As conditions in Haiti worsen, AAAA urges the State Department to evacuate and parole seventy Haitian orphans who are being adopted by US citizen families to secure their safety while the adoption process is completed.
GREENWOOD, Ind., May 22, 2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- The Academy of Adoption and Assisted Reproduction Attorneys (AAAA) urges the Department of State to find an immediate solution to ensure the evacuation and safety of approximately 70 orphans in Haiti who are in the process of international adoption by US citizen families. With each passing day, the crisis in Haiti becomes more dire, the government becomes less stable, and these vulnerable children face more danger.
AAAA is represented by over 500 attorneys from the United States and abroad who specialize in adoption law, assisted reproductive technology law (ART) or both. AAAA provides a credentialed presence in the law of family formation and is the largest professional organization of its type dedicated to advancing the security of children through permanent adoption, the protection of children through safe and secure foster care with appropriate permanency planning, and the recognition of intended parents as legal parents for those using modern medical technology to build families through assisted reproductive technology.
AAAA Attorneys or "Fellows" have been working with many of the families who are seeking to bring these orphan children in Haiti who have been deemed in need of intercountry adoption by Haiti prior to the current crisis. Haiti supports the immediate evacuation of these children and has agreed to issue exit letters authorizing their immediate departure. The obstacle these children are currently facing is the Department of State. "There is an urgent need for the children to enter the United States and a clear and safe path for them to do so though humanitarian parole. As the Central Adoption Authority for the United States, the U.S. State Department, should and must act in the best interests of these children to safeguard them against unnecessary harm," said AAAA President Sherriann Hicks. "Unfortunately, the Department of State continues to insist that these children complete the adoption process and immigrant visa process in Haiti. Compliance with these bureaucratic requirements places their very lives in danger," said Kelly Dempsey, Deputy Adoption Policy Director for International Adoption. "As an Adoption Attorney and AAAA Fellow, I am working closely with many of the American families and their adoption service providers seeking to ensure that these children can come home safely." AAAA urges the State Department to act urgently to help unite these children with American families, and to ensure that the adoption process between Haiti and the United States can be quickly reestablished at the soonest possible time.
AAAA is headquartered in Greenwood, Indiana. For more information, visit us at adoptionart.org.
Media Contact
Sherriann Hicks, AAAA President, AAAA, 404-786-7365, [email protected], WWW.ADOPTIONART.ORG
Kelly Dempsey, Deputy Adoption Policy Director for International Adoptions, AAAA, 919-710-8199, [email protected], WWW.ADOPTIONART.ORG
SOURCE The Academy of Adoption and Assisted Reproduction Attorneys
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