Haiti: Country and Program Overview

Haiti is a beautiful island country in the heart of the Caribbean Sea. It is located due east of Cuba and shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic.  Sadly, Haiti is considered the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, with over 85% of its adult population unemployed, living in abject poverty. 

Every day the staggering poverty in Haiti forces hundreds of parents to choose a different life for their children.  While Haitian birth mothers love their children, adoption is often the only option for their children to survive.  These parents pray that their children will escape from a life where there is little food, water, medical care, educational opportunities or most of all...hope.  However, the devastation caused by Haiti’s years of political unrest and dire economic circumstance has depleted the country to the point where available orphanages are overflowing and are forced to turn needy children away.

In response to the obvious need for adoptive families for Haitian children, Partners for Adoption is excited to be launching our Haitian adoption program.  We are working directly with Foyer de Sion, a licensed and registered crèche (orphanage) in Haiti.  Foyer de Sion’s reputation as one of the best, most well run, orphanages in Haiti is unparalleled.  It was founded in 1999 by  Guesno and Marjorie Mardy, who, although poor and needy themselves, took in seventeen children who were in desperate need of nutrition and love.  Their vision of helping others has grown, along with their household size. The faith, hard work  and dedication of Guesno and Marjorie have saved countless lives as their organization has grown into what it is today.  Currently in the direct care of the Mardys are 200+ children, many of whom are referred to waiting families in North America and Europe.  The remainder of these children are still waiting for their forever families to come along.  To date, over 200 children have come home to their families in the US, Canada and France. 

Once a dossier has been submitted to our coordinator in Haiti the wait for a child referral is extremely short, and generally families will be presented with their referral within a month.  The timeframe for full completion of an adoption from Haiti is anywhere from 12-24 months.  This is due to the fact that all adoptions in Haiti must be approved by a variety of Haitian governmental bodies.  During the time that the family is waiting to bring their child or children home they are able to go on one of our quarterly “family trips” to Haiti.  These trips are a week long, and they allow the families who are in the paperwork process to visit with their children on a regular basis.

Single women and married couples are eligible to adopt from Haiti.

Children Available

Due to political unrest and dire economic circumstances, there are many beautiful Haitian children being given up for adoption. The children are of African descent. Most of the children have dark skin, black hair and beautiful dark eyes. Most available children are under age 3, but we also have many older children available as well. There are many sibling groups of 2 or 3 children available. The children reside in family-run orphanages, where they are well cared for. The child to caretaker ratio is generally about 6:1

Parent Requirements

Married couples and single women may adopt. Single women must be over age 30. In a married couple, both parents must be over age 25, with at least one of the parents being 30 or older. Couples should be married or be able to prove that they have been in a loving committed relationship for at least 5 years. Parents can adopt more than one child at a time.

Travel

Both parents or just one parent may travel to Haiti to pick up the child. The trip lasts approximately five days. It is also possible to arrange for an escort to bring the child to their new home so that no travel is required.

Timelines

The family begins by initiating their paperwork for the homestudy and placement process with Partners for Adoption. At this time the family also applies to USCIS for approval to bring an orphan into the United States. Once the homestudy process is underway, the compilation of the dossier of placement papers begins. Once the dossier is translated and registered in Haiti the family waits for a referral. The current referral wait time can be anywhere from 3 weeks to three months. Once the family receives their referral they can travel to Haiti to meet their child. However, the time between receipt of referral and final adoption processing is generally from 12-24 months.

Fees

Approximate total costs for an adoption from Haiti are approximately $15,000 to $18,000. This includes: travel, stay in country, foreign program fee and legalizations of paperwork.