Pray for Haiti Adoptions....

Hi Friends and family...

This notice was recently posted on the U.S. State Department Website regarding Haiti.  From the statement below, Haiti has deposited it’s policies and procedures with the Hague Convention and are attempting to ratify with the Hague Convention.  The agency we are partnered with is working with adoption advocacy organizations, the Haitian government and the US government to understand the implications of this in terms of how it impacts families’ adoptions.  

We are shooting to have our homestudy submitted to USCIS for approval by 3/31/2014 with the hopes we could be grandfathered in under the old process.

PRAYER REQUESTS:

1. Pray for the whole process to be ethical, fair and fast so that the precious Haitian children will find their forever homes.
2. Pray specifically THIS (2/3 - 2/7) week as there are some key meetings occurring between the US and Haitian Governments.
3. Pray for our family that we continue to trust HIS timing.
4. Pray that we can get our homestudy submitted by the deadline :)

Thankful for a God who is before all things!

Love -
The Fisher Four

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Notice: Haiti deposits its instrument of ratification for the Hague Adoption Convention

The Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (the Convention) will enter into force for Haiti on April 1, 2014.   Haiti’s adoption authority, Institut du Bien-Être Social et de Recherches (IBESR), deposited its instrument of ratification with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands on December 16, 2013. 

The Department is also currently assessing whether consular officers will be able to verify that the requirements of the Convention and the Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000 will have been met with respect to individual adoption cases by the date that the Convention enters into force for Haiti.  This decision includes determining if Haiti has designated a central authority and key competent authorities to undertake specific responsibilities outlined in the Convention as well as determining if those authorities have the capacity to fulfill their stated functions.  The Department must also review Haiti’s adoption laws, procedures, practices, and infrastructure to ensure that key Convention principles will be implemented.  Those principles include consideration of subsidiarity, adoptability of the child, effective consent, determination of habitual residence, prevention of improper financial gain, and prohibition against prior contact with a child’s legal guardian(s) until the appropriate time in the adoption process.  

The Department of State expects to inform the public by April 1, 2014 whether the United States will be able to certify Convention adoptions from Haiti.  The Department of State will provide updated information on adoption.state.gov.

USCIS will continue to accept I-600A applications specifying Haiti until March 31, 2014.  However, we encourage adoption service providers and prospective adoptive parents to contact IBESR prior to initiating a new adoption from Haiti.  If you have questions about the status of your adoption case, please work closely with your adoption agency or facilitator.  

Please refer to our website and to USCIS’ website at uscis.gov for updates on the status of the U.S. adoption program from Haiti as we approach Haiti’s entry into force date.  If you have any questions about this notice, please contact the Office of Children’s Issues via email at Haitiadoptions@state.gov.