Message from JCICS

Joint Council Announcement - Haiti

Dear Colleagues and Friends,
Sometimes it is more than one can bear. Living in abject poverty. Living in the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Living with no mother, no father. And now this.Yesterday, while the good people of Haiti were literally digging themselves out of the rubble, Joint Council and the members of our Haiti Caucus humbly met with a sense of despair, urgency, concern and resolve. Our phones rang off the hook with offers of help, with questions about the children and orphanages. Emails came in with more questions and more offers of help and financial assistance.How To HelpWhile Joint Council always accepts and appreciates contributions, we are asking all those who wish to make a contribution to please make that donation to those organizations who provide direct services to the children of Haiti. Below is a list of those Joint Council Member Organizations who have active and substantial programs in Haiti and who have the ability to make your donation provide direct assistance in Haiti.As you have seen on the news, most of Haiti has been impacted by the earthquake including orphanages, schools and medical clinics that serve orphaned children. The organizations listed below are able and willing to provide temporary assistance and to rebuild for long-term service to orphans and vulnerable families. We again urge everyone to make a contribution of any size. If you do choose to make a contribution to Joint Council, please know that your donation will be used to fund our efforts to coordinate emergency relief efforts. AdoptionsOur hearts go out to the children and families of Haiti and to those American families who are adopting. We understand your concern and fear during this time of uncertainty. And here is were Joint Council can help.While Joint Council does not provide direct services such as housing, clean water and nutrition during emergencies, we can help in other ways. We are preparing a database of adoptive families and the children whom they are adopting with a goal of providing you with the status and location of the children. More information will be published on this effort in the coming days.Joint Council is also working with the U.S. government to determine the impact of the devastation on the adoption process. Given that the coming days will be rightly focused on rescue efforts, it will take days if not weeks to fully assess the impact on adoptions and develop a plan to move forward with specific cases. Information on the adoption process will be published within the next few weeks.Adoption During EmergenciesAll credible organizations recognize and agree that new adoption cases, including new referrals, are not appropriate in a time of crisis or national emergency. Initiating new adoptions at this time could open the door to corruption and abuse of children. Every effort must be made to identify and find family members for children who are separated or displaced as a result of the earthquake.Joint Council understands the natural tendency to offer a loving family for children who may be newly orphaned, however we urge all adoption service providers and potential adoptive families to refrain from inquiring or attempting to start a new adoption.

All of us at Joint Council and our Member Organizations are working diligently and ask for your support of the children and families of Haiti.

Kentucky Adoption Services Information and Donations, click here http://www.kentuckyadoptionservices.org/ . Kentucky Adoption Services is providing medical assistance, food and clean water. Their team of 10 physicians will transport 2 planeloads of food and water. Donations for food and water are urgently needed. Their emergency relief efforts are in partnership with BRESMA Orphanage and Child Care Center.

Adoption-Link Information and Donations, click here http://www.adoption-link.org/ . Adoption-Link is providing emergency relief through their Haitian partnerships with The Foundation Enfant Jesus and also the Village of Vision. Adoption-Link works with the Foundation Enfant Jesus in Haiti with a focus on finding families for children with HIV through their Chance by Choice program. Their program with The Foundation Infant Jesus finds families for children including family preservation through strong community development programs.

Bethany Christian Services Blog and Donations, click here http://www.bethany.org/blogs/bethanyblog.nsf/Archive?OpenView&Type=Day&Key=2010-1-13.BCS is collaborating with Haitian local and national organizations in order to assist with earthquake relief. In Haiti, BCS currently provides child sponsorship programs, and is piloting a program to teach women a trade, allowing them to provide for their families, hopefully with the result that the family remains intact.

Carolina Adoption Services Information and Donations, click here. http://www.carolinaadoption.org/Carolina Adoption Services is focusing their emergency relief on housing, food and water for the children who have lost their orphanage. Carolina Adoption Services currently works in Tabarre, approximately 10 miles outside Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Carolina Adoption Services reports that the staff and children of the orphanage are unharmed, but that damage was sustained to the buildings themselves.

Celebrate Children International Information and Donations, click here. http://www.celebratechildren.org/ Celebrate Children is providing humanitarian relief and mission trips including medical teams and rebuilding projects. Celebrate Children International provides adoption services, humanitarian aid and medical services to families, children and orphans in Haiti.

Holt International Children’s Services Information and Donations, click herehttp://www.holtinternational.org/ . Holt International Children’s Services is working to ensure the safety and health of the children who live in Holt villages and are opening their doors to children in the surrounding area who have no homes to return to. Holt is using everything the have to make sure children are safe.Holt International has been providing services to orphaned children and at-risk families since 2004. Holt currently operates the Holt Fontana Village orphanage, which cares for children who have been orphaned or abandoned.

And I received this from our daughter's post-placement agency. They have a Haiti adoption program through their partner Kentucky Adoption Services:

Dear Friends and Families,
I am sure that you are all aware of the recent tragedies that have struck Haiti. At Adoption Alliance we are greatly concerned with the health and well-being of children all over the world. However, at this time our concerns for the children in Haiti are especially grave. Our networking Haiti adoption program with Kentucky Adoption Services allows us as a child placement agency to place Haitian children in adoptive family homes in Colorado. The orphanage group in Port-Au-Prince (Bresma) that we network with was home to approximately 170 children. All of the children are currently alive and accounted for, but they are in dire need of help. This is a snippet from a recent message from the head caretaker of the baby house which holds 30 babies (10 of which are matched with Colorado families):

"Our house is falling in two. We are living in the yard with no food and no water. We won't be able to keep the babies alive for very long as the water is contaminated. We know its crazy but can everyone come together and help us? This is our only hope -only private planes allowed so we can get water and food. The kids are almost American and have families in the U.S. Can't get through on the phone. Sending this from a stranger's blackberry."