Comments on: Who Wears the Black Hat in Haiti?

By: Frank

Frank — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 19:59:27 +0000

very well written blog .

By: WandaWoo

WandaWoo — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 11:07:26 +0000

This was great. Thank you for this as always.

By: C.S.

C.S. — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 07:10:54 +0000

I’m surprised you haven’t gotten a lot of rants from some of the adoptionistas. Your support for UNICEF can’t be very popular in those circles.

By: Christian

Christian — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 07:10:00 +0000

What a great blog!

By: Pamela Veazie

Pamela Veazie — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 14:46:55 +0000

Dawn,
My comment to your response about UNICEF “calling shots” is that the Haiti government has asked them to do these things. From everything I have read, US, UN, private aid groups WITH the Haiti government are deciding what to do from distributing food to setting up temporary schools. It was the Haiti Prime Minister that wanted to do the final check on the children being adopted.Which country funds anything from the UN the most anyway? The US.Looking at country aid response http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanitarian_response_by_national_governments_to_the_2010_Haiti_earthquake plus private donations, I think it is safe to say that the US gov’t and private donations eclipse anything else.

At the summit in January in Canada the Haiti PM said “A devastated Haiti desperately needs help from its friends, but Haitians themselves must take the lead in rebuilding their shattered country”

The whole child welfare structure is going to have to change to get the corruption out of the adoption business in Haiti. Feeding money to the orphanages after adopting from an orphanage will just perpetuate a cycle of bringing more kids into the orphanage for the purpose of adopting the children out so they can get more money.

By: Dawn

Dawn — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:44:17 +0000

Valid point Noel!

By: Noel

Noel — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:36:30 +0000

I think that is a hard question, Dawn. And not necessarily the reason children are given for adoption in America. I can really see both sides of it. We don’t require only those to give up their children for adoption in America who cannot feed and bathe them, and under that rationale, really no child should be given up in America as we have safeguards in place to provide for families that cannot provide for themselves.

I wonder if this isn’t more a question of effective birth control. Maybe my son’s nanny did not want another child. Maybe she cannot feed & clothe him because she has so many others. I have a friend who adopted in the US through open adoption – the birth mother is older, has I believe 4 bio kids and decided she just couldn’t raise another.

So, I think there are a lot of assumptions about why women give up their children in Haiti. I think more research should be done on the issue and more preventative measures with regard to birth control.

Having seen it day in and day out in Jamaica, I do kind of get it, wanting a better life for your child, so I don’t know what the answer is. But, I do see both sides of this…

By: Dawn

Dawn — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 11:38:09 +0000

Thanks Noel for sharing. I think what worries me the most is that the system in Haiti right now somehow accepts that your son’s nanny should place her child for adoption in order to provide him with opportunities. This woman is obviously capable of raising a child. She has a job (although may not make much money) and is emotionally able to raise a child. I assume that she is able to feed and clothe her son. There is inherently something wrong that a woman in that position should “give away” her son. I doubt very seriously if UNICEF wants me speaking for them, but I suspect it is just such a case that they would use as an example of adoption abuse. So, the question I have is how do we help Haiti create a system where only children whose parents are not able to feed them or care for them end up being adopted?

By: Noel

Noel — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 01:36:28 +0000

PS – I forget – the website above is for our orphanage. It is run by Haitians and they also have a program/non-profit to help families keep their children. Help to feed, clothe and send them to school. That said, I know the person who is adopting the child on my son’s nanny. As hard as it is for the nannies to part with the children, including sometimes their own bio children, they truly are happy for the oppurtunity of their children.

By: Noel

Noel — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 01:34:11 +0000

I also read the WSJ article. One thing I would like to comment on, because I have seen it before, is this notion that Americans should just give $10,000-$25,000 to a family so they can keep their child, as opposed to adopting the child. This is so unrealistic. Really, aside from Brad and Angelina, who has this kind of money laying around to give, which won’t by the way, “teach the Haitians to fish”. I lived in Jamaica while serving in the US Peace Corps. The US and other countries have been dumping money into that country for 35+ years (probably 45 by now) and it still has major problems (and Jamaica is no where near the poverty level of Haiti). Many Jamaicans are just looking for the hand outs. One woman who ran a non-profit I worked for briefly, drove a Mercedes and lived in a middle class Jamaican neighborhood, yet was stingy when I asked for money for cookies and juice for a meeting with the children – this was not uncommon – donation money to many of these developing countries is greatly misdirected and no one wants to spend the time/effort insuring that it will go to the appropriate place.

We are in process of adopting our son from Haiti who has been able to join us due to the earthquake. I certainly would not send $10,000-$25,000 to Haiti for someone else to raise a child. Call me selfish. I certainly want my son to have a better life. It was important for my husband and I to adopt a child that needed a home. However, we still wanted to joys that come along with parenting for ourselves – not an occasionally update from a family who we sent large sums of money to.

Additionally,we will continue to give/donate to our orphanage for years to come – which I believe is another benefit to the international adoptions, we feel connected to Haiti and plan on continued support – but not in the amount of $10,000 – $25,000 lump sums…

http://foyerdesion.org/