Hague Evaluation

Thousands of children have been displaced and separated from their families in the aftermath of the 7.0 earthquake on January 12, 2010. Family reunification is taking place whenever possible and child institutions are filled beyond capacity. Humanitarian aid groups have received millions of dollars in donations and rebuilding begins while the nation recovers from many problems, including an illegal attempt to abduct children from the nation in an intercountry adoption scheme. 

Some facts that you should know about illegal attempts to remove children from

• An official of the Haitian government has publically stated on CNN that they have evidence of child trafficking, including allegations of organ trafficking. The nation has ceased all intercountry adoptions and only those children with existing adoption processes prior to the earthquake have been released for intercountry adoption. For children who went to USA families, humanitarian visas were issued and the cases were expedited quickly without the ordinary requirements for “orphan visas.” While these 'adoptions' are now proving problematic in terms of adoption decrees, they were carried out in a legitimate manner in which both the USA and Haitian governments collaboated, in good faith.  
• Just over two weeks after the earthquake, a USA-based faith group allegedly attempted to abduct children from Haiti. They were stopped at the Dominican Republic border for incomplete documentation/paperwork and later arrested by the Haitian government. They were charged with child abduction, among other things. By late March, 2010 only one of the group was still being held by Haitian authorities. The others returned to the USA to celebrations for their release.
• Prosecution by the US government is unlikely because the crimes took place outside of the nation. This underscores the fact that US human trafficking legislation does not recognize this form of abduction within its current framework.
• These actions by this faith-based group are a form of human trafficking, an often over-looked area of child trafficking. These actions are similar to the French group Zoe’s Ark and their attempt to airlift children from Chad. In the end, the French government failed to prosecute its citizens for wrong-doing, including luring children and bandaging them under false pretenses to make them appear to be in need of medical evacuation from the region.

Other policy facts to consider about Haiti.

• The Haitian government has not signed the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption, often referred to as the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption.  This international agreement, dating back to 1993, has been signed by over 70 nations and was designed to prevent the sales and theft of children under the disguise of intercountry adoption.
• USA humanitarian visas have been issued for children being medically evacuated out of Haiti. This raises concerns about reunification with family later. See below for an open letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in regards to concerns raised by social workers.

OPEN LETTER TO SECRETARY OF STATE HILLARY CLINTON

RE: Open letter to Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton

February 4, 2010

Dear Secretary Clinton:

On February 2, 2010, there were very good opinion pieces in the New York Times about the Haitian Orphan crisis (http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/01/haitis-children-and-the-adoption-question/). We, as professional social workers/human service providers and social work scholars support this discourse, however in the immediate situation we want to underscore a pressing concern. Many of the children who are coming to the USA for emergency medical care are arriving on humanitarian visas and in crisis.   We ask that you consider the following:

• Some of these children have uncertain identities and in time, determining their family connections will be difficult therefore DNA should be a part of the procedures so that they may be returned to their parents or extended family, when possible.

• The USA medical facilities where these children are being treated have the capacity to take tests and, in addition a centralized DNA database must be developed and managed by a party that has no financial interest in intercountry adoption.

• The visas that are being issued by the Department of State can be coded as to identify such a child (example: humanitarian/medical/minor Haitian). Coding in this manner would be a second data point for the aforementioned database, insuring that the whereabouts of these children are clear so that they may be returned to their families if and when that is possible.

• It is our position that such management of information is necessary so that the best interests of the child are honored and the prevention of child abduction is assured.

• All of the above points are explained in greater detail at Americas Quarterly http://www.americasquarterly.org/haiti-orphans

As social workers, we further support the position statement of International Social Services which is found at:     http://www.iss-ssi.org/2009/assets/files/news/haiti_position CIR_ENG.pdf

Finally, the news reports indicate that a US-based faith group has been arrested in the Dominican Republic

for an illegal airlift of children. We implore the

, it is our opinion that we must act according to these values to insure the best interests of the child .

If and when adoption of Haitian children re-opens as an option, managing this system ethically will be essential to insure human rights of peoples who have already been so devastated.

Sincerely,

Karen Smith Rotabi, PhD, MSW, MPH   

Assistant Professor, School of Social Work

Virginia Commonwealth University 

University of Nevada at Las Vegas

DeGuerre Blackburn, ACSW

Executive Director                                                                                         Voices for International Development and Adoption                 

Hudson , NY

Mary Katherine O'Connor, PhD
Professor, School of Social Work

Virginia Commonwealth University

Richmond , VA

Jini L. Roby, JD, MSW , MS

International Child Welfare Consultant

Associate Professor

Brigham Young Universit,Provo , UT

Denise Gammonley, PhD, LCSW

Associate Professor

Hartford Geriatric Social Work Faculty Scholar

School of Social Work

Carmen Monico, MSc, MSW/PhD student
School of Social Work
Virginia Commonwealth University

Richmond , VA

Rosemary J. Link, PhD

Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs

Simpson College

Indianola , Iowa

John Cosgrove PhD,

Fordham University Graduate School

of Social Service
Chair International Special Interest Group,

Jenny Jones, PhD, MSW

Associate Professor, School of

Virginia Commonwealth University

\Richmond , VA

Humberto Fabelo, PhD, MSW

BSW Program Director

Associate Professor, School of

Virginia Commonwealth University

Richmond , VA

Ruth McRoy, PhD

Research Professor and Ruby Lee Piester Centennial Professor Emerita

School of Social Work

University of Texas

Austin , TX

Etta Lappen Davis, MA.Ed.

Principal   & Child Welfare Consultant

Etsky Consulting,

IT SHOULD BE NOTED THAT HAITI IS NOT A HAGUE-SIGNATORY NATION. BECAUSE THERE ARE INSTANCES OF CHILD THEFT BEING REPORTED IN THE NEWS, WE ARE DEDICATING THIS PAGE TO THE FAMILIES OF HAITI & THEIR HUMAN RIGHT TO RETAIN THE CUSTODY OF THEIR CHILDREN.