Arrival of Haitian Kids Delayed

Here is an email I received this morning-

Many of your by now know this news but the much anticipated arrival of Haitian refugee children to our facilities in the Dominican Republic did not happen as planned. A week ago, we requested permission through the government agency through whom we report to receive any kids who had been separated from family that needed a place of refuge temporarily. They were grateful for our offer and said they would have children for us shortly. By the middle of this week, 26 children were identified that were arriving from the border to a hospital in the capital. Today, as planned, we went down with hired Christian Haitian caregivers and other Kids Alive helpers with the Ark bus to pick up the children. On the way, we learned the hospital wasn’t ready to release the children to us. Consequently, we went directly to the government agency where we anticipated we would get the help we needed to leave with the kids.

Over the next few hours we learned the following:

-the hospital controls the children more than our government agency at this point and they prefer to release this particular group of children to a group of nuns who are helping out patients

- there are relative few refugee children that have made their way to the Dominican Republic so the likelihood of having more children in the wings is not high

- there is no organized effort to import children here to get them away from areas of crisis in Haiti

While there, we participated in a meeting about child protection and through this made a few more connections(UNICEF, World Vision). These may help us connect with needy children. However, one conclusion from the day is that we should look outside the Dominican government to find children that need to be rescued from the crisis in Port au Prince.

We are ready more than ever to receive 50-60 children into our facilities. We have begun trying to contact others who may have access to children in immediate need and offer our services. We are continuing to help with supply logistics from Santiago to Cape Haitian and Port au Prince as well.

We are disappointed but not broken by the events of the day. We will see what God has in store for us tomorrow.

Thanks again for your continued prayers!