AT RISK

Aid Orgs: Stop Haiti Adoptions

Traffickers pose risk to kids, say agencies.

As the Haitian government calls an end to search and rescue operations, the country now turns toward rebuilding and dealing with the consequences of the devastating earthquake that wreaked havoc last week. With as many as 40,000 children killed, orphaned, or separated from their families during the quake, aid organizations have called for a halt to the adoption of Haitian children for fear of exploitation of lax or nonexistent regulation by child traffickers. Save the Children, World Vision, and the British Red Cross have all warned that despite the well-meaning offers from foreigners to adopt Haitian orphans, adoption procedures could be exploited, and that child enslavement was "an existing problem and could easily emerge as a serious issue over the coming months or more," according to Rupert Colville of the U.N.