BRESMA Children Evacuated

Yes it is true a plane carrying 53 orphans from BRESMA orphanage escorted by the Governor of Pennsylvania has landed in Pittsburgh. The children will be taken to the Pittsburgh Children's Hospital for evaluation and then placed in foster homes until they can be placed with their adoptive families in the US once the adoptions are final. It is my understanding that there may also be a possibility for the adoptive parents to take custody of their children when they themselves become licensed foster parents. This process however varies by state and can be a lengthy one as the training required goes beyond what is typically required for a standard adoption approval. So anyways here are some links to articles with the good news. Even Fox News has covered the story, although they specifically pointed out that the US has only given the o.k. for Haitian orphans who meet the criteria as orphans prior to the earthquake and were either close to their adoptions being completed or already matched with prospective adoptive parents.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/19/AR2010011901538.html

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/01/19/dozens-haitian-orphans-traveling-adoptions/

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100119/ap_on_re_us/us_haiti_orphans_pittsburgh

It is important for everyone to remember however that this was only one orphanage and there are many others still working with the appropriate officials to make this happen. The BRESMA orphanage is run by a young woman from Pennsylvania with the help of her even younger sister. They are a amazing duo and I believe it was their connections and swift appeals over the Internet which drew them the needed media attention to make this happen. Bringing a plane load of orphans into the US prior to their adoptions being finalized is no easy task. The US has made is very clear that they will return any Haitian Earthquake evacuees who are not granted official humanitarian visas. One of the most overwhelming aspects of both of our adoptions was dealing with the US immigration services. They require multiple applications, fingerprints, and processing fees close to $1,000 for one child. I also remember how long it took us to get through customs at the Denver airport with one child whose adoption had been finalized, I cannot imagine passing through customs in Florida with 52 orphans! For all of these reasons it is a miracle in itself that so many officials were able to work together to make this happen for these children. But again more are waiting as For His Glory Adoption Outreach is still sending out appeals for help. Here is one that I received this morning:

Greetings! We need you all to act again on behalf of all our children. Currently, we have two families from Argentina and one from Canada adopting. Our governments are not cooperating and working together to get all our kids out, they are dragging their feet. We are going to start losing babies due to dehydration if we do not evacuate these children quickly to the U.S. and then process them here. We do not have time for a one by one assessment of the state of their adoption process and issuance of visas prior to evacuation. Please, begin contacting your governors and continue to pressure your senators and congressmen to get a plan in place, quickly, to evacuate the children to the U.S. The Argentinean and Canadian Governments could then work with the U.S. to bring their children home from the U.S. Time is of the essence. This is not going to look good for the U.S., the State Department, the other world governments or the United Nations if our children, who survived the earthquake, begin to perish because the governments and agencies would not work together to quickly evacuate all the children in the orphanages. This needs to be a united effort. PLEASE CALL YOUR GOVERNORS, SENATORS AND CONGRESSMEN AS SOON AS YOU RECEIVE THIS MESSAGE. We have confirmed reports that Governor Ed Rendell form Pennsylvania went to Haiti and has brought back 54 children to Pennsylvania from an orphanage. If this can happen for them, it needs to happen for all the orphans that are suffering in orphanages with little supplies, starting to experience diarrhea and sicknesses due to the conditions.PLEASE ACT NOW ON BEHALF OF OUR BABIES AND CHILDREN. Thank you,Kim Harmon,President