Frustrations mount as orphans wait for clearance

By Elizabeth Stuart
Deseret News

All the diapers are gone, food is scarce and the water supply is dwindling, but 72 children who have been sleeping in a parking lot since their orphanage came tumbling down Jan. 12 are still waiting for clearance to join their waiting adoptive families in America.

Wasatch International Adoption Agency, which has been trying to evacuate the orphans for a week, announced Thursday that the children, most of whom have been matched with Utah families, may remain in Haiti indefinitely.

"I think I'm stuck in this country," said Chareyl Moyes, a Haiti program manager for Wasatch International, in a text message from Haiti. She has been camped out in the U.S. Embassy for a week trying to help the children's paperwork along.

All the children have been granted humanitarian parole, but in order to leave, Haiti's prime minister must personally approve their travel documents, Moyes said. Thursday afternoon the prime minister left for Canada. It is uncertain when he will return.

The Haitian government, in tandem with the U.S. State Department, added the new requirement Monday to better ensure orphans are protected from abuse and trafficking.

"I don't know what's going to happen now," said Lori Rosenlof, who is in the process of adopting two children from Haiti. "We've done everything we could think of to make this easier for the children, and it's just not enough."