Original Link
Updated at 10:02 PM today
Michelle Gallardo
January 14, 2010 (CHICAGO) (WLS) -- Relieved their children are unhurt after the earthquake, two adoptive families now fear Haitian orphanages will run out of supplies- and the paperwork may be lost.
The Haitian orphanage where the young boy Lisa Gregg and her husband are planning to adopt sustained only minor damage in the earthquake. All the children are OK.
"He's had quite a life and he's only 3," said Lisa Gregg. "And I keep saying we just want to get him home. He's three. Things can be smoother."
But how quickly they can bring him home is now in question. All the paperwork filed on the adoption may have been lost. She's grateful he's OK- but concerned about his immediate future.
...
Adoption-Link out of Oak Park, Ill., -- one of six agencies in the U.S. that work with orphanages in Haiti-- arranged the adoptions for Gregg and Lewen. Both of the facilities the agency works have only minor damage. But, they are running out of food and water.
"We had recently shipped a giant sea container full of supplies and that was in customs at Port-Au-Prince and all those supplies are gone because of destruction or looting," said Heather Breems, Adoption-Link.
Another problem- the documents may have been lost.
"Probably all the documents were in the office in Port-Au-Prince, which has now collapsed, so we're working very hard to find a way to issue a new visa and passport here within the U.S. so that all we need is someone to go and grab the little girl and she can come home," said Breems.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
"A local family is desperately trying to get to their adoptive Haitian boys"
Original Link
By Brittney Hopper
Thursday, January 14, 2010 at 7:58 p.m.
COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO -- Tanya and Aaron Ramsey tell FOX21 News, when they heard about the devastating earthquake, they went into panic mode, hoping and praying their two twin boys are alive.
When we found out the earthquake happened we just went into, we just needed to know if our children were okay, alive,” said Tanya Ramsey.
Tanya and her husband Aaron started the adoption process through “God's Littlest Angles” in august of 2008. They found out they were getting twin boys a year later and since then they've seen their boys twice, most recently during Christmas.
“It's been quite an emotional couple of days but people in our community have been outstanding. Colorado Springs have truly come together to support us and to support Haiti which is excellent,” said Ramsey.
Because of international adoption laws, the Ramsey family weren't suppose to get their boys for another six months but since the devastating earthquake they're doing all they can to bring their boys home sooner.
“What we're trying to do with our local Senators is to push the humanitarian passports and bring our children home early,” said Ramsey.
The Ramsey family says they are trying to get other adoptive Haitian kids to their adoptive parents in the United States and Canada earlier than expected to free up space at the orphanage.
“There's going to be so many orphans in Haiti, just over night the orphanages out in Haiti are already maxed out so to bring our kids home will not only help our children but also the other children who are now orphans in Haiti,” said Ramsey.
By Brittney Hopper
Thursday, January 14, 2010 at 7:58 p.m.
COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO -- Tanya and Aaron Ramsey tell FOX21 News, when they heard about the devastating earthquake, they went into panic mode, hoping and praying their two twin boys are alive.
When we found out the earthquake happened we just went into, we just needed to know if our children were okay, alive,” said Tanya Ramsey.
Tanya and her husband Aaron started the adoption process through “God's Littlest Angles” in august of 2008. They found out they were getting twin boys a year later and since then they've seen their boys twice, most recently during Christmas.
“It's been quite an emotional couple of days but people in our community have been outstanding. Colorado Springs have truly come together to support us and to support Haiti which is excellent,” said Ramsey.
Because of international adoption laws, the Ramsey family weren't suppose to get their boys for another six months but since the devastating earthquake they're doing all they can to bring their boys home sooner.
“What we're trying to do with our local Senators is to push the humanitarian passports and bring our children home early,” said Ramsey.
The Ramsey family says they are trying to get other adoptive Haitian kids to their adoptive parents in the United States and Canada earlier than expected to free up space at the orphanage.
“There's going to be so many orphans in Haiti, just over night the orphanages out in Haiti are already maxed out so to bring our kids home will not only help our children but also the other children who are now orphans in Haiti,” said Ramsey.
"'If there had not been an earthquake, he would be here by June'"
Original Link
Story Published: Jan 14, 2010 at 5:57 PM PST
By Laura Rillos KVAL News
EUGENE, Ore. -- Alicia Swaringen looks through pictures of her four-year-old son, Sthainder, filled with relief -- and frustration.
She knows the young boy was not injured in the Haiti earthquake, but she doesn't know when she'll be able to bring him home.
"If there had not been an earthquake, he would be here by June," said Swaringen. "But with the earthquake and not knowing if that's going to add to the time, who knows? These last few steps could take years."
Sthainder is at Holt International's Fantana Village, located 30 miles north of Port-au-Prince. The building is still standing and is running on generator power.
It's an agonizing limbo. Swaringen has spent two years trying to adopt Sthainder, on top of another 7 months starting the initial adoption process.
Swaringen said she needs one signature from the Ministry of the Interior to clear the way for Sthainder to get a passport and for Swaringen to have her final interview with U.S. officials to obtain Sthainder's visa.
"The one signature we've been waiting on, we've been waiting for 5 months," said Swaringen. "And I don't even know if that building is still in existence."
For now, Swaringen clings to the photos and memories from her trip to Haiti last May, the first time she met her son.
"He was only three when I went, how's he even going to know who I am?" she wondered. "But he knew, he knew. And I knew."
Swaringen spent five days with Sthainder, swimming, playing on the beach and learning about her son and his country.
"The moment of meeting him was really magical too. We bonded just really immediately," she said. "He's really cute and smart and funny and kind and gentle. I can't wait to bring him home."
Kim Brown, the director of Holt International, has said the earthquake could draw out adoptions for another year or two. He said the U.S. state department will have to work with Haitian officials to see if they can expedite adoptions already in process.
Story Published: Jan 14, 2010 at 5:57 PM PST
By Laura Rillos KVAL News
EUGENE, Ore. -- Alicia Swaringen looks through pictures of her four-year-old son, Sthainder, filled with relief -- and frustration.
She knows the young boy was not injured in the Haiti earthquake, but she doesn't know when she'll be able to bring him home.
"If there had not been an earthquake, he would be here by June," said Swaringen. "But with the earthquake and not knowing if that's going to add to the time, who knows? These last few steps could take years."
Sthainder is at Holt International's Fantana Village, located 30 miles north of Port-au-Prince. The building is still standing and is running on generator power.
It's an agonizing limbo. Swaringen has spent two years trying to adopt Sthainder, on top of another 7 months starting the initial adoption process.
Swaringen said she needs one signature from the Ministry of the Interior to clear the way for Sthainder to get a passport and for Swaringen to have her final interview with U.S. officials to obtain Sthainder's visa.
"The one signature we've been waiting on, we've been waiting for 5 months," said Swaringen. "And I don't even know if that building is still in existence."
For now, Swaringen clings to the photos and memories from her trip to Haiti last May, the first time she met her son.
"He was only three when I went, how's he even going to know who I am?" she wondered. "But he knew, he knew. And I knew."
Swaringen spent five days with Sthainder, swimming, playing on the beach and learning about her son and his country.
"The moment of meeting him was really magical too. We bonded just really immediately," she said. "He's really cute and smart and funny and kind and gentle. I can't wait to bring him home."
Kim Brown, the director of Holt International, has said the earthquake could draw out adoptions for another year or two. He said the U.S. state department will have to work with Haitian officials to see if they can expedite adoptions already in process.
"Englewood mother's baby is trapped in Haiti"
Original Link
written by: Jeffrey Wolf Kevin Torres 35 mins ago
ENGLEWOOD - Thousands of parents around the world are waiting to hear if their adopted children survived the earthquake in Haiti.
A mother from Englewood found out mid-way through the week that her 11-month-old daughter Oslene survived the quake.
While many of the buildings around Oslene's orphanage crumbled, her orphanage remained untouched.
"It's quite a nerve-wracking situation," said Shusawn Touryan, who's waiting for her child.
Touryan started the adoption process back in September and the legal paperwork has all gone through. However, the agency she worked with said it could take up to two years for her to receive Oslene.
"I don't think I've ever felt this way before. Yet, there's nothing I can do," she said. "I think that's the most maddening part of the whole thing. If I could get on an airplane right now and grab her and hold her - even if it was just to hold her, I would."
Touryan is hoping to get a humanitarian visa so she can get her daughter sooner. She has already reached out to several politicians.
Thousands of children were put up for adoption Haiti long before the earthquake struck.
(Copyright KUSA*TV, All Rights Reserved)
written by: Jeffrey Wolf Kevin Torres 35 mins ago
ENGLEWOOD - Thousands of parents around the world are waiting to hear if their adopted children survived the earthquake in Haiti.
A mother from Englewood found out mid-way through the week that her 11-month-old daughter Oslene survived the quake.
While many of the buildings around Oslene's orphanage crumbled, her orphanage remained untouched.
"It's quite a nerve-wracking situation," said Shusawn Touryan, who's waiting for her child.
Touryan started the adoption process back in September and the legal paperwork has all gone through. However, the agency she worked with said it could take up to two years for her to receive Oslene.
"I don't think I've ever felt this way before. Yet, there's nothing I can do," she said. "I think that's the most maddening part of the whole thing. If I could get on an airplane right now and grab her and hold her - even if it was just to hold her, I would."
Touryan is hoping to get a humanitarian visa so she can get her daughter sooner. She has already reached out to several politicians.
Thousands of children were put up for adoption Haiti long before the earthquake struck.
(Copyright KUSA*TV, All Rights Reserved)
"Haitian envoy: No contact with ministers since quake"
Original Link
By Tom Evans, CNN
January 15, 2010 -- Updated 0107 GMT (0907 HKT)
(CNN) -- The Haitian ambassador to the U.S. said Thursday he has not been able to contact a single minister in his government since Tuesday's devastating earthquake in his country.
Ambassador Raymond Joseph told CNN's Christiane Amanpour, "I have had contacts with some officials that are government officials, but not at the level of ministers."
"And I understand that some people that used to work with us may have been killed in the collapse of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs," he added.
Joseph's remarks indicate a huge scale of damage in the government's infrastructure in the capital Port-au-Prince after the 7.0-magnitude earthquake.
...
The executive director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Ann Veneman, told Amanpour that conditions in Haiti were dire even before this week's earthquake. "Fifty percent of the children don't go to school, children are living in poverty, people don't have access to basic services", she said.
"Only about a third of the population has access to clean water under normal circumstances and now in the emergency, food, clean water, access is so critical to these populations to allow them to survive."
Veneman also had a grim warning about the risks to children in the aftermath of the disaster.
"We'll be working on the protection of children to make sure those children who may have been separated from their families are identified and aren't being allowed to move, because you worry about the trafficking of children."
"It's in these emergency circumstances where a child could be plucked off the street and trafficked or taken away", she added. "And so one of the things we advocate for is to make sure that children are identified, that they're put in a safe place, and then people begin to track their family members so they cannot simply disappear from the scene."
By Tom Evans, CNN
January 15, 2010 -- Updated 0107 GMT (0907 HKT)
(CNN) -- The Haitian ambassador to the U.S. said Thursday he has not been able to contact a single minister in his government since Tuesday's devastating earthquake in his country.
Ambassador Raymond Joseph told CNN's Christiane Amanpour, "I have had contacts with some officials that are government officials, but not at the level of ministers."
"And I understand that some people that used to work with us may have been killed in the collapse of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs," he added.
Joseph's remarks indicate a huge scale of damage in the government's infrastructure in the capital Port-au-Prince after the 7.0-magnitude earthquake.
...
The executive director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Ann Veneman, told Amanpour that conditions in Haiti were dire even before this week's earthquake. "Fifty percent of the children don't go to school, children are living in poverty, people don't have access to basic services", she said.
"Only about a third of the population has access to clean water under normal circumstances and now in the emergency, food, clean water, access is so critical to these populations to allow them to survive."
Veneman also had a grim warning about the risks to children in the aftermath of the disaster.
"We'll be working on the protection of children to make sure those children who may have been separated from their families are identified and aren't being allowed to move, because you worry about the trafficking of children."
"It's in these emergency circumstances where a child could be plucked off the street and trafficked or taken away", she added. "And so one of the things we advocate for is to make sure that children are identified, that they're put in a safe place, and then people begin to track their family members so they cannot simply disappear from the scene."
"Haiti Earthquake Devastates Lives of Orphans, Unwanted Children"
Original Link
Orphan Population Expected to Increase After Quake; Limited Resources to Care for Them
By SARAH NETTER
Jan. 14, 2010
When the shaking started, they ran -- 20 little girls, all orphans, out of the only home they knew.
When the walls of their suburban Port-au-Prince orphanage came crashing down, their caregivers counted their blessings that no one had died. But then their attention turned to the harsh reality faced by the dozens of owners of the orphanages that dot Haiti's capital -- finding food and shelter for the poorest of the poor, the children nobody wanted.
They also fear that the number of children they will need to care for will increase dramatically.
"We are very scared for the orphans out there," Jon Clark, international director to Haiti for CSI Ministries, told ABCNews.com today. "People are bad off to begin with. This is just going to make things worse."
Port-au-Prince was home to a considerable orphan population before the earthquake hit Tuesday, turning Haiti's capital into a wasteland. While some children had been placed in orphanages because their parents had died, many others are brought to orphanages by their families because disease or poverty left them unable to care for their children.
Now, orphanage owners and missionaries say the number of unwanted children is sure to skyrocket as thousands of Haitian parents come to grips with being stripped of the few resources they had.
...
In 2007, UNICEF estimated there were 380,000 orphans in Haiti, which has a population of just over 9 million, according to the CIA World Factbook.
The children at the H.O.P.E. Center, run by CSI Ministries, could be considered among the lucky. Clark, based in the U.S., said he has made contact with Toby Banks, director of the medical clinic adjacent to the orphanage, located in Croix Des Bouquets, about 4 miles from the earthquake's epicenter.
...
Orphan Population Expected to Increase After Quake; Limited Resources to Care for Them
By SARAH NETTER
Jan. 14, 2010
When the shaking started, they ran -- 20 little girls, all orphans, out of the only home they knew.
When the walls of their suburban Port-au-Prince orphanage came crashing down, their caregivers counted their blessings that no one had died. But then their attention turned to the harsh reality faced by the dozens of owners of the orphanages that dot Haiti's capital -- finding food and shelter for the poorest of the poor, the children nobody wanted.
They also fear that the number of children they will need to care for will increase dramatically.
"We are very scared for the orphans out there," Jon Clark, international director to Haiti for CSI Ministries, told ABCNews.com today. "People are bad off to begin with. This is just going to make things worse."
Port-au-Prince was home to a considerable orphan population before the earthquake hit Tuesday, turning Haiti's capital into a wasteland. While some children had been placed in orphanages because their parents had died, many others are brought to orphanages by their families because disease or poverty left them unable to care for their children.
Now, orphanage owners and missionaries say the number of unwanted children is sure to skyrocket as thousands of Haitian parents come to grips with being stripped of the few resources they had.
...
In 2007, UNICEF estimated there were 380,000 orphans in Haiti, which has a population of just over 9 million, according to the CIA World Factbook.
The children at the H.O.P.E. Center, run by CSI Ministries, could be considered among the lucky. Clark, based in the U.S., said he has made contact with Toby Banks, director of the medical clinic adjacent to the orphanage, located in Croix Des Bouquets, about 4 miles from the earthquake's epicenter.
...
"Lugar Calls for Granting Temporary Protective Status to Haitians"
Original Link
Congressional Desk
January 15, 2010
U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member Dick Lugar is calling on the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security to grant Temporary Protective Status for 18 months to Haitian immigrants, in part, so they can send funds home to help their country.
"The devastating earthquake and ongoing aftershocks in Haiti since January 12 represent one of the most significant natural disasters to strike the Western Hemisphere in recent memory. The gravity of the situation was explained to me in detail during a conversation I had yesterday with Administrator Dr. Rajiv Shah of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), who is leading the U.S. government response," Lugar said.
More than 3 million people have been directly affected and estimates reported by the Red Cross suggest that the number of casualties may reach 50,000 or more. "The challenges facing Haiti and all those who stand with her are extraordinary, but the American people´s willingness to lend a helping hand remains unwavering. Many Hoosiers have been engaged in humanitarian work in Haiti, among them the my fellow parishioners of St. Luke´s United Methodist Church in Indianapolis.
"Confronted by such a great crisis, I call on the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security to grant Temporary Protective Status (TPS) to Haitians for 18 months, at which time it should be reviewed," Lugar said. TPS is granted to selected immigrants who cannot safely return to their native countries due to natural disasters, conflict or other emergencies. "It is in the foreign policy interest of the United States and a humanitarian imperative of the highest order to have all people of Haitian descent in a position to contribute towards the recovery of this island nation," Lugar said.
Lugar has also asked the U.S. State Department to allow visa parole for Haitian children that are in the midst of adoption proceedings with American parents. This would allow the children to come to the U.S. while their adoptions are still in process. Several Hoosiers families contacted Lugar´s office about their pending adoptions from Haiti.
Congressional Desk
January 15, 2010
U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member Dick Lugar is calling on the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security to grant Temporary Protective Status for 18 months to Haitian immigrants, in part, so they can send funds home to help their country.
"The devastating earthquake and ongoing aftershocks in Haiti since January 12 represent one of the most significant natural disasters to strike the Western Hemisphere in recent memory. The gravity of the situation was explained to me in detail during a conversation I had yesterday with Administrator Dr. Rajiv Shah of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), who is leading the U.S. government response," Lugar said.
More than 3 million people have been directly affected and estimates reported by the Red Cross suggest that the number of casualties may reach 50,000 or more. "The challenges facing Haiti and all those who stand with her are extraordinary, but the American people´s willingness to lend a helping hand remains unwavering. Many Hoosiers have been engaged in humanitarian work in Haiti, among them the my fellow parishioners of St. Luke´s United Methodist Church in Indianapolis.
"Confronted by such a great crisis, I call on the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security to grant Temporary Protective Status (TPS) to Haitians for 18 months, at which time it should be reviewed," Lugar said. TPS is granted to selected immigrants who cannot safely return to their native countries due to natural disasters, conflict or other emergencies. "It is in the foreign policy interest of the United States and a humanitarian imperative of the highest order to have all people of Haitian descent in a position to contribute towards the recovery of this island nation," Lugar said.
Lugar has also asked the U.S. State Department to allow visa parole for Haitian children that are in the midst of adoption proceedings with American parents. This would allow the children to come to the U.S. while their adoptions are still in process. Several Hoosiers families contacted Lugar´s office about their pending adoptions from Haiti.
"Mary Beth Buchanan Wants to Help Haitian Orphans"
Original Link
By Andrew Ramonas | January 14, 2010
The former U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania is trying to help victims of the 7.0 earthquake that destroyed much of Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, this week, The Associated Press reported today.
Mary Beth Buchanan, who served as U.S. Attorney in Pittsburgh from 2001 until November 2009, is trying to arrange for a private plane to shuttle Haitian orphans to the United States, according to the AP. She is in contact with an immigration lawyer and has found a doctor to help care for the children, whose orphanage is in Port-Au-Prince, the AP said.
Americans Jamie McMurtie Heckman and Alison McMurtie, who live at the orphanage and hail from Pittsburgh, are trying to obtain emergency relief status for the children to come to the United States, according to the AP. The children have been living in the orphanage’s yard without any food or water since the quake struck the impoverished Caribbean nation on Tuesday, the AP said.
Buchanan did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Main Justice left on her home voicemail.
We reported in October that she is considering a bid for a House seat from Pennsylvania.
By Andrew Ramonas | January 14, 2010
The former U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania is trying to help victims of the 7.0 earthquake that destroyed much of Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, this week, The Associated Press reported today.
Mary Beth Buchanan, who served as U.S. Attorney in Pittsburgh from 2001 until November 2009, is trying to arrange for a private plane to shuttle Haitian orphans to the United States, according to the AP. She is in contact with an immigration lawyer and has found a doctor to help care for the children, whose orphanage is in Port-Au-Prince, the AP said.
Americans Jamie McMurtie Heckman and Alison McMurtie, who live at the orphanage and hail from Pittsburgh, are trying to obtain emergency relief status for the children to come to the United States, according to the AP. The children have been living in the orphanage’s yard without any food or water since the quake struck the impoverished Caribbean nation on Tuesday, the AP said.
Buchanan did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Main Justice left on her home voicemail.
We reported in October that she is considering a bid for a House seat from Pennsylvania.
"Anger grows in quake-hit Haiti over aid delay"
Original Link
By Tom Brown and Andrew Cawthorne – 1 hr 24 mins ago
PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) – Desperate Haitians set up roadblocks with corpses in Port-au-Prince on Thursday to demand quicker relief efforts after a massive earthquake killed tens of thousands and left countless others homeless.
Angry survivors staged the protest as international aid began arriving in the Haitian capital to help a nation traumatized by Tuesday's catastrophic earthquake that flattened homes and government buildings.
More than 48 hours after the disaster, tens of thousands of people clamored for food and water and help digging out relatives still missing under the rubble.
Shaul Schwarz, a photographer for TIME magazine, said he saw at least two downtown roadblocks formed with bodies of earthquake victims and rocks.
"They are starting to block the roads with bodies. It's getting ugly out there. People are fed up with getting no help," he told Reuters.
The Haitian Red Cross said it believed 45,000 to 50,000 people had died and 3 million more -- one third of Haiti's population -- were hurt or left homeless by the major 7.0 magnitude quake that hit its impoverished capital on Tuesday.
The quake flattened buildings across entire hillsides and many people were still trapped alive in the rubble after two days, with little sign of organized rescue efforts.
"We have already buried 7,000 in a mass grave," President Rene Preval said.
By Tom Brown and Andrew Cawthorne – 1 hr 24 mins ago
PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) – Desperate Haitians set up roadblocks with corpses in Port-au-Prince on Thursday to demand quicker relief efforts after a massive earthquake killed tens of thousands and left countless others homeless.
Angry survivors staged the protest as international aid began arriving in the Haitian capital to help a nation traumatized by Tuesday's catastrophic earthquake that flattened homes and government buildings.
More than 48 hours after the disaster, tens of thousands of people clamored for food and water and help digging out relatives still missing under the rubble.
Shaul Schwarz, a photographer for TIME magazine, said he saw at least two downtown roadblocks formed with bodies of earthquake victims and rocks.
"They are starting to block the roads with bodies. It's getting ugly out there. People are fed up with getting no help," he told Reuters.
The Haitian Red Cross said it believed 45,000 to 50,000 people had died and 3 million more -- one third of Haiti's population -- were hurt or left homeless by the major 7.0 magnitude quake that hit its impoverished capital on Tuesday.
The quake flattened buildings across entire hillsides and many people were still trapped alive in the rubble after two days, with little sign of organized rescue efforts.
"We have already buried 7,000 in a mass grave," President Rene Preval said.
"Utah-supported Haitian orphanages in dire need"
Original Link
By Marc Haddock
Deseret News
Published: Thursday, Jan. 14, 2010 6:13 p.m. MST
Paul H. Cook, founder of A Child's Hope Foundation which operates an orphanage in Timarche, about 25 miles from Port-au-Prince, said the foundation's board has been meeting to decide how to respond to the crisis.
The 200-plus orphans housed in the foundation's facility are alive and accounted for, but the country's needs are unimaginable. Currently the organization (www.achf.org) is planning to assemble care kits for the children.
...
Provo's HIT Web Design supports another Haitian orphanage, the Hope for Little Angels of Haiti, which was in the process of moving from Carrefour, a suburb of Port-au-Prince, into Port-au-Prince proper when the earthquake hit.
Brad Stone, a co-owner of the company, said about half of the 60 orphans cared for by Hope for Little Angels, those who had been moved into the city, have been accounted for, but the Provo company is still waiting to hear about those in Carrefour.
By Marc Haddock
Deseret News
Published: Thursday, Jan. 14, 2010 6:13 p.m. MST
Paul H. Cook, founder of A Child's Hope Foundation which operates an orphanage in Timarche, about 25 miles from Port-au-Prince, said the foundation's board has been meeting to decide how to respond to the crisis.
The 200-plus orphans housed in the foundation's facility are alive and accounted for, but the country's needs are unimaginable. Currently the organization (www.achf.org) is planning to assemble care kits for the children.
...
Provo's HIT Web Design supports another Haitian orphanage, the Hope for Little Angels of Haiti, which was in the process of moving from Carrefour, a suburb of Port-au-Prince, into Port-au-Prince proper when the earthquake hit.
Brad Stone, a co-owner of the company, said about half of the 60 orphans cared for by Hope for Little Angels, those who had been moved into the city, have been accounted for, but the Provo company is still waiting to hear about those in Carrefour.
"Ben Avon sisters in Haitian orphanage trying to save children"
Original Link
Thursday, January 14, 2010
By Rachael Conway, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Two sisters from Ben Avon who live at the crumbling BRESMA orphanage in Port-Au-Prince are pleading for help to get a group of children emergency refugee status so they can come to the United States.
In a text to her husband Doug, Jamie McMutrie Heckman, 30, said she and her sister, Alison, 21, were living in the orphanage's yard with the children without food or water.
"We truly can't keep babies alive ... water contaminated. This is our only hope," she texted, using a stranger's Blackberry. "I want to make sure everyone understands we can't stay in Haiti and the kids will not live if they stay. Riots will start within two days."
Several blogs are keeping track of communications with the sisters and a family friend has started a Facebook page asking people to send petitions seeking help with the childrens' refugee status to their congressmen.
...
The children the sisters want to bring back to the U.S. are nearly through the adoption process and have families waiting for them, Mr. Klanderud said.
Former U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan said this morning that she has secured the help of a doctor who can examine the BRESMA orphans, has spoken with an immigration lawyer and is in contact with the owners of an airplane company to see if she can get a plane for the rescue mission.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
By Rachael Conway, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Two sisters from Ben Avon who live at the crumbling BRESMA orphanage in Port-Au-Prince are pleading for help to get a group of children emergency refugee status so they can come to the United States.
In a text to her husband Doug, Jamie McMutrie Heckman, 30, said she and her sister, Alison, 21, were living in the orphanage's yard with the children without food or water.
"We truly can't keep babies alive ... water contaminated. This is our only hope," she texted, using a stranger's Blackberry. "I want to make sure everyone understands we can't stay in Haiti and the kids will not live if they stay. Riots will start within two days."
Several blogs are keeping track of communications with the sisters and a family friend has started a Facebook page asking people to send petitions seeking help with the childrens' refugee status to their congressmen.
...
The children the sisters want to bring back to the U.S. are nearly through the adoption process and have families waiting for them, Mr. Klanderud said.
Former U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan said this morning that she has secured the help of a doctor who can examine the BRESMA orphans, has spoken with an immigration lawyer and is in contact with the owners of an airplane company to see if she can get a plane for the rescue mission.
"Colorado Charity Requests Humanitarian Visas For Haiti Orphans"
Original Link
Survivors Describe Horrific Conditions, Need For Aid
Jaclyn Allen, 7NEWS Reporter
POSTED: 4:37 pm MST January 14, 2010
UPDATED: 5:27 pm MST January 14, 2010
The first day after the earthquake, Dixie Bickel, of Colorado Springs, was in survival mode, but now, she is starting to wear thin.
"Today, we seem to be wanting to find a corner and cry," said Bickel, speaking via web cam from Petionville, a suburb of Port au Prince.
She is the director of the God's Littlest Angels orphanage, and even though everyone there has survived the quake, she described hellish conditions.
...
She and other American families are requesting humanitarian visas, so children in the orphanage who are in the process of being adopted by American families can leave.
"They need to be allowed to go home so that we can take in more orphans," she said. "Because we know for every child we send out, there is going to be two to take that bed."
Sen. Mark Udall's office said he has received calls from several Colorado families asking for help in obtaining humanitarian visas for the children they are adopting.
His office said he has reached out to the State Department to find out what he can do to expedite the process.
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Survivors Describe Horrific Conditions, Need For Aid
Jaclyn Allen, 7NEWS Reporter
POSTED: 4:37 pm MST January 14, 2010
UPDATED: 5:27 pm MST January 14, 2010
The first day after the earthquake, Dixie Bickel, of Colorado Springs, was in survival mode, but now, she is starting to wear thin.
"Today, we seem to be wanting to find a corner and cry," said Bickel, speaking via web cam from Petionville, a suburb of Port au Prince.
She is the director of the God's Littlest Angels orphanage, and even though everyone there has survived the quake, she described hellish conditions.
...
She and other American families are requesting humanitarian visas, so children in the orphanage who are in the process of being adopted by American families can leave.
"They need to be allowed to go home so that we can take in more orphans," she said. "Because we know for every child we send out, there is going to be two to take that bed."
Sen. Mark Udall's office said he has received calls from several Colorado families asking for help in obtaining humanitarian visas for the children they are adopting.
His office said he has reached out to the State Department to find out what he can do to expedite the process.
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"Child Trafficking Major Concern After Quake"
Original Link
Thousands Of Children Left Without Parents
By Mike Paluska, CBS Atlanta Reporter
POSTED: 4:58 pm EST January 14, 2010
UPDATED: 5:28 pm EST January 14, 2010
ATLANTA -- UNICEF and international adoption agencies said getting children into safe zones is a top priority after the devastating earthquake in Haiti.
The massive magnitude 7.0 earthquake that hit the island of Hispaniola has left thousands of children without parents.
Before the quake even hit UNICEF statistics from 2007 show there were 380,000 orphans already in Haiti.
“There are so many children that are in desperate need of help that’s what we are here to do to keep them alive and get them the nutrients they need and clean water. It becomes the one place of stability for the kids where they have people UNICEF workers they can relate to they have educational material so they can start back with school,” said Alissa Silverman, deputy director for UNICEF in the southeast region. “UNICEF is tracing family members and caring for children orphaned by the disaster to protect them from harm or exploitation."
...
“My first concern is who is with the kids how many of our nannies our ok and who is watching the kids and then all the kids on the streets,” said Chareyl Moyes, the program manager for Wasatch International Adoption. Moyes works with a number of different agencies and orphanages in Haiti. She said early reports about how much damage they suffered are good.
...
A lot of families in the U.S. according to a number of international adoption agencies across the country said some people were at the very end of the process to adopt a child from Haiti. “Now, it will set everyone back,” Moyes said.
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Thousands Of Children Left Without Parents
By Mike Paluska, CBS Atlanta Reporter
POSTED: 4:58 pm EST January 14, 2010
UPDATED: 5:28 pm EST January 14, 2010
ATLANTA -- UNICEF and international adoption agencies said getting children into safe zones is a top priority after the devastating earthquake in Haiti.
The massive magnitude 7.0 earthquake that hit the island of Hispaniola has left thousands of children without parents.
Before the quake even hit UNICEF statistics from 2007 show there were 380,000 orphans already in Haiti.
“There are so many children that are in desperate need of help that’s what we are here to do to keep them alive and get them the nutrients they need and clean water. It becomes the one place of stability for the kids where they have people UNICEF workers they can relate to they have educational material so they can start back with school,” said Alissa Silverman, deputy director for UNICEF in the southeast region. “UNICEF is tracing family members and caring for children orphaned by the disaster to protect them from harm or exploitation."
...
“My first concern is who is with the kids how many of our nannies our ok and who is watching the kids and then all the kids on the streets,” said Chareyl Moyes, the program manager for Wasatch International Adoption. Moyes works with a number of different agencies and orphanages in Haiti. She said early reports about how much damage they suffered are good.
...
A lot of families in the U.S. according to a number of international adoption agencies across the country said some people were at the very end of the process to adopt a child from Haiti. “Now, it will set everyone back,” Moyes said.
------------
"Church, immigrant groups plan to airlift Haitian orphans to S. Florida"
Original Link
MiamiHerald.com
Posted on Thursday, 01.14.10
BY ALFONSO CHARDY AND SERGIO BUSTOS
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.
Operation Pedro Pan was launced on Dec. 26, 1960, as part of a successful clandestine effort to spirit children out of Fidel Castro's new Cuba as communist indoctrination was spreading into Catholic and private schools.
By the time it ended 22 months later, the unique exodus of children -- ages 5 to 17 -- had brought 14,048 unaccompanied Cuban minors to America, with the secret help of the U.S. government, which funded the effort and supplied the visa waivers, and the Catholic church, which promised to care for the children.
The late Monsignor Bryan O. Walsh, a Miami priest, was considered the father of the effort.
As the children filtered into Miami and their numbers swelled, many went to live with relatives and family friends, but others were sent to Miami-Dade group homes and camps called Florida City, Kendall and Matecumbe. They were then relocated across the country to archdioceses in places like Nebraska, Washington and Indiana.
There, they went to live in orphanages, foster homes and schools until their parents could find a way out of Cuba. Sometimes the separation was brief; sometimes it lasted years.
-----
This does not sound right.
MiamiHerald.com
Posted on Thursday, 01.14.10
BY ALFONSO CHARDY AND SERGIO BUSTOS
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.
Operation Pedro Pan was launced on Dec. 26, 1960, as part of a successful clandestine effort to spirit children out of Fidel Castro's new Cuba as communist indoctrination was spreading into Catholic and private schools.
By the time it ended 22 months later, the unique exodus of children -- ages 5 to 17 -- had brought 14,048 unaccompanied Cuban minors to America, with the secret help of the U.S. government, which funded the effort and supplied the visa waivers, and the Catholic church, which promised to care for the children.
The late Monsignor Bryan O. Walsh, a Miami priest, was considered the father of the effort.
As the children filtered into Miami and their numbers swelled, many went to live with relatives and family friends, but others were sent to Miami-Dade group homes and camps called Florida City, Kendall and Matecumbe. They were then relocated across the country to archdioceses in places like Nebraska, Washington and Indiana.
There, they went to live in orphanages, foster homes and schools until their parents could find a way out of Cuba. Sometimes the separation was brief; sometimes it lasted years.
-----
This does not sound right.
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