Huge Homecoming Delays for Haiti's Adopted Children

Families adopting through Haiti's International Adoption Program are once again mired in confusion and significant delays.  But this time it's serious.

This latest delay affects approximately 100 families (that I know of) and their legally adopted Haitian children.  After an adoption case goes through the multi-tiered legal phase where the child is given their decree of adoption with their new last name (of the adoptive parents), the case proceeds to Haitian Immigration to obtain a new passport for the child.  The final step of adoption is US Immigration, where the child's visa is issued, and then he goes HOME!

The distressing situation families are facing now is that their legally adopted children are not being allowed to fly home to the US because US Immigration is not issuing visas...due to an issue of wording on the adoption decrees coming out of the Haitian court system.

Our agency explains it this way:

In November 2013, Haiti voted to actually follow their own new adoption laws, which had been "pending" for several years. Some adoption cases completed after Nov 2013 were processed under the old system; the adoptions were done in what is called a simple adoption .  Under the new laws, they needed to be completed as a plenary or full adoption. Adoption agencies were unfamiliar with this terminology and this wording could not be found in any of the documents issued, but apparently it is there (somewhere). 

Earlier this fall, the US was issuing visa's to cases that were classified as "simple adoptions" and were not insisting on the "plenary" language.

Now, suddenly, US Immigration is cracking down without so much as a, "Hey, guess what?  Get ready, because soon we will be making some changes in how we process visa cases..."

Bottom line, what does this mean?
It means that a hundred families and their legally adopted children who were about to come home, are now being forced to backtrack several stages and RE-DO steps of the adoption that had already been completed!  We are talking adding months to an already insanely long process .  I also suspect that additional money that families had not been prepared to pay will be required for the lawyers needed to complete the process the "correct" way.

This decision has created ripples throughout the process.  Cases that were 95% complete have now been thrown back to IBESR,  Yes, all the way back to the social services stage!  The confused staff at IBESR has been scrambling to make corrections in all these cases.  Everyone at every stage is wondering what really needs to be done to fix this complex problem.  Adoptive parents are calling their senators.  Adoption agencies and adoption and orphan advocates are contacting the US State Department.  Our agency says that these groups are asking "the US government [to] please step in and make some concessions and approve these adoptions."  Yes PLEASE!

So as you can see, friends, once again Haiti adoptions and the precious children need all of our prayers.  Delays, delays, delays.  Eric and I wonder if this situation is affecting our case.  Fortunately our case hadn't gotten far enough along (thank you, Lord, for your protection!) to be dealing with this "simple" vs "plenary" issue, but I do wonder if the added burden on IBESR is delaying our case (and others) from exiting...

Lord Jesus, hear our cries for help on behalf of all of Haiti's children!