We have all seen the moving pictures coming out of Haiti: millions of men, women and children devastated by the earthquake and its aftermath. People around the world have generously responded to the crises by donating money and supplies.
Many people have offered to adopt "orphaned" children from Haiti. Unfortunately, child traffickers are taking advantage of the surge in offers to adopt from well-meaning people as well as the lack of a functioning Haitian government. Reports have surfaced of Haitian children being trafficked into the Dominican Republic. The United Nations has reported people driving to the airport in expensive cars and putting undocumented children on outgoing flights. It is not even clear that the children are actually orphans. Child trafficking was a significant problem in Haiti before the earthquake, with Haitian children regularly sent to wealthier families to work as restaveks or to the Dominican Republic for sexual exploitation. Haiti's orphanages are poorly regulated and some are a facade for child traffickers.
Due to the risk of child trafficking, it is important during a humanitarian crises to suspend adoptions until all means of family reunification have been exhausted and to establish protocols for the care and protection of children.
Read more here.
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