive families say that the problem with the Haitian system is its many confusing and changing regulations.
"There seems to be no rhyme or reason to it," said Lisa Wells of Lexington. She and her husband, Chris, are adopting a 5-year-old girl from an orphanage in Port-au-Prince. Wells joked about their dossier being held up in one government office for 11 months because an official decided not to approve any adoptions to parents with biological children.
Only a handful of U.S. adoption agencies deal directly with Haiti and handle the adoption from start to finish. Wells, like many who adopt from Haiti, worked with agencies both in the United States and in Haiti to complete the adoption.
She said that even though the agencies were helpful, she and her husband had to be very "hands on" when dealing with the government, adding that it felt as if it wouldn't happen otherwise.
The gold standard of inter-country adoption regulations is established by the Hague Adoption Convention, an international agreement intended to prevent child trafficking and unethical adoptions.
Haiti has not signed the agreement, said State Department spokesman Noel Clay, so the U.S. government does not evaluate or accredit adoption agencies in Haiti.
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