Top Ten Reasons to Adopt From Haiti

12
May

haiti boy adoptionThere are many reasons why a family may consider international adoption. While some families only know they want to adopt and provide a forever family to a child in need, others may be drawn to a particular country because of a personal connection, and others may consider the ages of the children looking for families or the travel requirements as determining factors. Each country program has its own unique process, requirements, and advantages. Below are ten reasons for choosing to adopt from Haiti:

  1. Recent Implementation of the Hague Adoption Convention in Haiti aims to make the adoption process in Haiti as ethical and transparent as possible.
  2. Though there still remain some unknowns regarding timeframes as Haiti transitions to a Hague process, it is expected that the end result will be a more stable and predictable process than we have seen with adoptions from Haiti in the past.
  3. Haiti’s proximity to the United States makes it a natural choice for many families. Travel to Haiti is not difficult and flights are affordable. Because Haiti is so close to the U.S. mainland, families can easily bring their child(ren) to visit their birth country as they grow older.
  4. Since the devastating earthquake in 2010, it is estimated that the number of orphans in Haiti doubled from 380,000 to more than 750,000. This staggering number accounts for almost 7% of Haiti’s population.
  5. Haiti is widely considered to be the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, with approximately 80% of the country’s population living in extreme poverty. An estimated 15% of children in Haiti are living outside of family care due to the severe lack of resources.
  6. Crèche’s where the children reside must be licensed by Haiti to care for the children, and must also be licensed for international adoption. These safeguards help ensure that the children receive proper care in a safe environment while waiting to be united with their forever families.
  7. Haiti has flexible requirements for adoptive parents allowing for couples married five or more years, opposite gender couples who have cohabitated for five or more years, as well as single men or women to adopt. One member of the married or cohabitating couple must be at least 30 years old, and single individuals must be at least 35 years old in order to adopt from Haiti. All adoptive parents must be no older than 47 when starting the adoption process.
  8. Infants, toddlers, school age children, sibling groups, and children with special needs are in need of families. Families are able to specify age and gender of the children they hope to adopt.
  9. IBESR, Haiti’s central authority on adoption, matches the children with families, allowing children at all crèches a chance to be united with a family through adoption.
  10. The children are diverse, beautiful, and deserve to grow up in a family.

 

Whether you hope to adopt an infant or older child, boy or girl, sibling group or child with special needs, please consider adopting from Haiti! Our Haiti Pilot Program is still accepting new applications and we would love to assist you on your adoption journey. Contact us for more information.

Stacy Jacobs is the MLJ Adoptions Associate Program Director for Eastern Europe and Latin America. She is the mother of four children, three biological daughters and one son adopted from Guatemala.