Haiti slows orphan flights over human trafficking concerns

[babylonsister]

Haiti slows orphan airlifts to U.S.
The Haitian government has moved to slow the flights of orphaned children to the U.S., as an infant crushed by rubble recovers in Florida.

BY CAROL MARBIN MILLER
[e-mail]


Acting on persistent fears that homeless and orphaned children will be victimized by human traffickers, the Haitian government in Port-au-Prince has put the brakes on the large-scale migration of orphans destined for adoptive families in the U.S.

Haiti's prime minister, Jean-Max Bellerive, told The Miami Herald his government had considerable fears that children may be scooped up in the streets of Port-au-Prince by nongovernmental organizations. The government also has concerns that children may be trafficked into prostitution or slavery.

Bellerive said his country would not release children for adoption without his personal approval, and ordered nongovernmental organizations working in Port-au-Prince to stop collecting children found on the street.

``I, personally, Jean-Max Bellerive, the prime minister of the Republic of Haiti, signed three specific authorizations of adoption lists that were in the adoption process with people who are known for their services with children who are clearly identified as orphans,'' Bellerive told The Herald.

As Bellerive's order began to take effect, adoption workers, alerted by U.S. Embassy officials, scrambled over the weekend to move as many prospective adoptive children to the U.S. as possible.

more...

http://www.miamiherald.com/582/story/1447905.html

[dipsydoodle]

1. There's a lot to be said

for them staying in Haiti with their own people.

[EFerrari]

2. Plus it's much too chaotic a time to make these determinations.

[Democrat_in_Houston]

3. But there is more to be said for kids having at least one parent :)

A parent who can love and provide for them.