U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 7: All children have the right to a legally registered name, officially recognized by the government. Children have the right to a nationality (to belong to a country). Children also have the right to know and, as far as possible, to be cared for by their parents.
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The 10 U.S. missionaries arrested in Haiti for trying to take 33 children out of the country after last month’s earthquake were charged recently with child kidnapping and criminal association.
A mother in a remote village outside Haiti’s main earthquake zone explained why she allowed her twin sons to be taken by the American missionaries: they had promised to provide a life of hope and opportunity for her children.
Haiti’s prime minister, Jean-Max Bellerive, described the group as “kidnappers” and said that they “knew what they were doing was wrong.”
We have all seen that the recent impulse to assist Haiti’s most vulnerable citizens has been remarkable. But when does it go too far?
The solution to the crisis of Haiti’s children carried out by these missionaries–adoptions and institutionalization–is at best superficial, and at worst, dangerous.
Firelight has 10 years of experience supporting children and families at the grassroots level in Sub-Saharan Africa. Even in response to the “50-year disaster” of HIV/AIDS and poverty, most children have extended family members willing and able to care for them. In Haiti, there are experienced and skilled organizations like the International Committee of the Red Cross that specialize in family reunification following disasters.
Thirteen million children under the age of 18 have lost at least one of their parents to HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa. Yet, what we don’t realize is that approximately 90 percent of all children affected by HIV/AIDS and poverty receive care and assistance from community-based organizations and extended families.
While the promise of adoption may be extended to a small number of Haiti’s children, the huge numbers of children made vulnerable by the earthquake means that it will never be possible for all of them to be welcomed into well-intentioned families. Relegating Haiti’s orphans to a childhood spent in institutional care is a recipe for emotional trauma.
In our own community earlier this year, we were asked to weigh in on a very sad case of two sisters from Africa—ages 12 and 7—who were adopted by a U.S. citizen who gave them up to social services in Texas, only to have been removed from their second adoptive family in California due to sexual abuse.
In the case of Haiti, we should focus our efforts and resources to help children on the better and more reasonable solution: strengthening the network of extended family and community care for Haiti’s orphaned and vulnerable children.
People of faith have a critical role to play in supporting the well-being of children—both in Haiti as well as in Africa. The teachings of all faiths call upon individuals to respond to human suffering. But we must always ask ourselves: “How can we respond in ways that best support children’s immediate needs while protecting their rights in the long-term?”
As reconstruction in Haiti gets underway, grassroots organizations will be shoring up their responses. Unencumbered by the bureaucracy of larger international organizations, community-based groups can respond immediately and organically to the emotional and physical needs of children and their caregivers following the earthquake.
These local organizations can ensure the frayed network of care does not fall apart. They can sustain Haiti’s families and communities in the long-term, as well as work toward effecting the social change that will make Haiti a more peaceful and democratic country.
As we look for ways to help, let’s keep in our mind’s eye a future for Haiti’s children in which they are growing, playing, learning, and thriving in the care of their own reunited families, in their own rebuilt communities.
Jennifer Lentfer is the Interim Director of Development at the Firelight Foundation. Andrew Green is a freelance writer specializing in global public health and governance.
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The Better Care Network has made available tools, resources, and information on the appropriate provision of care and protection to children in Haiti. To learn more, click here.
Firelight Foundation’s publication, From Faith to Action, offers a guide to Western-based groups and individuals seeking to contribute resources to support vulnerable children in Africa. From Faith to Action describes the strategies used by community- and faith-based groups in Sub-Saharan Africa to support the families and communities providing care for the 13 million children affected by HIV/AIDS and poverty. The report brings to life the important work done by these local organizations.
The key message of From Faith to Action is that investing in community-based and family-focused approaches allows children to be provided and cared for within families—where they grow best—and reduces the number of children who are left without care or are placed in institutions. To access From Faith to Action, click here.
