Public
Policy

Statement on Children in Haiti

As the North American Council on Adoptable Children, an international child advocacy organization, we know the importance and benefit of a quality adoption process for all parties involved. We also know the trauma that occurs when any or all components of a safe adoption are ignored. Therefore, we recommend a reasoned response to the crisis in Haiti.

To protect vulnerable Haitian children’s physical and psychological safety, support should be provided to Haiti to ensure that children are able to receive help in their country. All efforts to help must be designed to prevent additional trauma that will be caused by children’s removal from their country, community, and culture. In addition, keeping siblings together should be a primary consideration.

At the same time, it is vital to search diligently and for a significant period of time for relatives—both in Haiti and abroad—and connected community members for children who are separated from their primary caregivers.
If an extended family member or a person with whom children have a bond or relationship is not able to care for the child, efforts should be made to care for them safely in their communities and their country, including through adoption or guardianship of the children in Haiti.  Support should be provided to the families who are able to care for these children.

If a child’s safety cannot be protected in Haiti, it may be justifiable—with the agreement of the Haitian government and the receiving country—to remove the child to another country for a limited period of time until the situation is more stable. This should not be confused with the adoption process.

If the above steps have been followed and there are no permanent family options for the children, we support international adoption when all of the safeguards of the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption are followed.

NACAC is committed to advocating for ethical adoption in the U.S., Canada, and abroad. A disaster is no reason to bypass the essential safeguards needed in adoption.  (See NACAC’s statements on Best Interests of the Child or Youth, Implementation of the Hague Convention, Kinship Care, Orphanages, Post-Adoption Support, Race/Ethnic Background and Child Welfare, and Siblings in Foster Care and Adoption.)