Adoption advocate determined to bring Haitian children to families

By Brooke Adams
Published in SL Tribune

Miami Lakes, Florida » A day after seeing the last child she had shepherded from Haiti to Miami united with parents, Chareyl Moyes was finally slowing down. 

From the moment news broke of the devastating earthquake that rocked Haiti on Jan. 12, Moyes worked nonstop to bring 66 children to families who were in the process of adopting them.
 

Looking back, it all seems like a movie, Moyes said -- one she would have never scripted quite like this. Those who know Moyes, Haiti program manager for Wasatch International Adoptions of Ogden, say no one else could have filled the role she played.
 

"When we heard she was going over, we knew everything was going to be OK," said David Aitken of Eagle Mountain, who adopted three children with Moyes' help. "She is truly one of my heroes."
 

The drama isn't over. Moyes, with help from Utah Hospital Task Force organizer Stephen Studdert, was able to get approval to fly just 50 children to the U.S. on Friday. She is still working on permissions for the remaining 16 children.
 

"I really feel confident, as long as the rules of engagement don't change, that we'll be able to get them out," she said.
 

On Sunday, though, she was concerned that the arrests of 10 Americans who had attempted to illegally transport 33 children from Haiti to the Dominican Republic might shut down those efforts.
 

One child's case is a priority -- that of 8-year-old Fabrice, who is being adopted by the Aitkens. The boy's paperwork, submitted in a stack of cases to be approved, was inexplicably misplaced on Friday in the crush at the Haitian prime minister's office. Moyes had to leave him behind at the airport. "I can tell you I have never, never in my life done anything that terrible," she said Sunday.
 

Fabrice sobbed as he was separated from the Aitkens' other two children. Moyes said the little boy kept repeating, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," as she tried to comfort the child and let him know he hadn't done anything wrong.
 

From the U.S. to Haiti, efforts continued through the weekend and are ongoing to bring Fabrice to the United States, she said. She is "as confident as I was when I went to get the other ones" that work will succeed.
Moyes' interest in helping children was first kindled while serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Philippines. She has worked for Wasatch International Adoptions, based in Ogden, for the past six years.
 

Since adopting a son from Haiti four years ago, the country has become "this passion of mine."
 

"It's just the kind of country that gets under your skin," she said.
 

She also works closely with Haitian Roots, a Utah-based nonprofit educational sponsorship program, and serves as the Haitian representative with the Joint Council on International Children's Services.
 

Moyes works with three different orphanages in Port-au-Prince, most directly with Foyer de Sion and Hope For The Little Angels of Haiti Creche -- the latter an orphanage Moyes helped start.
 

The Hope home was among buildings destroyed by the earthquake.
 

Miraculously, no children were harmed. Nannies who care for the children initially scattered to the surrounding countryside in the aftermath of the earthquake. Moyes' first task was locating and resettling the children at Foyer de Sion, which was damaged but intact.
 

She arrived in Haiti with an "obnoxiously" complete, foot-tall stack of adoption case files for each of her agency's children. Once on the ground, she swung between optimism and despair as she sought to clear bureaucratic hurdles. The lowest point came Friday, during a marathon effort to get the Haitian prime minister to sign the children's paperwork before the departure of a donated chartered jet.
 

"I thought, 'The plane is out there, the kids have been brought in, they are ready to go [but] he'll never sign that,' " she said. "Once our ride leaves, that's it."
 

Told that the pilot and crew aboard the Sun Country jet were not going to leave without the children, Moyes' thought, "Whatever."
 

She figured the military would demand that the plane depart.
 

Up against seemingly insurmountable odds, Moyes at one point laid on the tarmac at the Port-au-Prince airport in defeat.
 

But the plane was allowed to stay on the ground and Studdert stepped in and got the paperwork cleared.
Eighteen hours after it was scheduled to be airborne, the jet took off with Moyes, a small group of adoptive parents, Wasatch's 50 children and a separate group of parents and children.
 

Moyes was "hell-bent to get it done," said Nichole Hayden of St. George. 

"She was going to get them home no matter what," said Hayden, who has worked with Moyes and previously adopted three Haitian children before picking up 23-month-old Wyclif on Saturday in Florida.
 

After landing in Miami, Moyes helped officials clear every child through the initial immigration process. She also mediated between parents and federal officials, who initially weren't going to let parents who'd been on the plane accompany their children to a local foster care complex.
 

Moyes said that, since they earthquake, many people have asked about adopting children from Haiti. She is advising them that adoptions are likely to close temporarily while government and aid officials try to identify children who are newly orphaned, those who were separated from parents or lost parents but have other relatives able to care for them.
 

"I just don't know when adoptions will open up, but it will because the need will be humongous," Moyes said.
Until then, those motivated by the disaster to consider adoption should learn about the country, its culture and the international adoption process, she said.
 

"Adopting a child from another country isn't just 'I'll love them and they'll be good,' " she said. "For these kids, there is a lot for them to process," not only the disaster but also the circumstances that have surrounded them since birth.
 

For now, Moyes will focus on rebuilding destroyed and damaged orphanages and on efforts to give children access to an education, a key to the country's long-term viability.
 

"For any agency working in Haiti that should be our focus," she said.