Tennessee, California families seek humanitarian parole for adopted children in Haiti

Danica Coto
| Associated Press Press Agency

San Juan, Puerto Rico — At just 6 years old, Esai Reed was forced to flee from orphanages across Haiti three times as gangs robbed and pillaged once-peaceful communities.

He is currently in northern Haiti under the care of an American organization after the director of the last Esai orphanage fled the troubled Caribbean country, where gangs control 80% of the capital.

It’s been almost five months since the last evacuation, and Esai, who loves soccer and is mischievous, has been unable to contact his adoptive mother in the U.S. or his two older brothers who live with her because of internet and other logistical issues.

“This is obviously a crisis,” said Michelle Reed, a 51-year-old teacher and single mother living in Florida.

Reed’s is one of 55 families from Tennessee to California who have asked the U.S. government for humanitarian parole for about 70 children they are adopting. It was an opportunity the U.S. granted to more than a dozen other children earlier this year when gangs attacked key government infrastructure and forced Haiti’s main international airport to close for nearly three months, prompting the evacuation of dozens of U.S. citizens and 39 children who had final adoption decrees between March and May.

Reed and other families said they were initially told they would be part of an evacuation group, but the U.S. government later said that “despite extensive efforts” it had not found a solution that would allow children without adoption decrees to leave Haiti and enter the U.S., according to a letter from the State Department’s Office of Children’s Affairs.

“We understand that this update will be disappointing for both you and your child(ren),” the office wrote.

Reed and other families warn that finalizing the adoption in Haiti rather than the U.S. as requested would force the children to travel to Port-au-Prince, which is largely besieged by gangs, to obtain a visa, passport and medical examination.

“Why aren’t they doing this for our kids?” asked Emmerson, who lives in the U.S. and asked that his last name not be used for safety reasons because he and his wife, who adopted his niece and nephew, have family in Haiti.

Reed noted that the Haitian Central Adoption Authority has granted families permission to leave the country with their children and complete the adoption in the U.S.

But a State Department spokesman told The Associated Press that other Haitian authorities overseeing the adoption process disagree. He added that he is working with the Haitian government “to move adoptions forward as quickly as possible,” while ensuring that laws, regulations and obligations are followed.

“The department is working to expedite the final stages of processing applications for additional children,” he said, adding that all Haitian government offices that handle adoptions are open, “though some offices may be temporarily closed or operating at limited capacity due to local violence.”

The department said it “understands and sympathizes with the concerns and frustrations of American families adopting children from Haiti.”

Stéphane Vincent, director of Haiti’s Immigration and Emigration Directorate, did not respond to requests for comment.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security told the AP that the parole consideration is for a “very limited number of Haitian adoptees” who have reached a certain milestone in their process. It said U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is “working tirelessly” with U.S. government partners “to address the current circumstances.”

In addition to the dangers of staying in Port-au-Prince, families say their cases could be further delayed as Haitian judges go on strike and others leave the country due to the violence.

The UN noted in a recent report that since October 2023, the beginning of Haiti’s judicial year, “courts have been operational for just ten days.”

The families are supported in their efforts to be released on humanitarian grounds by lawmakers, including U.S. Senators Sherrod Brown, Marco Rubio and Rick Scott, who have written on their behalf to the U.S. Department of State and Department of Homeland Security.

Haiti has been under a state of emergency for several months, and the State Department has long maintained a “do not travel” warning, warning of kidnappings, killings, sexual assaults and other crimes, adding that “the U.S. government has very limited ability to assist U.S. citizens in Haiti.”

According to the UN, at least 1,379 deaths or injuries were recorded from April to June, and 428 kidnappings. The UN noted that 88% of those crimes occurred in Port-au-Prince.

Meanwhile, gang violence has left at least 700,000 people homeless in recent years, half of them children, William O’Neill, the independent U.N. expert on human rights in Haiti, said Friday.

“All indicators remain extremely worrying,” he said during a visit to Haiti. “The first and most worrying of them, the lack of security.”

Meanwhile, Kenyan police, who arrived in late June as part of a U.N.-backed mission to quell gang violence, recently began joint operations with Haitian police and military. The United States is considering a U.N. peacekeeping operation there, having warned that the current mission lacks sufficient resources.

“Children are in grave danger,” said Diane Kunz, executive director of the New York-based nonprofit Center for Adoption Policy. “The State Department says it can’t guarantee protection for its citizens.”

In Florida, Reed worries about Esai while trying to comfort his brothers, ages 8 and 10, who were physically abused, sick and malnourished when she adopted them nearly two years ago.

“The boys are scared for him and don’t want to talk about it,” she said, adding that no one told her they had a brother when she adopted them.

Reed recalled how, after arriving in the United States, her two older sons slept in the same bed, even though they had two spare beds, and held each other all night long.

“The night was terrifying for them,” Reed said. “They had nightmares for a long time.”

Fighting alongside Reed are Emmerson and his wife, Michelle, who also asked that her last name not be disclosed for security reasons.

Emmerson’s mother was in Haiti caring for his niece and nephew when she suffered a heart attack after gangs moved into their neighborhood, which was not far from where a young American missionary couple was killed earlier this year.

“They shot and she died,” he said. “The children were in shock.”

After talking with his brother, who has health problems and struggles to care for five other children, they agreed that adoption would be best. However, Emmerson and Michelle have not been able to visit Haiti for almost a year because of the ongoing violence.

Gangs have forced the children to move to southwest Haiti, where their family lacks food and other basic necessities. Gunmen control the main roads leading into and out of Port-au-Prince, sometimes shooting at passers-by.

The boy is 6 and an extrovert, and his sister is “like a little old lady in a 3-year-old’s body,” Michelle said. They worry about what will happen to them if they are forced to travel to Port-au-Prince to finalize the adoption, and Emmerson recalls how his brother’s twins were kidnapped in the capital and later released, with the boy’s face slashed by gangs.

“We just don’t want that for our children,” he said.

Angela, who lives in California and asked that her last name not be used for her safety, said she and her husband are trying to adopt a 5-year-old girl who — like Reed’s youngest son — has been evacuated from foster care three times.

Angela recalls being on the phone with an orphanage worker and her daughter when the shooting occurred.

“I honestly didn’t know if I was going to be killed right away,” she said. “The gunfire was coming through the walls.”

She said she was terrified at the thought of her daughter, who is shy and loves reading, having to travel to Port-au-Prince to complete necessary formalities after violence forced her to flee the city.

“It’s just not right that these children are being thrown into a war zone to meet requirements that could easily be waived,” Reed said. “We’re not going to bypass any part of the adoption process. We want our children evacuated to safety so that we have children to adopt. We don’t want them dying in Haiti.”