by Kirsten Stewart
The Salt Lake Tribune
For Lori and Brent Rosenlof, adopting from Haiti has been like being on the losing side of a bad divorce.
"Haiti has custody of our children," says Lori, who had been in procedural limbo for 27 months before an earthquake roiled the impoverished island nation, severing all communication with her children at the Hope for the Little Angels of Haiti orphanage.
But efforts to expedite Haitian adoptions have inspired new hope for the Lehi couple. The U.S. government announced Monday it will grant "humanitarian parole" to about 200 Haitian orphans, circumventing the normal visa process to unite them with adoptive families in the United States.
Among the 200 are 20 bound for Utah, including the Rosenlofs' "babies," 2-year-old Nathan and 3-year-old Jessica.
But whether Nathan and Jessica are alive is unknown. And evacuating orphans has been difficult, said the Rosenlofs' adoption coordinator Chareyl Moyes who was scrambling Wednesday morning to get to Port-au-Prince to shepherd some 50 orphans herself.
Moyes is the Haiti caucus chairwoman for the Joint Council on International Children's Services in Washington, D.C., which was working with U.S. authorities on a mass evacuation plan to transport orphans from Haiti to an unidentified holding center in the United States, where they could receive medical attention and eventually be united with their adoptive parents.
But the plan was rejected by the State Department in favor of screening orphans on a case-by-case basis at the American Embassy in Port-au-Prince.
However, Moyes said the only orphans with American helpers in Haiti are getting access to the embassy.
"Our Haitian operators are showing up at the embassy and they're not letting them in," said Moyes. "They don't believe they're legitimate."
Moyes and Brent Rosenlof landed seats on a humanitarian flight to Haiti leaving Los Angeles on Thursday. They'll spend today gathering paperwork from families.
"We're just going to round up the kids," said Moyes. "We're taking permanent markers so we can write their names on their arms."
Like many adoptive parents of Haitian children, the Rosenlofs have been frantically scouring e-mail and news sites for any news of their children.
When the quake hit, Little Angels children were separated en route to the orphanage's new, larger location.
"It's been painful, a special kind of crazy," said Lori Rosenlof. "This latest news is the first glimmer of hope we've had for a while."
Even before last week's deadly earthquake, Haiti was awash in orphans, an estimated 380,000, according to the United Nations Children's Fund.
Now, with buildings leveled and families separated, countless more children have been abandoned -- so many that officials won't venture a number.
Their plight has driven a surge of inquiries by American families willing to open their homes, said the Rosenlofs' adoption coordinator Chareyl Moyes at Wasatch International Adoptions in Ogden.
But Moyes says only those adoptions toward the end of a lengthy, 36-step process will be accelerated under the new U.S. State Department guidelines: those in which the children have already been relinquished to fully vetted adoptive parents.
"We can't just go in and airlift children out of the country without knowing whether they have parents looking for them in Haiti," said Moyes.
It's slow-going, but some orphans have already made it to American shores, including 24 who were in line to receive U.S. visas before the quake hit.
Another 53 children from a demolished orphanage in Port-au-Prince touched down in Pittsburgh late Tuesday, according to the Associated Press. Countless more are being cared for by French and Dutch agencies.
International adoptions are notoriously complicated and filled with lots of red tape.
Angie Rasmussen of Hyrum has patiently navigated the adoption system in Haiti for more than four years. At midnight Monday, she too learned she may soon be united with 10-year-old Abigaelle.
"It's been so long, just one thing after another," said Rasmussen. "My hopes are up, but another part of me is still in protective mode."
Friends and relatives have asked the Rosenlofs why they don't give up and try adopting from another country.
But they say Nathan and Jessica are their children in every way that matters. In two years, they have traveled six times to Haiti to bond with the children.
On the previous visit, the couple kept watch over the children while they slept. "Nathan kept waking up and saying, 'Mama?' " said Lori Rosenlof. "I'd say, 'Yes baby,' and he'd just sigh with contentment."
Lori Rosenlof, left, and her husband Brent Rosenlof of Lehi Tuesday, January 19, 2010 at the home of Chareyl Moyes (cq) in Washington Terrace. Brent and Lori Rosenlof have been in the process of trying to adopt Nathan, who is now two-years-old and lives in a orphanage in Haiti, for two years and but after the earthquake struck Haiti they got word they are about to receive their adopted son . 1/19/10 (Jim Urquhart / The Salt Lake Tribune)
Lori Rosenlof of Lehi holds a photo from the orphanage in Haiti where she and her husband have trying to adopt a toddler from Tuesday, January 19, 2010 at the home of Chareyl Moyes (cq) in Washington Terrace. Brent and Lori Rosenlof have been in the process of trying to adopt Nathan, who is now two-years-old and lives in a orphanage in Haiti, for two years and but after the earthquake struck Haiti they got word they are about to receive their adopted son . 1/19/10 (Jim Urquhart / The Salt Lake Tribune)
Lori Rosenlof, left, and her husband Brent Rosenlof of Lehi talk about their efforts to adopt a Haitian toddler Tuesday, January 19, 2010 at the home of Chareyl Moyes (cq) in Washington Terrace. Brent and Lori Rosenlof have been in the process of trying to adopt Nathan, who is now two-years-old and lives in a orphanage in Haiti, for two years and but after the earthquake struck Haiti they got word they are about to receive their adopted son . 1/19/10 (Jim Urquhart / The Salt Lake Tribune)
Lori Rosenlof, left, and her husband Brent Rosenlof of Lehi look through a photo album with pictures of their soon to be adopted Haitian toddler Tuesday, January 19, 2010 at the home of Chareyl Moyes (cq) in Washington Terrace. Brent and Lori Rosenlof have been in the process of trying to adopt Nathan, who is now two-years-old and lives in a orphanage in Haiti, for two years and but after the earthquake struck Haiti they got word they are about to receive their adopted son . 1/19/10 (Jim Urquhart / The Salt Lake Tribune)
Lori Rosenlof of Lehi holds a photo of her husband Brent Rosenlof holding their soon to be adopted Haitian son Nathan Tuesday, January 19, 2010 at the home of Chareyl Moyes (cq) in Washington Terrace. Brent and Lori Rosenlof have been in the process of trying to adopt Nathan, who is now two-years-old and lives in a orphanage in Haiti, for two years and but after the earthquake struck Haiti they got word they are about to receive their adopted son . 1/19/10 (Jim Urquhart / The Salt Lake Tribune)
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