Haitian children saved from rogue adoption center, migration group says

Haitian children saved from rogue adoption center, migration group says

The Associated Press
Published: August 10, 2007

Dozens of Haitian children whose parents gave them away to traffickers in return for promises of financial help have been rescued, the International Organization for Migration said Friday.

The 47 children were freed after government officials intervened to secure their release from a rogue adoption center in the Caribbean country's capital, Port-au-Prince, IOM spokeswoman Jemini Pandya said.

The children, aged between 2 and 7, were malnourished and some had skin diseases, she said.

Pandya said the children were taken to the center from a district in southwest Haiti between six months and two years ago after traffickers promised the parents financial assistance. The traffickers also pledged to take care of their offspring.

The parents eventually complained to a local non-governmental organization after not receiving the promised money and hearing that the children were being held in poor conditions, she said.The children were returned to their parents. IOM will help provide medical care and school fees, Pandya said.

About 40 other children are still in the center pending a judicial decision on their custody. She said other rogue adoption agencies exist in Haiti.

According to Geneva-based IOM, loopholes in the country's 1974 adoption laws allow these agencies to engage in this form of trafficking. They offer children to rich Haitians and foreigners in return for processing fees reaching US$10,000

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/08/10/europe/EU-GEN-Switzerland-Haiti-Trafficking.php