Practical information for agencies and advocates working with this Haitian children and families following the January 2010 earthquake, with special guidance on filing federal Temporary Protective Status applications.

Report looking at the milestones met and challenges ahead in responding to the needs of children and communities in earthquake affected Haiti. Includes reporting on child protection specific needs and the situation of children without parental care.

La loi doit empêcher les trafics d’enfants sous couvert d’adoption en Haïti, et les organismes de protection de l’enfance devront prendre part à la surveillance du bureau national des adoptions à créer. L’experte de Terre des hommes (Tdh) rentre d’une mission qui lui a permis de rencontrer des acteurs-clés, avant l’examen par le Sénat haïtien de la loi sur les adoptions. 

This paper is based on The Latin American Report: The situation of children in Latin America without parental care or at risk of losing it. Contexts, causes and responses, which was prepared using reports from 13 countries in the region. The paper gives an overview of the state of one of the most fundamental rights - the right to parental care, a keystone for the right to live in a family and a community.

Comprehensive update on the situation and responses underway following January’s Earthquake in Haiti. Reports on the full spectrum of the response including health, nutrition, education, early childhood development and the scale-up of protection mechanisms to prevent exploitation and abuse of children.

Key messages and guidance for action

Provides guidance to organisations working in Haiti about how they can most appropriately communicate with communities, their own personnel and the media. The Guidance Note focuses mainly on the acute phase of the response (including early recovery) and provides basic guidance for action.

Member agencies of the Disasters Emergency Committee are calling for international focus to remain on reuniting children who have lost their families during the earthquake in Haiti rather than adopting them out of the country.

US State child welfare administrators had started planning for a possible influx of Haitian children orphaned by the catastrophic quake, but now are being told there will be no such exodus.

Deputy Executive Director Hilde Johnson calls for all unaccompanied and/or separated children to be registered, traced and reunited with family where possible and appropriate. This includes children who were in alternative care, such as in crèches and “orphanages”, prior to the earthquake.