Program Highlights

CCI is no longer assisting in Haitian adoptions. While this was a difficult decision for CCI given the drastic needs of Haitian orphans, CCI felt it was necessary at the time the decision was made in 2009. At that time, CCI had many cases and the timeframe for a Haitian adoption was very long and unpredictable, thus resulting in a moratorium in taking applications.

On January 12, 2010, Haiti experienced a devastating 7.0 earthquake that resulted in catastrophic loss of life, buildings and severely damaged the country's government and ability to process adoptions. As a result, the United States government made the decision to allow all children whose adoptions were in process to join their families in the United States on a special humanitarian parole visa. CCI brought home 49 children through this special process and we are thankful to the US and Haitian governments for allowing this special, unprecedented provision for these children. CCI remains dedicated to assisting these families with their continued adoption and immigration processes.

While the Haitian government has resumed processing of those cases that were beyond the initial adoption step, and has begun accepting new adoption cases, CCI does not feel it is time to resume its Haitian program. The program was already unpredictable and unstable prior to the earthquake, and in fact was possibly going to be undergoing revisions in the then-near future. Since the earthquake, the program has only just begun to process new cases for those children who were already legally available prior to the earthquake or for children who have been fully relinquished by their birthparents since the earthquake (only some creches are actually beginning new adoptions while others have chosen not to). Given the long time-frame before the government suffered the crippling effects of the earthquake, it is impossible to determine how long a new adoption would take, the current requirements for parents, and even if an adoption would be possible at this time.

If the adoption process becomes more stable, predictable and shortened in the future, CCI will consider resuming adoptions from Haiti. Until then, CCI remains committed to the needs of Haitian orphans through humanitarian aid and remains committed to assisting families who have children in the US through CCI on the special humanitarian aid parole program.

Picture Top Right: Families watching as the military relief plane landed in Sanford, FL with their children onboard from Haiti after the January 2010 earthquake. CCI's Assistant Director Angela Vance said she had never felt so proud to be an American as when she saw the American flag symbol on the tail of the military plane that day.

Picture Bottom Left: This child has finally been united with her mother after a 30 hour wait at the airport. Never to be seperated again!

Humanitarian Aid

CCI participates in humanitarian aid projects around the world and Haiti is no exception. Prior to the earthquake, families who were adopting provided sponsorship money which helped cover the cost of care for their child plus other children in the creches. CCI also provided supplies and necessities as the needs arose, as well as sending supplies via mission flights out of Florida when possible. In fact, CCI was able to assist with sending a very special package to one of the creches: a precious puppy named Roxie who would soon grow big enough to replace the aging guard dog at the orphanage!

After the earthquake, CCI raised funds to provide for Maison des Enfants de Dieu (The House of the Children of God), the creche we worked with in Port Au Prince. It was decided that the $ 12,525.74 raised through CCI and a partnering church would be used to fully purchase a new inverter plus donate toward the purchase of the new generator Maison needed to supply its electrical needs. The good news is Maison will be able to use these items at their current location and be able to bring it with them once the new orphanage is built. These items will serve them for years to come through everyday use and in times of emergency.

CCI is currently exploring other avenues to help raise money for the remaining costs of the generator and to assist Maison in purchasing their new land. If you would like to donate toward these expenses, contact angela@celebratechildren.org.

We hope to be able to provide pictures from these projects soon!

 

WELCOME HOME!

These are just some of the children CCI helped bring home through regular adoption and through the humanitarian parole program after the earthquake: