(Catholic) Church, immigrant groups plan to airlift Haitian orphans to South Florida

[RamboLiberal]

Source: Miami Herald

In a move mirroring Operation Pedro Pan in the 1960s, Catholic Charities and other South Florida immigrant rights organizations are planning an ambitious effort to airlift possibly thousands of Haitian children left orphaned in the aftermath of Tuesday's horrific earthquake.

``We will use the model we used 40 years ago with Pedro Pan to bring these orphans to the United States to give them a lifeline, a bright and hopeful future,'' Catholic Charities Legal Services executive director Randolph McGrorty said at a news conference in the offices of Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart.

``Given the enormity of what happened in Haiti, a priority is to bring these orphaned children to the United States,'' he said.

Archdiocese of Miami officials and other local organizations have already identified a temporary shelter in Broward County to house the children, McGrorty said.

He also said they had been in contact with the Obama administration to assist in bringing the children from Haiti with humanitarian visas.



Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking-news/story/1425090.html

[Scurrilous]

1. Good news.

K & R :thumbsup:

[BunkerHill24]

2. That's great. May the Force be with you.

K&R

[xultar]

3. All the GOPers in the US are gonna go ape shit. in 3, 2, 1...Shit screw that.

The race war is about to go down people.

[RamboLiberal]

4. Yep - at least 2 of them already commented on the story

at Miami Herald site - one lamenting all we're doing is bringing more welfare cases to U.S.

[eagertolearn]

5. Or illegal aliens!

:eyes:

[xultar]

6. Yet, they don't mind bringing Iraqi's or Afghanis over...I guess it is because

we bombed those two but when Jesus does the bombing then they don't want nothing to do with it.
Fuckers.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

12. no, they complain about that too

[Thothmes]

13. Some folks on this sit will go ape shit also

They may be indoctrinated into a religion, they will be brain washed to become dominionists. Religions should be banned. etc, etc,

[regnaD kciN]

14. Yep...

...I'm expecting that some of the Militant Atheist Brigade here will suddenly decide that, if the Roman Catholic Church is in favor of aiding Haitian orphans, we should let 'em starve. :eyes:

[ZombieHorde]

16. The children have probably already been indoctrinated into a religion.

Bringing the children to the US will probably expose them to more world perspectives than they would experience in Haiti.

[Thothmes]

17. You are correct, think Haiti is mostly RC

Wonder if those children will be allowed to stay and maybe be adopted in this country.

[dugaresa]

7. that is good

[jwirr]

8. I am wondering if there are many children who survived the quake.

In the pictures I am seeing it seems to be mostly adults. If you think back to Katrina there were all kinds of kids in the pictures. Where are the kids?

As to bringing these kids - fine with me. From what I can see of the damage in Haiti 6 million people just became homeless overnight. Most of the housing will need to be demolished before they can begin to rebuild so this is a true refugee camp now - no place for an orphan.

One problem I can see is knowing exactly who is an orphan. Years ago I worked in a Congressman's office helping evacuate children from Vietnam on the last day. I do not remember how many were placed on planes and brought to the US. What we did not know at the time was that some of them were NOT orphans - just children who's parent saw giving them up as a way to keep their child safe. In later years some of those parents wanted their children back.

[VanW]

9. It is a sad fact

that much of the adoption industry is based on profit. I hope the kids get all the help they need, without being unnecessarily severed from living relatives.

They can't even figure out which aid workers are alive or dead right now, never mind Haitians, so I am skeptical of those who want to swoop in and take people away.

[VanW]

10. 2004- State Dept. Blocks Adoption of Tsunami Victims

In response to many inquiries from concerned Americans, the U.S. Department of State has stated that it will not be possible for U.S. citizens to adopt children who have been orphaned by the tsunami that struck parts of South Asia.

According to the State Department, the international standard in a crisis is to keep children as close to their family members as possible. It can be extremely difficult to determine whether children whose parents are missing are truly orphans. In the current situation, many children have become separated from one or both of their parents. Even when children are indeed orphaned, they are often taken in by other relatives. Staying with relatives in extended family units is generally a better solution than uprooting the child completely.

The State Department believes that it will take many months before the situation in those countries affected by the tsunami stabilizes to the point where the countries will be able to identify the children who are legitimate orphans. It is only if and when these countries decide to make these orphans available for international adoption that American citizens will be able to begin adoption proceedings for these children.

http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/consumerawareness/a/noadopt.htm

[The Straight Story]

11. Damned catholics.....

:evilgrin:

[ZombieHorde]

15. The children must be terrified. I hope they find some comfort in Florida. nt