April 22, 2010: The children are doing well in their new tent homes. The short term goal of the orphanage is to continue to stay where they are until enough funds are raised to rebuild. The long term goal is to rebuild on a new piece of property that will allow expansion of the orphanage and services offered to the children. Staff members are doing well; most lost their homes to the earthquake.
The orphanage is well prepared for the coming rains. The permanent tents have nice concrete pads to keep the children dry. We will have new pictures and a story from a visitor to the orphanage soon. The orphanage continues to need support, if you would like to support the children please donate today.
January 21, 2010: CAS learned today that at least 165 Humanitarian Paroles have been issued to children and that nearly 100 children have already arrived in the United States. We hope that the children of MDA with American families may soon travel home to receive the care that they need and deserve. The situation in Haiti is becoming worse everyday as people become more desperate. Please consider making a donation which will be sent to directly support the Maison des Anges Orphanage, thank you.
January 20, 2010:CAS was able to send a donation of $830 to the orphanage director’s husband so that they may purchase the basic necessities such as food and water for the 90 children of the Maison des Anges (MDA) Orphanage. We have seen many pictures now from European media outlets that the needs of MDA are significant as the children are sleeping in the open air with no shelter. They have very few tents and are relying on well water.
January 19, 2010:Secretary Napolitano after receiving support from numerous NGO’s, members of Congress, Joint Council on International Children’s Services and adoption service providers has made the decision to allow children who qualify and were previously matched with American families to enter the United States. There are two categories of children who may be permitted to enter the U.S. – there are children with adoptions that were previously finalized and children who have been matched with American families and declared orphans but for whom their adoptions have not been completed. Families with matches of children have been instructed to submit detailed information to the Department of Homeland Security who will in turn forward this information to the U.S. Embassy in Port au Prince, the Department of State and members of Congress. At this time children should not be taken to the U.S. Embassy as it is considered an unsecured location. Much more information will be forthcoming as the process is ironed out for these children to legally be processed at the Embassy and escorted to the United States to be united with their adoptive families. This news greatly impacted two of our families waiting to bring their children home.
January 18, 2010: Carolina Adoption Services has heard directly from our orphanage Director. He told us that the main orphanage building collapsed over the weekend and the children had to be moved to another orphanage for their safety. The Director made it to the Dominican Republic to receive a wire of aid and purchase needed supplies for the orphans. The journey is long and hard and we are hopeful that aid will make it to the orphanage from the supplies arriving in Haiti. We also learned that our orphanage Directors lost their son in the earthquake, please keep them in your thoughts as well.
January 15, 2010: JCICS(Joint Council on International Children’s Services) is asking that all families in process of adopting from Haiti join the Haitian Adoptive Parent and Orphan Database, which is available on their website, www.jcics.org. Collection of this information is critical in ensuring that those children who qualify can get their visa expedited.
January 15, 2010:A post on the Red Cross blog site stated that the children and staff at Maison des Anges were all unharmed, but in need of food and water. The post also stated that the primary building had structural damage.
January 14, 2010: Carolina Adoption Services heard briefly from the orphanage that we work with in Haiti. All 90 children and staff are okay, but the orphanage has sustained damage. We are awaiting a list of needs for the orphanage and surrounding community and hope to receive this today. The largest concern is the children of Haiti and the availability of resources. The orphanage we work with and most others in Haiti are at maximum capacity and fear they will have to turn new orphaned children away without resources to care for them. As we receive news and needed items we will update our website.
If you would like to provide relief to the orphans and children affected by the earthquake, please Donate Today. On the donation page you may note that the donation is for Haiti Earthquake relief.
Local Carolina Adoption Services family shares their concerns about their son and Haiti.
Adopting Family Receives Good News, click here to see their story.