Madonna M Finnney Attorney

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Assisting families with: Private, Intermediary, Domestic Adoption Adoption of Minority Children Stepparent and Relative Adoption

January 26, 2009 - Haiti Update
Later this morning I will meet with representatives of the Florida Department of Children and Families and the Executive Office of the Governor regarding the children of Haiti. I do so as a representative of the Florida Adoption Council. The FAC is actively involved in following the situation in Haiti and stands poised to assist with issues concerning Haitian children who may enter the U.S.
The Haitian Government announced that it must approve the international movement of each individual child leaving Haiti. This includes children that are bound for the U.S., whether through the visa process or humanitarian parole. The Haitian Government has done this in an effort to protect against the inappropriate movement of children to the U.S. and other countries.
The U.S. State Department advises against new adoptions of Haitian children at this time. On January 22, 2009 the State Department issued a statement which included, "[i]ntercountry adoption involves strict safeguards and legal requirements that must be met to protect children from illegal adoptions, abduction, sale and child-trafficking as well as to ensure that any adoption is in the best interests of the child. Before a child can be legally taken to the United States for adoption, the Governments of both the United States and the childs country of origin must first determine that the child is indeed an orphan. It can be extremely difficult during the aftermath of a natural disaster to ascertain whether children who appear to be orphans truly are eligible for adoption. Children may be temporarily separated from their parents or other family members, and their parents or family members may be looking for them. Moreover, it is not uncommon in an emergency or unsettled situation for parents to send their children out of the area, or for families to become separated during an evacuation. Efforts to reunite such children with relatives or extended family should be given priority."
The Department of State has said that, "[a]s of January 12, 2010, the day of the devastating Haiti earthquake governmental and legal procedures to process an adoption in Haiti have been impossible to carry out. ... Adoptions in Haiti cannot be processed according to Haitian or US law during the current emergency. Consult this page and the Haiti page at adoption.state.gov for up to date information about adoption from Haiti."
In yesterday's Department of State press briefing, officials announced that the Department is not processing visas for Haitian citizens to travel to the US, that no judgments have been made regarding future issuance of Haitian visas and that the main concern is that any child arriving in the US is cleared for adoption.
Previous Haiti Updates

Madonna M. Finney is a Fellow of the prestigious American Academy of Adoption Attorneys, an association of attorneys, judges, and law professors in the United States and Canada who are dedicated to the highest standards of practice in the field of adoption law. Membership is by invitation only from the Board of Trustees based on criteria for excellence in the practice of adoption. Ms. Finney represents the Academy before the Florida Legislature.

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