Adopting from Haiti

We adopted our 2 children from Haiti. What would you like to know?

You won't find a lot of other people of mdc who adopted from Haiti -- because in my experience -- a lot of people who adopt from Haiti are the total opposite of AP -- spankers, rigid, shaming, etc. I think -- and I am hoping I do not offend you or anyone -- it is because a lot of people who adopt from Haiti are doing it to "save a child" based upon very conservative, fundamentalist theologies. Most of the parents we have met feel like they are saving a child from "vodoo". They believe that Haiti is a demonic country and that they need to Christianize Haitians. SO they adopt the kids.

I know this is harsh, but it is the unfortuante reality about adoptions in Haiti. You will hear a lot of parents say that they do not want ot honor any of the child's Haitian heritage because of the "vodoo" (the religion is actually "vodoun" and has deep spiritual roots in the tribal religions of West Africa. It is neither "dark" nor "Satanic".)

Hopefully my response has not put you off...just explaining why you will not find a lot of us on mdc. I am very passionate about adoptions from Haiti and would love to answer any questions you might have.

So, so sad that a child who has been through a lot of loss (as all IA our children have) would come home to families that are not very warm and flexible. I think that the Haitian orphanages tend to have the requirement that parents be Christian, no?

Another reason why you wouldn't find too many people who've adopted from Haiti on MDC is that the numbers of children adopted from Haiti to the US have been fairly small. From the State Department's web site, here are the numbers of visas issued each year:

(total number of children= IR3+IR4 visas)
1997, IR-3 visas: 20, IR-4 visas: 122
1998, IR-3 visas: 41, IR-4 visas: 83
1999, IR-3 visas: 96, IR-4 visas: 0
2000, IR-3 visas: 129, IR-4 visas: 1
2001, IR-3 visas: 144, IR-4 visas: 48

I do know that Dillion has a program. I do know people who've used them for other countries and have been pretty satisfied. But of course, you would need to find people who have used the Haitian program of any agency you were serious about.