8473: Re: 8467: Adoption (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: haiti@ixks.com
>
>
>From: ForHaiti@aol.com
>
 
>
>God bless those who care and want to raise the Haitian children. But isn't
>it 
>better to help them help their homeland?
>
 

But what if those kids are not going to find a home or family in Haiti?
What if adoption is their only chance at a good life in a good family?  And
I believe in family preservation (my profession), but let me share a
personal experience we had with funding a child in Haiti (just one of many
similar ones).

We had been sending money regularly and had regular communication with this
child's "foster" family.  We visited often and started getting really
concerned when it seemed like the child was sick all the time.  We sent
money for medical costs.  We sent money for school.  We sent money for food
and baby-sitters so the mother could work.  Then we had nearly a year we
couldn't make a trip to Haiti and when I finally went the child's caregiver
came down from the mountains by herself, claiming that the boy couldn't make
the trip because he had been under the weather and they had no horse to
carry him.  So I sent word that I would be back in a few weeks and if I
didn't see this child with my own eyes the deal was off.  

You already know what I'm going to say.  He was so skinny I could count
every rib and my finger and thumb met around his forearm.  He couldn't eat.
He had ringworm on his head.  They had beat him so hard with staps and
sticks that he's pee his pants crying.  He'd never had a school bag and
didn't have a clue how to hold a pencil.  

He's fine now, but we will never know where that money went.  The point is
that those long distance sponsorships of children in Haiti are kind of a
long shot.  You can't know where your money is going for sure if you don't
make frequent trips to Haiti -- *real* frequent.  

And I understand your point about keeping kids in Haiti, but that isn't
going to help the kid or Haiti if he or she dies or is irreperably damaged
in the process.  

C. Henrius