The heads of five major Catholic agencies that are serving Haitian earthquake victims have written to three Cabinet secretaries outlining steps they feel should be taken to protect Haitian children who have been left alone as a result of the Jan. 12 quake.
“The compassion of the American people has been evident in their response” to these children, the agency heads wrote. “As social service providers, we believe that certain processes should be established before such children are brought to the United States and placed in adoption proceedings.”
The full text of the letter is available here. It is addressed to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
It was signed by the heads of the U.S. bishops’ Migration and Refugee Services, the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Catholic Charities USA, Catholic Relief Services and the International Catholic Migration Commission.
Filed under: CNS
This earthquake left many orphans, and there is no doubt that they need the most help. Of course they will have a better life in the US, but I think that first of all efforts must be done to locate their family in Haiti, because it;s still family.
And if there is a foster home found for them in the US, it must be well checked carefully and the adoption process should not be done in a hurry, because this child will have a problem to adjust not only to new family, but also to a new country, lifestyle and maybe even to a new religion.