Orphans in limbo: Haiti delays departure of kids to U.S.

LEHI — For almost two weeks, Lori Rosenlof has been strong.

When she got word her two soon-to-be-adopted children were missing after a 7.0 earthquake jolted their orphanage in Haiti, she held it together. When 70 of her babies' little orphan friends ran into trouble securing a flight out of the country, she didn't falter. She just took a deep breath and went to work, eschewing her day job in favor of devoting every waking minute to Haiti relief on the home front.

But Monday, for the first time, Rosenlof cried.

"Pray," the Lehi mother begged, sobbing. "If you believe in God, pray."

The evacuation of all Haitian orphans was put on hold indefinitely Monday. The list includes Rosenlof's two children, one of whom is still missing. The 72 in their group have been living at two orphanages with strong Utah ties, Help for Little Angels of Haiti and Foyer de Sion.

Some of the children have been waiting as long as five years to join their intended parents, who are mostly in Utah, and all were in the process of being adopted when the Jan. 12 earthquake hit.

About half of the 72 children have been granted humanitarian parole. Prior to the moratorium, orphanage workers expected to obtain parole for the other half Monday. Parents expected the children to arrive in the U.S. as soon as the end of this week, but the Haitian government has placed a hold on evacuating orphans until, ostensibly, a more organized method can be established, said Nichole Hayden, a coordinator for Help for Little Angels of Haiti.

"We are obviously very concerned," Hayden said.

Rosenlof was gleefully typing up e-mails informing fellow parents their children had secured their paperwork when she heard about the moratorium.

"One minute I was sending happy, happy messages," she said. "The next it was bad news."

A frantic push, fueled by parents, to speed up evacuation of orphans put the Haitian government on edge. Haitian and United Nations officials are concerned fast-tracked adoptions could endanger other Haitian children who might be sold or stolen by traffickers.

To combat this, the government has placed a moratorium on processing the orphans' evacuation papers until they have been checked twice. A U.N. official said all papers must be signed both by government and U.N. officials.