Haiti Update

Yes, I survived the earthquake, thank you God!

I have very limited computer or internet access. I have been working with different parents and orphanages to get humanitarian parol "visas"for adopted or in the process of being adopted children.

Here is what all adoptive children's parents need to know, make sure that you have current fingerprints with USCIS!!! Many of the files (children) stuck in the process in the Port au Prince USCIS are stuck because the adoptive parents do not have active fingerprints. They expire every 18 months! Please, if you are one of these parents, go to your local USCIS office and have them resubmitted ASAP.

Getting things accomplished in Haiti...

I usually give adoption related updates on this blog, but today I want to tell you the story that is completely adoption unrelated. It is the true story of getting my car registration changed to my name after I purchased a car in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. I am hoping that this story will give you an idea of how difficult it is to get things accomplished in a bureaucracy that is a complete disaster at times...

I purchased a used car from a private seller, a Haitian man who works at the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince as a car mechanic. I purchased the car from him in October, however had not changed the registration and car insurance, which is state run in Haiti, and wanted to get this done. So, last week the seller and I finally found a date where both of us were available to get this accomplished. It took a total of FOUR workdays to get this accomplished! Here is the story...

Day #1: The seller and I had to meet at Circulation (similar to the Dept. of Motor Vehicles or DMV) to get the registration changed from his name to my name.

First, we had to take the car through a car inspection line, cars are lined up to be driving into a big hanger type garage to have the VIN number checked and I think that they checked the engine too, but cannot remember. That part took over an hour to accomplish. We got the appropriate piece of paper. 

Next, we had to go find a parking spot in the crowded street near Circulation and then walk back to Circulation to continue with the process. Circulation is a big compound that has a hanger type inspection station, but there are offices hidden in buildings along side the large hanger. Also, the is a larger two story building with offices on the downstairs left side, downstairs bottom side and the second floor of the building. 

We had to go to the downstairs left building to get four empty forms that all required the seller's, the buyer's and the vehicle information. All four empty forms required the same information, but since it is not in carbon form we had to fill out each form individually. Once done with that, we had to go to one of the "hidden" buildings for a stamp to be put on each one of the forms. However, the police officer who was in charge of stamping the forms did not like that I had made correction on one of the forms and refused to stamp all four forms.

So, we had to go back to the first office to get a new form. But just getting a new form would have been too easy, we were required to fill out an entire new package of forms again. Wouldn't it have been easier to fill out just the one form and to have stapled that page to the other three already correctly filled out forms? That would have made to much sense, I guess...

Once we filled out the four new forms all over again, we walked back to the "hidden" office so that Mr. Police Officer could put the stamp on each of the papers. Which he did this time...

Now we had to walk back to the first office, but this time we had to squeeze toward a small window in the wall where a man sat who looked over the forms and asked for 150 Gourdes. The funny thing is that both, the buyer and the seller have to show their faces through that little window to answer questions and to pay the money. There were about 20 sellers/buyers trying to get to the little window and whoever could squeeze the best got to the window. I guess that the seller and I passed the squeezing test because we made it to the window in about 10 minutes. 

The man behind the window looked at the forms, asked us for our i.d. cards, after inspecting them, he then covering up the information we had written on the forms asked us for the seller's name, his address and phone number. Then he asked me the same thing while covering up the information on the form. He also asked what kind of car the seller had sold to me, I guess that we passed the test and were told to sit down while the man kept our forms.

After waiting about 20 minutes, the seller and I were called to a door that led into the office behind the man in the window. We had to go to desk #1 and sit down. Behind the desk was a man in civilian clothes who looked at our forms and asked us for our i.d. cards/driver's licenses. After inspecting them, he gave the cards back to us. Then, just like the man behind the window, he covered up the information on the forms so that only he could see it and asked us individually for our names, address and telephone number. He also asked what kind of car the seller had sold to me. I guess that we passed the test again because we had to move to desk #2 after the man on desk #1 stamped and signed the forms.

We moved to desk #2, located immediately next to desk #1. I felt like playing musical chairs..

The man behind desk #2 was a police officer. He did the same thing as the man behind the window and desk #1 had done. He asked us to show our i.d. cards/licenses and then while covering up the form ask each of us for our name, address, and telephone number. This time, after he had asked the seller what kind of car he had sold me and when he turned to me and asked what kind of car the seller had sold to me, I said: "A 2009 Mercedes." Mr. Police Officer Man failed to see the humor in my response, so I quickly gave him the correct answer.

He stamped and signed the forms and handed each of us a paper with a Bible quote on it. I guess he realizes that Car Sellers and Buyers really need heavenly intervention in the changing of registration process? 

So, now we were done with the first part of the process. We had arrived at Circulation at 10 a.m. and it was now about 3:30 p.m. The next step was to go to the OCAVT office compound which is located clear across town and is not anywhere near Circulation. We realized that it was too late to drive across town to get anything accomplished at the OCAVT office compound. We made an appointment to meet the next morning at the OCAVT location. OCAVT is the official vehicle inspection place where mechanics check the engine of the cars and sign off on a document that certifies that the car is operational. 

Day #2: The seller and I met at the OCAVT location and had to drive in the car into the inspection line. We had to hand over the entire stack of stamped and signed forms from the previous day, including the title document of the car and some other receipt papers that we had collected from the previous day. Thank God for staples! Once we handed the stack of stapled papers over, a sticker with a number was placed on the rearview mirror, gave a sheet of paper to be filled out, and we were told to drive to the back of the compound to have the engine inspected.  

Meanwhile the seller was mad because he said that I should not have given the entire stack of documents to the men who put the sticker on the mirror. So, I walked back to the sticker men to confirm that they had kept the correct documents, etc. while my car waited for the inspection from the mechanics with the hood open next to a bunch of other cars with their hoods open. 

I was told by the sticker men that indeed, they had to keep the entire stack of papers. I walked back to the car to tell the seller the response which he did not believe. After all, I am a woman and they tell anything to women. (He seriously said that.) So he walked back to the sticker men just to get the same answer!

Finally, the mechanic with his flash light and stick that had a piece of cloth wrapped on the tip of the stick came to do my car's inspection. He used the flashlight to look at the engine and used the stick to poke some things. He also looked at the oil level and some of the other fluid levels of the engine. Satisfied, he signed off on the paper and told us to move the car to the very end of the compound to park it there. We were told that we now had to sit in a large room with benches to wait for our names to be called. 

As I parked the car at the end of the compound, I noticed that there was a small restaurant located in the compound. After I parked, I went to buy myself a cold drink. I am telling you this because as I was parking the car at the back of the compound, I saw some of the engine inspectors sneaking behind the building of the restaurant to sneak in a few drinks from rum bottles that had been stashed back there... I guess they needed ensure that their fluid levels were at adequate levels as well.

We sat inside the large room with benches for about an hour when the seller and my name was called over a loudspeaker that was trying to blow out waiting sellers and buyers with squeaking feedback noises.

Once our name was called, we had to go to my parked car and drive the car to the front of the compound to pick up the ever bigger getting stack of my documents that had some more papers with stamps and signatures on it. Then we were done at OCAVT.

Next we had to go to the National Assurance (insurance) Office, fortunately located on the same street as OCAVT. We found parking and went into the Assurance Office which is a compound but not as large as Circulation or OCAVT.  Of course, there is no paper or information posted as to where you have to go and what you have to do in each of these offices. 

We went to several offices in the Assurance building to find where we had to go and finally learned that we had to make photocopies of our driver licenses, the car title and the seller's insurance document. So, we had to walk down the street to the photocopy place to make copies. Once we returned to the Assurance place we were promptly told that we needed to get color copies of the driver's licenses and that black and white copies were not accepted. So, we had to walk back to the photocopy place down the street to get color copies done. How come they did not tell us color copies the first time around?

Finally, with color copies of our driver's licenses in hand and the other photocopies, we were told to go to an office that was in a little wet alley way behind the back of the building. In the officer were a number of desks and we had to do the sit at desk #1, then move to desk #2 and then onto desk #3 "game".

At desk #1, a gentleman who was very flirty (I'll tell you more about him when I get to day #4) filled out a pink form while asking the seller for his name, address and telephone number and then moved on to asking me the same information about myself in his flirty way, complimenting me on my Kreyol, etc. Then he attached the pink form to our ever bigger getting stack of documents/papers with another staple. Then we had to move over to desk #2 and then onto desk #3 where the person behind the desk stamped and signed some more.

Then we were told to go to the DGI cashier to pay 170 gourdes in fees and then once we were done at the DGI cashier, we had to go to the Assurance cashier to pay 500 gourdes. Fortunately, the DGI cashier and the Assurance cashier are in the same large room, though at opposite ends in their respective cashier cages.

Once I paid the 500 gourdes, I was told to wait because my name would be called to give me the new National Assurance Document with my name on it. Once my name was called and I collected the paper, it again was around 3:00 p.m. as it had been the previous day.

Our next step was to return to the Circulation Compound located clear across town and like the previous day, it was too late to get there during day #2.

The seller told me that I could finish up the rest of the necessary paperwork on my own at Circulation and that I should go there the next day to finish up the process of changing the car registration over from his name to my name.  We parted way and instead of leaving things for the next day, I tried to go to get some more things accomplished at Circulation during Day #2.

Day #3: I went back to Circulation to try to figure out the rest of the change of registration process. Right away, I was approached by one of the "hustlers" that work around Haitian government offices and offer to be guides through the process. I did not trust this guy as far as I could throw him... So, I declined his assistance and went by myself to the upstairs portion of the Circulation Building. There one of the clerks told me that the seller and the buyer, each had to pay a fee of 3,650 gourdes (about $95 USD). I called the seller and told him that he and I both had to pay this fee. Of course, he denied that he had to pay the fee. 

I asked the lady where I had to pay this fee, as she wrote both the seller and the buyer fee onto the "old" car registration/ownership document that was in my stapled pile of papers. She told me that I had to go to "central DGI" which is located in downtown Port-au-Prince. This made no sense to me and I asked her if I could not pay my fee at the DGI cashier's office on the same floor where she was located. She told me "no" and that I had to go to the central DGI office in "la ville".

I figured that she must know what she was talking about even though it made not much sense. But nothing had really made sense in this entire process, so I figured that she was correct.

On the way down the stairs to leave the second floor, these guys started to make nasty comments to me (sexually tainted) and I was so mad!

I drove downtown to the central DGI office and it became obvious that I was sent to the wrong place. I was so frustrated and called my friend James who is an auditor for the Finance Ministry in downtown PAP. I explained the situation and the confusion to him and he said not to worry, he was going to take the rest of the day off to help me finish the registration. True to his word, he met me within ten minutes and we drove back to Circulation.

When we arrived at the second floor of the Circulation building, it became pretty obvious that all the people who work there knew James. He explained to me that while he was training to be an auditor, after his university studies, he worked at Circulation for several months to learn its operation. James ushered me behind the locked cage door that separated the general, car registering public and the workers and sat me in an office while he went to take care of my registration. After about one hour, James came back with lots more signatures and stamps. However, he told me that I had a problem. It turned out that the car license plate on my car was registered to two cars and this would have to be corrected before I could finish the registration. 

So, that is how day #3 ended because it was a Friday afternoon and people stop working early, around 2:30 or 3:00 p.m. James told me to come back on Monday to finish the process and to bring the car's license plate and registration sticker (peeled off the front windshield). He said for me to ask directly for the director of Circulation and that he would assist me. 

(To be continued...)

U.S. CONSULATE ADOPTION CONFERENCE

Last week, the U.S. Consulate held its second adoption related conference to which the Canadian, French respective Consulates, Haitian authorities and Creche directors were invited.

I was asked to be on the "panel of experts" alongside with the main Port-au-Prince judge (for adoptions), the IBESR director, adoption advocate and one other adoption processor/worker. The presentation that we were asked to give was:

(1) To describe the work we do now in adoptions

(2) How our work would change if the Hague Convention was implemented in Haiti

(3) What, in our opinion, would have to be in place or challenges we see in trying to get Haiti ready for Hague

Everybody recognized that Haiti is not ready to sign on to the Hague Convention and that a ton of work has to be done in order for that to happen. Everybody also agreed that if Haiti would sign on to Hague prematurely, adoptions would completely grind to a stop and it would spell disaster for the orphaned and abandoned children of Haiti.

One of the other things that was discussed was the currently proposed adoption law that is in front of the Haitian parliament currently. The main issue/problem that I have with the law is that orphanages would no longer be matching adoptable children with prospective adoptive parents.

Under the new law, IBESR would receive all prospective adoptive parents' dossier and would "review the file" for suitability for a match with an adoptable child. Then, IBESR would match that family with a child from their list of children.

Sounds good in theory, but in all practicality --- Haitian adoptions would be just like adoptions in the Dominican Republic or El Salvador where similar systems are in place. Referrals would trickle through, kids would linger in orphanages because they would not be referred and the referring workers would only refer to their "favorite" orphanages (or at least that is my concern). 

In my opinion, for what it is worth, because there is no efficient bureaucracy in place, this kind of system would spell disaster to adoption referrals in Haiti.  As a result, smaller orphanages would end up shutting down because of lack of referrals and it would overwhelm others to where these orphanages could not accept new children who need a home because others are waiting, waiting, waiting to be referred.

As a result, only the large, well funded orphanages would survive. Smaller orphanages, like the ones that only have 15-30 children would end up having to shut down because one of the ways the smaller orphanages can survive financially is through the support fees that come from adoptions. With the current decline in the worldwide economy, general donations have seriously declined and it is already difficult for existing orphanages to financially function. 

This kind of proposed system of referral would only work if, and only if, orphanages received state funding to cover their operating costs. It seems that nobody, the writers of the proposed legislations (strongly sponsored by UNICEF) and the supporters of this legislation have NOT thought about the need for state funding of the orphanages if the legislation was to pass.

Adopting an HIV+ Child News:

The process of adopting a child who is HIV+ just got easier because the additional step for adopting a child who is HIV+ is being eliminated. This has been posted by Joint Council on International Children's Services. 
  
"President Obama announced on Friday, October 30 2009, that the travel ban into the United States by individuals with HIV would be lifted.  Kathleen G. Sebelius, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, stated earlier today “we will publish a rule in the Federal Register announcing that the United States will drop HIV from the list of diseases barring visitors from entering this country, effective Jan. 1, 2010.” 
  
"The lifting of this ban will eliminate the filing of a 601-waiver application for children who are HIV positive and adopted by U.S. citizens." 

News...

Ministry of Interior- Any document that has a half-page archive certification (i.e. birth certificates, death certificates or adoption decree) that are less than one year old must be accompanied by a certification letter from the Ministry of Justice. (That has been the case for about nine months now...) That letter has three different officials' signatures on it...BUT NOW, that letter also has to be legalized (certified) on the back of it. 

It is like nobody trusts nobody in Haiti... It means that the certification (which is the half-page archive) has to be certified by the letter from the Ministry of Justice (with the three separate signatures) which has to be certified by the further legalization...it is like a never ending chain!

U.S. Embassy - No news on the way DNA will be done now. Also, we have not received any DNA tests back that had been done prior to the change. I will post as soon as I learn something new.

Also, the embassy is holding another adoption workshop/meeting in November. Invited are Haitian government officials, French and Canadian embassy personnel, orphanage directors, etc. I was asked to be on the "panel of experts" to present along side with Madam Pierre (IBESR director), Judge Cadet (Port au Prince Parquet/Court), Dixie Bickel (GLA) and two others whom I do not know.

DNA Testing Changes - U.S. Adoptions in Haiti

Just an update... In the past, there were a few U.S. government approved labs in Port-au-Prince, Haiti that could do DNA testing in adoption related cases. 

At first, the U.S. made the change that a U.S. Consular Officer had to be present during the DNA testing inside the respective labs. However now, the U.S. has changed the procedure completely and all DNA testing will only be done inside the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince.

When we asked about how this new procedure will work, we were told that there is no procedure in place yet, but that all DNA testing will be conducted at the U.S. Embassy only. 

This means that if a USCIS Official or a U.S. Consular Official conducts a birth parent interview and requests DNA testing to prove parentage, it can only be done at the U.S. Embassy....but as mentioned above, the U.S. Embassy has no procedure in place yet as to how to conduct the DNA testing.

No real updates...

I really do not have much to update...

The U.S. Consulate in Port-au-Prince is going to hold another adoption workshop to which they will invite orphanage directors and Haitian government officials. The workshop will be scheduled some time in November since that is the "adoption month".

Additionally, USCIS and the U.S. Consular Section have become much more "user friendly" and have returned to being customer oriented, meaning that interactions are polite and professional. This is a nice change from the way it had been for the time period of November 2007 through about May 2009. It is nice to be treated in a professional manner.  :)

Judge Cadet in the PAP Parquet (court) is continuing to require adoptive parents to attend the court hearing regarding their adoptions. I really wonder how many families are not going to adopt from Haiti because they cannot afford taking trips to Haiti and/or rather choose to adopt from a country that makes the adoption process easier than Haiti. Ultimately, it will be the kids who loose out on families...

Presidential Waivers - are being issued. I have had some emails from families whose attorneys claim that they do not have access to the office that deals with the waivers. That is really not true. It is a time consuming process to hunt down the files that are waiting for waivers, but it can be done.

Selecting an orphanage to adopt from - I get many emails from families stuck in the adoption process with incredible waits, wanting assistance. I can assist some families, especially if the orphanage is cooperative, but most orphanages are not cooperative for a variety of reasons. It is extremely important to do thorough research before deciding who to adopt through. 

Also, just because an orphanage is contracted with an adoption agency does not mean that the process will be smooth and timely. Most adoption agencies have no control over the adoption process with the orphanage. 

Do not let pretty websites or religious/pretty names fool you. Talk with parents who have their children at home! Ask them questions. Most families who have experienced some nice hand-holding through the dossier process, etc. will sing praises to their respective orphanage or adoption agency, BUT they are still in process and cannot really give a reference.  

Some orphanages that do a great job processing adoptions are not best at hand holding because they are busy working, pushing adoptions through the process. 

Some orphanages are lying regarding the status of the adoption files. For example, some orphanages claim that a file is in Ministry of Interior (MOI) awaiting final signature when in fact the file is not even submitted in MOI! So, MOI gets the blame when in fact the orphanage is telling stories to the adoptive families.

Researching is so important! Once you have a child referred to you and your orphanage does not like "outside assistance", you are stuck with them and the process... For example, I met a family recently whose adoption, from the time that the dossier was submitted to Haiti, took almost five (5) years. That is an insane timeline! Sometime there is a problem with locating an Archive Log Book where a death or birth certificate is recorded, but that does not drag out an adoption to five years!