Where Should All the Orphans Go?

Throughout different points of my summer I have had small conversations with different groups, volunteers, blans, and Haitians about the new policy in Haiti concerning the Hague Convention. In the recent months, Haiti has started tightening its rules on orphanage standards and creating more regulations for international adoptions. Since medical work in Haiti is more my area of familiarity, whenever I met groups working in Haiti on orphanage projects, I asked for their input on the topic of the rules. In order to start complying with international standards for orphanages and adoptions set at the Hague Convention, Haiti has been cracking down to try to close all orphanages that are in poor condition. I wanted to know from groups and long-term volunteers if they thought this was good, bad, possible?

What's been interesting is that several groups I chatted with didn't know that the Hague Convention existed. Some didn't realize (as I didn't when I first started working in Haiti a couple years ago) that many orphans in Haiti are not true orphans at all. Many are poverty orphans - given up by their parents - in hopes that the child can receive free schooling and a couple of good meals each day. And this makes the situation even more complicated. How can couples abroad really know that their adopted child is a true orphan and not a poverty orphan? How can they know if they are giving a parentless child, a chance to have parents, or if they are actually taking this child away from their parents, and their country?

As was the theme for my last couple of weeks in Haiti, one of the best pieces of advice on the subject came from a wise pediatrician from Port Salut. She finally made me think about the importance of building trusting relationships during childhood development. And how when each week there is a different team of blan coming to play with the girls and boys at the orphanage it becomes tough for the children to learn from example, how to be in a loving, trusting relationship. After all, many of us learned how to trust others because of what our parents provided for us. We knew that if we were hungry, mom or dad would fix us a peanut butter and jelly at 10pm if we needed it. Or if we couldn't sleep at night and were scared, we knew where their bedroom was to go wake them up and ask to be tucked in again. If teams come and go, then where are these children's constants?

I think my Haitian Dad, Eddy, had it right. When I found out that he didn't allow international adoption out of his orphanage, only local adoptions, I was surprised. Apparently when a NGO from the US agreed to help him build the orphanage, he said, "Okay, but people will only come here to help the girls at the center to receive food, clothes, and an education. There will be no international adoption, because  taking the children away to America, that doesn't help fix Haiti." I think Eddy's viewpoint is very mature. When there is a problem, the best way to fix the problem is to face it. To work towards making the situation better, not by running away. If the girls at the center received an education, learned english, science, music, and a trade and then were adopted out because they were poverty orphans, that doesn't change Haiti. That only means Haiti has one less person in it. So Eddy makes a great point - how can we empower future generations to work towards building a stronger economy and a more educated generation?

In my vision for Haiti - perfect would be that there would be no need for a ton of orphanages in the future because there would be no poverty orphans. Good would be that orphanages across Haiti switch to my Haitian dad, Eddy,'s model. That international adoption is left for children who are true orphans. And that those children who are true orphans are put into a loving home, where the parents try to incorporate Haitian culture into the child's upbringing. And sadly, bad is the model I saw all too often in my 7 weeks in Haiti - team after team coming through to "visit orphans and play games with them for a week." Without any intention of teaching the girls and boys a trade, without teaching them science and math or english so they could attend a higher education possibly one day. So they could have the chance possibly at having a paying job once they turned 18 and their parents could no longer rely on the orphanage to supply them with a couple of meals a day, some clothes, and a chance at some sort of an education. Worst - that would be some of the orphanages that the government is working to shut down. Ones where people are making a small fortune by charging a lot for international adoption of children who aren't true orphans. Ones where the conditions are bad enough, I wouldn't send my roommate's and my dog there to live.

I am sure some of this criticism is hypocritical. I am sure that there have been many times in my work in Haiti that I have done more harm than good. And I know plenty of adoption cases from Haiti that were done right. Where the whole family is supported (not just the adopted child) by the parents from the states. Where the child goes back to Haiti regularly to visit their first set of parents. But I am going to challenge anyone reading this post, anyone who has worked or is thinking about working in Haiti, especially in orphanages, to investigate their motives for working there. If one is truly interested in working to fix the problem of "Where Should All the Orphans Go?" then they need to ask themselves if they are going to Haiti to truly help to resolve the problem or if they are going to make themselves feel good? Because one week of "playing with and visiting orphans" just like a one-time dose of anti-hypertensive meds for a Haitian patient doesn't really ever change the real problem.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/05/world/americas/campaign-in-haiti-to-close-orphanages.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&

Some of the buildings at Eddy's orphanage and the beautiful view surrounding it.