Haiti's kids: What's in their best interest?

I've been feeling compelled to write about the adoption of Haitian kids, but it's been hard to sort through all of my feelings about it. In times of crisis, we see the best and worst of everything. With the earthquake we're seeing massive humanitarian efforts coming from all parts of the globe to get supplies and medical care to the people there. We're seeing people working tirelessly to reunite families and help people find the basic necessities of life.

We've also seen people eager to get kids out of Haiti and adopted into American families, and in the case of one missionary group, they were willing to do it illegally without going through all of the processes designed to draw the line between adoption and kidnapping. When I was first reading the news accounts of how quick people were to try to get the kids out of Haiti, I kept wondering, Has anyone tried to find their families? Why are we giving up so quickly? It seemed to be a halfhearted attempt to locate family followed by a shrug and an airplane ticket.

The more progressive adoption practices would have us do due diligence in looking for creative ways to keep kids connected to their biological relatives, or even to their geographical area and culture, and then bring them to a faraway country only as a last resort. We must be aware of the added trauma, in the midst of chaos, that results when kids are abruptly removed from their home surroundings.

The urgency of the situation has caused confusion. These kids need basic necessities now, not in 6 months. It seems logical to bring them to the comfort of an American middle-class home. From an adoption perspective, though, it seems rushed to shuffle kids out of Haiti before anyone has had a chance to figure out if there's a way for them to stay.

The organization SOS Children's Villages is caring for many Haitian kids, according to this ABC News story. Their CEO, Heather Paul, says, "Sometimes Americans believe that children are better off in an American middle-class environment almost as a priority over being with their own family who are impoverished. I don't believe that. Children — they just love their families."

When we consider any type of adoption, the question always arises, "What's best for the child?" Do any of us ever really know what's best? And yet we're called on to act on behalf of a child before we can answer that question. Adoption is full of unanswerable questions, and the situation in Haiti magnifies this one.

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