IBESR & Parquet

By the way... I am leaving tonight for NYC to see my son Josh. I am only staying until Sunday evening though. I am really looking forward to seeing him. :-)

Okay...on to the topic...Quite a few families are wondering why they have been stuck in IBESR for over 6-9 months now without being approved for adoption. Upon further checking, I have learned that families' files are stuck because they have biological children and need a "presidential pardon" letter. Some families with "too many children" are having their adoption request denied because IBESR knows that Mr. Gassant (the man in charge of Parquet - The Chief Prosecutor) is enforcing the old law of having no bio children.

I know what you are thinking...it makes absolutely no sense to me either. What future do the children have in the alternative from the adoptions that have been denied by Mr. Gassant? All we can do is pray and to remember that God is control. Also, some families are talking about petitioning President Preval regarding this situation.

Some files are taking longer to get through IBESR because of UNICEF's pressure regarding child trafficking in Haiti. As a response, IBESR is going through the adoption file documents with a fine-tooth comb and are rejecting documents for typos or misspellings. Having to obtain new documents (often they are in need of new Archive documents) can take a while, sometimes several months.

Once the files are approved by IBESR, they have to go through Parquet (Mr. Gassant's office) who is currently only signing adoptions for families without biological children. Other files sit around for months without movement.

I get emails from people asking what to do about the situation regarding Mr. Gassant/Parquet. I cannot give answers to that...aside from: pray!

My heart breaks for those families and children because there is a future for an abandoned child and that is being prevented by one person! The Haitian adoption process is one that is unpredictable and it reminds me of the staircase in the Harry Potter movies (you know, the one that constantly moves around and changes). It is frustrating and discouraging, but I am hoping that the situation will resolve itself. After all, how can one person (who is not the elected president) have what appears to be almost limitless powers, above the law and without any compassion for his country's children?!