Press Release

For Immediate Release
February 9, 2010

WATERVILLE, Maine - According to national news reports, adoption programs across the country have been inundated with phone calls from individuals interested in adopting children who have been orphaned by the January 12 earthquake in Haiti.

At the Maine Children's Home for Little Wanderers, a nonprofit agency that operates Maine's longest-running adoption program, staff members have received numerous inquiries from prospective parents over the last month.

Caroline Hutchinson, a long-time social worker in the Maine Children's Home adoption program, says the calls were generated by news reports of orphaned Haitian children arriving in the U.S. the week following the 7.0-magnitude earthquake. These reports, she says, have given some the false impression that Haitian children are immediately available for adoption. This misconception has been reinforced by television news footage of children arriving from Haiti into the arms of their adoptive parents.

"In reality, the great majority of these children were already in the final stages of being adopted," says Hutchinson. "Others were temporarily evacuated because they had medical needs that could not be met within Haiti. When they are safe, they will be returned to their home country."

At this time, there are no new adoptions being processed in Haiti.

"Trying to reunite children with their families is always the first priority," says Hutchinson. "If a child has lost both parents, searching for extended family members able to care for them is the next step. This takes time, particularly in a situation such as this when so many people have been displaced. Preference may also be given to relatives living here in the U.S."

The U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services is working to expedite the adoption process for Haitian children who had adoption cases pending before the earthquake. For more information on the agency's humanitarian parole policy, visit the U.S. Department of State's Intercountry Adoption Web site, adoption.state.gov.

Hutchinson says there are thousands of children from other countries and in the U.S. waiting to be adopted right now. The adoption process can take months to years, depending on a variety of factors. Prospective adoptive parents must first be approved through a comprehensive assessment process including a home study conducted by an authorized social service agency such as the Maine Children's Home. If adopting internationally, parents are also matched with an adoption program in the country where they want to adopt.

The Maine Children's Home, a Temporary Hague-accredited adoption program, provides assistance to families hoping to adopt internationally or domestically. Full Hague Accreditation is anticipated in March. The Maine Children's Home, founded in 1899, gives children and Maine families hope for the future and a chance at a better life. In addition to the adoption program, the agency offers outpatient counseling, the Teen Parent School Program, The Children's Place early care and education center, a summer camp scholarship program, and a Christmas Program that provides clothing and toys to underprivileged Maine children. To learn more, visit www.mainechildrenshome.org.

Representatives of the Maine Children's Home are available for interviews on this topic. To arrange, contact Jennifer Boes at 207-623-4177.

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Photo Caption: Maine Children's Home social worker Caroline Hutchinson and a 3-year-old girl recently adopted from China through the agency's adoption program.