Visas for Adoptive Children from JCICS

We continue to receive information and questions regarding the departure from Haiti of 150 orphan children from the BRESMA orphanage. Through conversation with the BRESMA program directors and government officials, we can again confirm that this is not the case.

However, we can confirm that approximately 17 U.S. families who were adopting Haitian orphans, were in Port au Prince at the time of the earthquake and had completed their adoptions, have received visas for their children to enter the U.S. An additional 5 children whose adoptive parents were scheduled to travel this past week and whose paperwork had previously been submitted to the U.S. Embassy, have received visas.

We continue to work with adoptive families to determine if their adoption is eligible for the issuance of a visa and are coordinating these efforts with the U.S. government.

For those who are not eligible, we continue to work towards the granting of humanitarian parole. This would allow the vast majority of children referred to families, to enter the U.S.