U.S. Consulate - issues...

On Wednesday, March 19, we had an almost two-hour meeting, in Washington D.C., with the Department of State, Head of Intercountry Adoption's (Office of Children's Issues), Mr. Gerry W. Fuller, a Consular Officer in charge of Children's Issues in Haiti, a Visa Officer, the Executive Director of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute, Kathleen Strottman, and the President of EACH, J. McLane Layton, to discuss concerns regarding scheduling appointments and processing adoption visas at the U.S. Consulate in Haiti.

The officials were interested in finding solutions to improve the process and to make it more user friendly for adoption professionals and adoptive families.

It was a very constructive and positive meeting. We were able to discuss some of the delays families have been experiencing recently with obtaining birth-parent and visa interviews and explained certain problems that have been encountered due to conflicts between Haitian law and U.S. law.

The State Department officials were very attentive and generous with their time. We will be following up with suggestions on how the process can be more "user friendly."

If you are one of the families currently "stuck" in the orphan investigation/parent interview and/or the visa process with the U.S. Consulate in Haiti, please contact your

• U.S. Congressional Representative,
• Senator,
• the Executive Director of EACH - J. McLane Layton at info@equalityforadoptedchildren.org, and
• the Executive Director of the Congressional Committee on Adoption Insititute - Kathleen Strottman at kathleen@ccainstitute.org

You can also contact me...

I encourage all U.S. adoptive families to join EACH (it does not cost anything) at www.equalityforadoptedchildren.org