The United States on Tuesday said it would allow for orphaned children from Haiti to enter the United States legally so they can receive the care they need one week after a 7.4 magnitude earthquake devastated the impoverished country. "We are committed to doing everything we can to help reunite families in Haiti during this very difficult time," Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said in a statement. "While we remain focused on family reunification in Haiti, authorizing the use of humanitarian parole for orphans who are eligible for adoption in the United States will allow them to receive the care they need here," she said. But, the move does not allow all Haitian orphans to enter into the country. Rather, it grants case-by-case humanitarian entry to those "legally confirmed as orphans eligible for intercountry adoption by the government of Haiti and are being adopted by US citizens ... (and) children who have been previously identified by an adoption service provider or facilitator as eligible for intercountry adoption and have been matched to US citizen prospective adoptive parents," she said. American parents adopting children from Haiti will now not have to wait for final paperwork or passports from the Haitian government, which is struggling to cope with the humanitarian disaster that followed the earthquake. "Unaccompanied minors entering the country without a parent or legal guardian are subject to special procedures regarding their custody and care. DHS [Department of Homeland Security] coordinates with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Refugee Resettlement on the cases of these unaccompanied minors," Napolitano added.
