Good News / Bad News

The good news: It looks like we are going to Haiti sometime in the next few months! We finally get to meet our boy!

The bad news: We don't get to take Trey Amos home with us. The adoption rules have just suddenly changed...we have to meet our son in person before we can adopt him and we must appear before a judge to sign a special form.

Here is Dixie's email that we just received today:


Recently, the Adoption Judge responsible for all of Port-au-Prince made the decision that all adoptive parents must make a trip to Haiti, meet the children, and sign a form in front of the justice of the peace (the local judge that we use in Kenscoff) before the final court decision would be approved. He made this decision on his own without any input from IBESR, the Minister of Justice, or any of the other judges.

This judge, Mr. Cadet, attended a meeting on the Hague Convention and Haiti was shown as a country that had badly managed adoption procedures. On his return, he decided to make all adoptive parents come to Haiti and meet their children before the finalization of the adoption.

Haitian law says that it is legal to be represented by another person living in Haiti. Mr. Cadet has decided that this does not apply to this one section of the law that says that adoptive parents must appear before the Justice of the Peace at the beginning of the adoption process.

Mr. Cadet has been inflexible about his decision and does not want to change his opinion. The French Embassy has tried to negotiate without any results. After the summer holidays, the French Embassy along with other countries, will try to work something out with IBESR and UNICEF about this situation.

Many orphanages are now requiring adoptive parents to come to Haiti. GLA will also now require our parents to come. ALL ADOPTIVE PARENTS MUST APPEAR IN FRONT OF THE JUSTICE OF THE PEACE BEFORE YOUR ADOPTION CAN BE FINALIZED IN THE CIVIL COURT. For American Families, we will try to do this at the same time as you file your I-600. American families, who have already been to Haiti to file their I-600 and can prove this with a copy of their entry visa into Haiti, do not need to come again. If there is a husband and a wife, then both of them must come to Haiti unless there is a medical problem with one of the couple that does not allow them to come into Haiti.

We will first be giving priority to families whose files are currently in the Courts stage. After that, will be families that are in Parquet. And lastly, families that are in IBESR or before. Please note if your file has already passed through Courts, then you do not need to come.

We are extremely sorry for any inconvenience this will cause our families. We have fought through our lawyer and through the Association of Orphanages to get this changed without any success. The bottom line is that if you want your child home in a timely fashion then you must come to Haiti and appear in front of the Justice of the Peace.


And Life in Haiti goes on....
Dixie