Great Falls Tribune: Couples have hope to bring adopted Haiti kids home soon
Fairfield couple Chad and Kristen Becker hopped on a plane to Florida on Wednesday, hoping enough red tape has been torn away for them to bring their adopted Haitian son and daughter to their new Montana home.
Montana’s congressional delegation has been working behind the scenes since the earthquake in Haiti one week ago to hastily issue exit visas — the final step in the laborious legal adoption process. More than a dozen Montana families are somewhere in that process.
The families have been concerned that with government buildings, some of which held the adoption paperwork, destroyed, they would have to begin the process anew.
On Wednesday, Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., spoke with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, who each vowed to get the adopted orphans out of Haiti as quickly as possible.
For more than a week, more than 30 children living in the orphanage, including the ones the Beckers have adopted, have been sleeping outside on concrete, afraid that the building is unsafe.
They received a pallet of food late last week and are expected to get another Monday. But as newly orphaned children arrive, the supplies are stretched to feed more orphans.
Though the Beckers haven’t been able to talk directly to 9-year-old Jean Libien and 3-year-old Guerna, the family did hear that the children were unharmed, even after an aftershock shook the impoverished country Wednesday morning.
“The kids are scared,” Chad Becker said via telephone from the Salt Lake City International Airport. “It’s been a traumatic week. They have food and water for now.”
The orphanage is run by A New Arrival, a private adoption agency based in Twin Bridges.
With little more than an extra pair of socks and some granola bars, the Beckers, John Marble of Glendive and other families who have children in the orphanage are rallying in Florida, where they hope to squeeze on to relief flights raking supplies to Haiti.
Once there, the adoptive parents will need transportation to the orphanage. From there, they plan to take all the children to the American Embassy.
Fairfield couple Chad and Kristen Becker hopped on a plane to Florida on Wednesday, hoping enough red tape has been torn away for them to bring their adopted Haitian son and daughter to their new Montana home.
Montana’s congressional delegation has been working behind the scenes since the earthquake in Haiti one week ago to hastily issue exit visas — the final step in the laborious legal adoption process. More than a dozen Montana families are somewhere in that process.
The families have been concerned that with government buildings, some of which held the adoption paperwork, destroyed, they would have to begin the process anew.
On Wednesday, Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., spoke with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, who each vowed to get the adopted orphans out of Haiti as quickly as possible.
For more than a week, more than 30 children living in the orphanage, including the ones the Beckers have adopted, have been sleeping outside on concrete, afraid that the building is unsafe.
They received a pallet of food late last week and are expected to get another Monday. But as newly orphaned children arrive, the supplies are stretched to feed more orphans.
Though the Beckers haven’t been able to talk directly to 9-year-old Jean Libien and 3-year-old Guerna, the family did hear that the children were unharmed, even after an aftershock shook the impoverished country Wednesday morning.
“The kids are scared,” Chad Becker said via telephone from the Salt Lake City International Airport. “It’s been a traumatic week. They have food and water for now.”
The orphanage is run by A New Arrival, a private adoption agency based in Twin Bridges.
With little more than an extra pair of socks and some granola bars, the Beckers, John Marble of Glendive and other families who have children in the orphanage are rallying in Florida, where they hope to squeeze on to relief flights raking supplies to Haiti.
Once there, the adoptive parents will need transportation to the orphanage. From there, they plan to take all the children to the American Embassy.
John and Kristen Marble are cautiously optimistic that the red tape finally is cleared and the children will be able to leave Haiti, clear health screenings and wrap up paperwork in the states, and then come home.
Both the Marbles and the Beckers have been in the process of adopting Haitian children for about four years. They have visited the children in Haiti and regularly talk to them. The Montana families also watched the children learn math and English, and the children’s drawings hang in their homes.
Before the earthquake, the Marbles were weeks away from getting the necessary visas for their adopted daughters, 10-year-old Viergine and 8-year-old Florencia.
The couple watched in frustration as Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell was able to bring an orphanage full of children who were awaiting adoption back to Pittsburgh. One of those children is on his way to his new home in Montana.
“The tragic situation in Haiti has presented a list of unique challenges and great urgency in finding solutions and, unfortunately, the federal government doesn’t turn on a dime,” said Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., who sent letters to Clinton on behalf of the Montana families who contacted his office.
Tester addressed the adopting families’ struggles with Napolitano directly Wednesday at a congressional hearing about the attempted terrorist bombing in Detroit on Christmas. He then followed up with a phone call to Clinton.
“We’ve got about five families right now that have completed all the paperwork to get the children from Haiti, and yet they’re being held up,” Tester told Napolitano. “I need to get a commitment from you that Citizenship and Immigration Services — an agency within your department — will work with my office to expedite our ability to get those kids out.”
Napolitano said the Department of Homeland Security has teamed with the U.S. State Department and the Department of Health and Human Services to streamline adoption efforts in Haiti. She added the issue “is only going to grow over time.”
“It’s a terrible situation,” Tester said. “I just need your help in making this work.”
