Many friends and family have contacted us since the catastrophic earthquake hit Haiti. They all wonder if the Telfer's could adopt through Haiti. The answer to that is no. At least not now at this time. And this is why.
When I first heard of the earthquake in Haiti, immediately my heart jumped. We would gladly take in any of these children in a heart beat, if it was at all possible. But unfortunately it isn’t that easy. I have done some research on Haitian adoptions, and this is what I found out.
Many of the orphans that were granted visas into the US, already have adoptive families. It takes up to 3 years to complete an adoption from Haiti. Many of these families have traveled more than once to visit their adoptive child, while waiting for everything to be finalized. I am not sure WHY it takes that long, but every country has different rules. These children already had adoptive families here in the US waiting to bring them home. The US and Haiti were gracious, and allowed these children to be brought home to their families in the US even though the adoptions weren’t necessarily complete.
So then I thought, what about these children that have been misplaced because of the earthquake, and have been able to be brought to the US in order to get care? These children will need to have foster families. But that is what it would be. Fostering. The countries would be placing these children in foster homes until they can locate family members back in Haiti, who can care for them. But I am not sure what would happen if the child was to found to have no one at all to care for them in Haiti. That is still something I need to learn about.
If we were to attempt to adopt a child from Haiti, even though the situation is desperate, we would still have to go through all of the obstacles and hoops. That would mean, have our homestudy revised to fit the Haitian programs, pay new agency fees, get new physicals, and all of that. Plus know in the backs of our minds that it could take up to 3 years before we could bring our child home. To add to that, Haiti has a rule that says a family can’t have more than 2 biological children if they want to adopt. That automatically cancels us out since we have 4.
So I wanted to just throw out that information to all of you, so you can be informed about the Haitian adoptions. It is a real bummer that it has to be that way. We would totally jump at the chance to adopt one of these little ones, if it was possible. In the meantime, we are still waiting to get the call from our agency, letting us know that a birth mother has chosen our family. It could be ANY day. It could be tomorrow, or it could be a few months from now. It is in the Lord’s hands. Our baby’s room is ready! We have a crib set up, just waiting to have a little occupant.
There are some more really good articles on the website www.rainbowkids.com If any of you find more information on the Haitian adoptions, please feel free to forward it to us! We really have a heart for adoptions.
Here are some links for you.
Haitian Orphans Land in US
Helping Haiti’s Most Vulnerable
Adopting Haitian Earthquake Orphans
US Grants Visas for Hundreds of Orphans
Local Washington Family Who I am acquainted with
Updated articles
Haiti: What’s to come
Adopting from Haiti
If anyone has information contrary to what I have read, please let us know. Our hearts are open to any child that the Lord may be directing us to.
No comments:
Post a Comment