UNICEF - 2005 HAITI

Just found a very good report of Unicef/Terre des Hommes of 2005 about Haiti/ICA.

Executive Summary (informal translation)

The presented analysis concerns intercountry aodption in Haiti and contains concrete recommendations that could help to improve the situation.

Some general reflections as well as statistics on intercountry adoption present the beginning of this piece. They are followed by an analysis of the legislation and of the adoption procedure.

Concrete information has been collected on practices in intercountry adoption on the basis of some 30 interviews with persons involved from near or far in this subject. The authorities responsible for the crèches, lawyers, staff of embassies and other specific persons have been interviewed, their role and responsibilities evaluated and commented.

Globally, the interrogated persons have a critical stand on intercountry adoptions as practiced in Haiti, denouncing the mercantile aspect, a weak legislation, the multiplying of crèches, the lack of control on those, as well as the conditions and the deplorable functioning of the state authorities and the justice.

Making a global analysis of the situation, one must conclude that the loopholes of the system are numerous and extremely disastrous for the interest of the child. The crèches, often specialised in intercountry adoption, substitute the State by deciding the adoptability of the child and by initiating the whole adoption procedure with the help of lawyers. The authorities are therefore put at the block and do nothing else than confirm decisions taken on in their place. This process opens all doors to abuses, even more as we know intercountry adoption can be extremely lucrative.

This evaluation did not just paint an image of the actual situation, but proposes also concrete measures to improve the situation. She gives a list of recommendations of which some can be rapidly implemented. Cette évaluation ne se contente pas de peindre le tableau de la situation actuelle, mais propose aussi des mesures concrètes pour améliorer la situation. Elle dresse une liste de recommandations dont certaines sont applicables rapidement

Concluding, it is essential to note that the situation continues to degrade in Haiti and that it is urgent to act in order to respect the rights of the children at the minimum. In the large majority of cases, it does not concern a measure of child protection - but a profitable business.

Despite the mercantile nature of the transaction, many protagonists consider offering a better life to the children of poverty stricken Haitian families. How this 'saving' may be felt by the children themselves many years later, is also the subject of reflexive in the conclusions.

QUOTE CONCLUSION - last sentence report:

To illustrate the last point, here the transcript of the words of an Adoptee, who, at the age of 24, while looking for her roots, discovered she was taken from her biological mother: ,

«I am furious, feel tears coming up.....what can I do ? I feel touched in my dignity. They played with my life, behind my back... I can not accept this ! »