Call Endorsed by McCain, 20 other Senators & 22 Members of House Members of Congress-
Senator John Kerry, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, sent a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton today (Jan. 21) urging her, and the State Department, to develop a coordinated and timely exit strategy that ensures the safe and timely removal of thousands of Haitian orphans.
Here is Kerry's statement as sent to the BHR today:
"There were approximately 20,000 children living in Haiti’s 187 licensed orphanages prior to last week’s devastating earthquake. It is anticipated that thousands more have been displaced or orphaned as a result of the quake.
"Kerry is urging Secretary Clinton to ensure that the orphans are a high priority in all U.S. evacuation and relief plans; to coordinate with U.S. faith-based and private relief partners to help channel appropriate levels of relief to orphan children; to identify opportunities for temporary care and shelter within Haiti or Haiti’s border countries where these children could be safely evacuated; develop a coordinated exit strategy for the safe and timely removal of these orphans and delivery to their adoptive families in the U.S.; and to identify opportunities for orphan children to receive temporary care and shelter within the United States.
"Senator Kerry and his office are working closely with dozens of families in Massachusetts to try to bring their adopted children home as quickly and safely as possible.
“'Tens of thousands of Haitian children are in urgent need of help and that need will only grow each day. The longer these kids remain in the region, the longer they will go without basic human services so I can’t stress enough how important it is for us to act quickly. There are families in Massachusetts and across the country who’ve already committed to adopting these incredible children and are waiting anxiously to bring them home to join their families. I know Secretary Clinton wants to do whatever is possible to expedite the process of bringing them here as quickly as possible and I know she will work closely with us on a plan to make that happen,” said Senator Kerry
The letter follows:
The Honorable Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street N.W.
Washington D.C., 20520
Dear Madam Secretary:
First and foremost, we would like to thank you for your outstanding leadership in coordinating the United States’ humanitarian response to Tuesday’s tragic earthquake in Haiti. This is one of the greatest human tragedies in recent history. We understand that the focus of immediate efforts is to ensure that all who survived this terrible disaster have access to life sustaining necessities such as health care, food, water and shelter.
As you begin to construct the next phase of the United States’ and international response, we urge you to consider the needs of orphan children. As you well know, these children are already among the most vulnerable and in circumstances like these, are at even greater risk. Our experience has been that a natural disaster of this magnitude can not only have serious effects on children previously orphaned, but sadly, also be the cause for additional children to find themselves displaced or orphaned.
As we understand, there were approximately 20,000 children living in Haiti’s 187 licensed orphanages prior to this disaster. The vast majority of these institutions are located in Port-Au-Prince and the surrounding region. In a small percentage of cases, the children are eligible for international adoption and have been matched with American families.
We appreciate the announcement by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that humanitarian parole will be offered to children who have been legally confirmed as orphans eligible for intercountry adoption by the Government of Haiti and are being adopted by U.S. citizens and to children who have been previously identified by an adoption service provider or facilitator as eligible for intercountry adoption and have been matched to U.S. citizen prospective adoptive parents.
With this in mind, we respectfully request that you give every consideration to employing some or all of the following options for assisting Haiti’s orphaned children:
· Ensure that these children are a high priority in all U.S. evacuation and relief plans.
· Coordinate with U.S. based faith based and private relief partners to help channel appropriate levels of relief to orphan children
· Identify opportunities for temporary care and shelter within Haiti or Haiti’s border countries where these children could be safely evacuated.
· Develop a coordinated exit strategy that guarantees the safety and timely removal of these Haitian orphans and delivery to their adoptive families in the U.S. Specifically, your leadership is needed to authorize an authority to lead this effort and to ensure that security and support is provided for these children and for this coordinated effort.
· Identify opportunities for orphan children to receive temporary care and shelter within the U.S
Attached please find a list of orphanages we know to be in the affected region, although this list is not exhaustive. We hope that this information and the above recommendations are useful as your team devises a course of action. If we can be of any further assistance to you on this or other matters of mutual concern, please do not hesitate to let us know.
Sincerely,
Sen. John Kerry Rep. John Olver
Sen. Mary Landrieu Rep. Jim Cooper
Sen. James Inhofe Rep. McMorris Rogders
Sen. Robert Casey Rep. Michele Bachmann
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand Rep. Jason Altmire
Sen. Carl Levin Rep. Collin Peterson
Sen. Mark Udall Rep. Bill Cassidy
Sen. Kit Bond Rep. Jim Gerlach
Sen. Arlen Specter Rep. Jim Oberstar
Sen. Max Baucus Rep. Peter Hoekstra
Sen. Herb Kohl Rep. Greg Walden
Sen. Mark Warner Rep. Bill Pascrell
Sen. John Barrasso Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin
Sen. Tim Johnson Rep. Dave Camp
Sen. Michael Bennet Rep. Henry Waxman
Sen. Debbie Stabenow Rep. Tammy Baldwin
Sen. Bill Nelson Rep. Bart Gordon
Sen. Frank Lautenberg Rep. Denny Rehberg
Sen. John Thune Rep. Tim Murphy
Sen. John McCain Rep. Kevin McCarthy
Sen. John Cornyn Rep. Hank Johnson
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison Rep. Diana DeGette
Rep. John T. Salazar