Happiness and tears washed over the faces of the caretakers and staff at Holt Fontana Village in Haiti on Tuesday, February 2nd, as they all gathered around to say goodbye to 14 children departing to Miami to unite with their permanent families.

“There were lots of tears,” said Holt Vice President of Adoption Services, Lisa Vertulfo, who accompanied the first group of children to Miami. “The caretakers sang a hymn and then the staff broke into “How Great Thou Art” in Creole.”

The children, already matched with adoptive families prior to the devastating earthquake in January, had their adoptions expedited. Seven more children from the Village will hopefully arrive sometime next week.

Three members of Holt staff have been in Haiti for a week assisting the caretakers at the Village and helping to get the children home to their families in the United States. Lisa Vertulfo and Vice President of Social Services for Haiti, Mike Noah, accompanied the children traveling to the United States.

Holt Director of Services for Haiti, Bruce Dahl, will be staying at Holt Fontana Village to assist Holt Haiti Director, Mansour Masse, with future plans to help more children and families in need.

“I always miss the children when they leave, said Mansour. “But I always look forward to the day when the kids finally go home to be with their families.”

Holt will keep you updated as the rest of the children are united with their families, and how we are continually working to help the children and families of Haiti.

Read a news article about the Polzin family waiting to be united with their daughter.

Read a news article about Alicia Swaringen’s emotional reunion with her son.

Help the children and families in Haiti.

A blog entry from Bethany Hutchison

I haven’t posted anything on my blog yet regarding the earthquake in Haiti, because honestly the tragedy has almost felt too overwhelming for me to put into words. Where do you even start? Well, definitely with prayer. Continued prayer for Haiti will be especially important as the media coverage begins to dwindle, and we are no longer confronted with horrifying images on our televisions every day.

My heart is burdened in particular for children who were orphaned prior to the earthquake, and children now who have not yet been able to find their family members. Will you join me in continuing to lift up these children, and all of the Haitian people, in prayer throughout the coming days, weeks, months, and year?

Holt International, our adoption agency, has received an enormous amount of phone calls since the earthquake, from people who are interested in adopting orphans from Haiti. I think it’s often a misunderstanding how complex international adoption truly is. On one hand, it is WONDERFUL that people are opening their hearts to the idea of adoption. On another hand, I think that tragedy sometimes spurs very emotional responses in people… and that is definitely not a reason to rush into anything.  After all, international adoption is not an act of charity…it is an act of lifelong parenting.  Quite a difference.

There are many children, as you know, who were already in the process of being adopted prior to the earthquake, and it’s wonderful that many of those have been granted expedited entry into the U.S. to unite with their adoptive families. I know of some families who are still waiting or trying to find their adoptive children in Haiti, and we continue to pray for those families.

For the children who “appear” to be orphaned since the earthquake, it is of utmost importance that due diligence is done to ensure that every effort is made first and foremost to unite those children with living family members. This crisis has the potential to create a highway for child trafficking… and agencies must be vigilant in the actions they take to work on behalf of children during this unstable time.

Holt International is one of many agencies who work on behalf of children and families in Haiti, and they issued the following statement on their website after the large influx of calls they have received about adopting from Haiti:

“Because of the uncertainty of the Haitian government’s ability to function at this time, which includes processing adoptions, Holt’s Haiti program is currently closed to new adoption applications. We will continue to assess the situation, but we anticipate that it will take months to determine whether children orphaned by the earthquake have surviving family members who may be able to care for them.”

I would encourage anyone who is able, to donate money or time on behalf of the children of Haiti. If adoption is truly on the forefront of your heart, and you are ready to pursue it, I would urge you to contact an adoption agency and begin the process of your home study. That process is designed to allow you a chance to reflect on yourself as an adoptive parent, while at the same time educating you to understand the world of international adoption, and the realities of what to expect once your child is home.

There are so many children all around the world RIGHT NOW in need of loving, forever families. Maybe the crisis in Haiti IS part of your adoption story… maybe it provided confirmation in your heart that this is the direction you need to head… but maybe your son or daughter resides elsewhere in the world? Although Haiti is on the forefront of our minds, there are children in dire situations across the world whose stories are equally as tragic, yet not being broadcast on the evening news. I encourage you to take the first steps on this journey, trust God, and see where He may lead you…

And no matter what, let us continue to pray fervently, and give generously, to those in Haiti whose suffering many of us can’t come close to even fathoming.

“The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. ” Psalm 9:9

Members of Holt staff arrived in Port-au-Prince Wednesday morning (January 27th), and traveled directly to Holt Fontana Village to provide assistance and support to Holt’s dedicated and caring Haiti staff.

“Over the next few weeks, Bruce Dahl (Africa Program Director) and Holt Haiti Director, Mansour Masse, will be assessing and determining what role and task Holt will have next in helping the children and families in Haiti,” said Holt Senior Vice President, Phil Littleton.

Holt is currently waiting for the Haiti Prime Minister to sign off on the visa paperwork that will allow the majority of children at the Village, matched with families prior to the earthquake, to travel to the United States and be united with their adoptive families.  From there, Holt hopes to be able to provide care to more children who lost their families in the earthquake.

Click here for more updates on Haiti

Click here to read a story from the Journal Sentinel about a Holt adoptive family who hopes to have their daughter home with them soon.

The 7.0 magnitude earthquake that hit Haiti on Tuesday saw children and families, already starving and impoverished, left with nothing. Holt is now in Haiti helping to assist the children and families who are struggling to survive in this broken country.

Although communication with our staff in Haiti continues to be difficult and there are still many unknowns, we have learned from Holt-Haiti Director, Mansour Masse that the 30 children being cared for at Holt Fontana Village are “OK.”  Holt has been in Haiti since 2004 and the Village, located about 40 miles North of Port-au-Prince, is home to children waiting to go home to their permanent families in the United States.

“We are profoundly grateful the children and staff in our center are safe,” said Holt President and CEO, Kim Brown. “We still do not have an assessment of the 120 families in our Family Preservation program, and we are doing all we can to determine their safety.”

Christian music group and Holt advocate, Julian Drive, was in Haiti on a humanitarian trip when the earthquake hit. The group has now safely made it home to the United States.

“As we flew away and looked over the devastated city,” said Shane Bowers. “I could not help but have a huge burden in my heart for those left behind that are now forced to try and reassemble a life that was already so broken to start with. God help the people of Haiti.”

Before departing Haiti, the group did whatever they could to help in this dire situation and be an encouragement to the frightened children at Holt Fontana Village. They put on a concert for the children in the Village and the surrounding community and brought a little brightness into the lives of the families who have lost so much.

Holt will continue to help the people in Haiti. We ask for your continued support and prayers for the devastated children and families.

The Following is a blog entry written by Julian Drive member, Shane Bowers, while in Haiti….

Hello everyone. For those who are not aware, Shaun, Josh, James and I have been in Haiti since this past Monday with Holt International. The earthquake was devastating and frightening to say the least. I wanted to update you all, and assure you that the guys and I are doing okay.

We are here supporting Holt International and have been visiting with the orphanage and observing the dire poverty that plagues this nation. Fortunately, we were 40 miles from Port Au Prince in a small village when the earthquake actually hit. We immediately realized the destruction in Port-Au-Prince would be severe, because the view as we flew in and drove through the city was of a very crowded city with literally nowhere to run. People pack every street, along with pigs, goats, cows, and garbage between old, rundown buildings. While we are overcome with grief for the people of Port-Au-Prince, it’s no surprise that there has been such a loss of life.

If you’re looking for a way to specifically pray for us during this time, please pray for our families first. All our wives, parents and siblings are nervous; understandably. We’re more worried for them! You might also pray for our finances, wisdom, and most importantly that we won’t miss this opportunity for ministry. God has placed us here at this specific time for a specific reason. Pray that whatever comes of our trip here will be used for His glory.  More than anything; pray for the people of Haiti.

If you wish to help in any capacity with the relief effort here in Haiti , you may go to www.holtinternational.org. They are on the ground meeting needs as we speak and need your help. The best way to do that is through monetary donations. Also, the very orphans we are here to help and love on will need our ongoing help now more than ever. If you want to help through a child sponsorship of $30 per month, click here. Blessings to all and I hope to see you soon.

Click Here For up-to-date information and news articles

Donate to Help children and families in Haiti

The group, along with Holt Director of Donor engagement, Kris Thompson, was in Haiti on a humanitarian trip when the 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit.  In the days that followed, they did whatever they could to reach out to the Haitian children and families in the local community who were devastated by this terrible tragedy.  This included spending some time at the Holt Fontana Village, where they were able to play with and comfort the children in care there.

The group also put on a concert for the children in the village and the surrounding community, bringing a little brightness into the lives of the families who have lost so much.

The team made it to the airport on Friday and witnessed many pallets of relief products being unloaded from planes.

“As we flew away and looked over the devastated city,” said Shane Bowers.  “I could not help but have a huge burden in my heart for those left behind that are now forced to try and reassemble a life that was already so broken to start with. God help the people of Haiti.”

Click here to read another blog entry from Shane Bowers

By Kris Thompson, Director of Donor Engagement

Monstrouis, Haiti—We are 40 miles from Port-au-Prince so we really felt the quake, and the aftershocks have been very intense. There is major panic amongst The Haitians, as they have never experienced anything like this before. Our group had just gotten out of our vehicle at the hotel when it hit. The car was shaking in all different directions, and I am amazed that the wall we were next to didn’t come down. As we looked up at the mountains, we witnessed major rockslides in the area we were supposed to travel to that day.

We could tell it was a major earthquake, and Eric and I both said we thought it was a 7 or 8 magnitude. We told everyone to try their cell phones and go online to get word to the families that we were OK. As soon as the send button was pushed we lost all access.

Most of the people in our hotel slept outside last night, and we all stayed in our rooms with evacuation plans. The last major tremor I felt was at 12:15 a.m. actually strong enough to get me out of bed. The hotel and Holt Fontana Village survives on generators so our access to TV, computers etc. are limited, and the phones were not working.

The Holt Fontana Village in Montrouis didn’t have any damage, and Holt-Haiti Director, Mansour Masse, reported that the beautiful children are all OK and took it in stride. The caregivers stay at Holt Fontana Village during the week to care for the children and then go home to Port-au-Prince. Please pray for these ladies, as they are so worried and have not heard from their families.

Mansour Masse’s life changed yesterday as so many children became orphans last night.  Mansour will be their Hope through Holt. Well…as I am typing this we hear loud cries…one of the care providers just found out two of her family members died last night…it just breaks my heart.

We had great prayer time with the Holt Field Director, and we have already had many prayers answered. Mansour is doing an incredible job taking care of everyone.

By Shane Bowers, Julian Drive

Montrouis, Haiti—We had been here for a few days visiting the Holt Fontana Children’s Village and loving on the kids.  As we arrived at our hotel yesterday and stood there recapping the day we had with the beautiful children, the ground beneath our feet began to shake sideways and up and down.  We all froze in fear and didn’t know what to do. The car we had just gotten out of was shaking up and down like a toy, and a concrete wall next to us swayed back and forth.  The quake felt like it lasted a minute or two. In reality it was closer to 35-40 seconds.

Holt Fontana Village Director, Mansour Masse, said he’d never experienced anything like  this quake in all his years in Haiti and was just as startled as we were.  We knew that the earthquake must have done serious damage to the city of Port-au-Prince, and we were heartbroken for the people there.   I uttered prayers for those who might have been in much worse situations than we were. Fortunately we were able to get a quick message out to our families before we lost all communication.

The ensuing hours were filled with continuous, strong aftershocks. Each time it would happen, the residents would scatter from underneath the shelter. Fortunately we had power at our location and were able to watch updates on CNN.  My heart went out to those affected only 40 miles away in Port-au-Prince.

I was deeply saddened when I thought about how many more orphans were made by the days’ events and thought about the children at Holt Fontana Village.  We received word from Mansour that the children were distraught but were doing fine.

My biggest worry had been whether or not we’d make our flight out on time, but when I thought about leaving millions of people behind in devastation, I became convicted.  I prayed to God and kept uttering prayers all evening long for the people of Haiti.

As I sit here today there are still uncertainties, but we are safe. There will be hundreds, if not thousands more orphans here. They need our help. My desire and passion for these beautiful children has only grown exponentially.

Help the children and families in Haiti affected by the devastating earthquake…..

Communication with our partners in Haiti has been difficult.  We will keep you informed about the children in our care and the 120 families in our family preservation program as we receive more information throughout the day.

Holt is assessing the situation and is prepared to do everything we can to bring relief to the children and families we serve as we learn more information about what the needs are.

We hope that you will join us in praying for the children and care providers at Holt Fontana Village, the families in our family preservation projects, and the hundreds of thousands of people in Haiti who have been affected by this unimaginable tragedy.

Donate to help children and families in Haiti affected by the earthquake….

Haiti is currently operating under an adoption law that was decreed in 1974 by Jean Claude Duvalier. The 1974 adoption law is outdated, has serious limitations that are not in the best interest of children and causes confusion in its application resulting in significant delays in legal processing of adoption cases.

Children in Haiti matched with adoptive families are waiting as long as 4 years to complete their adoption. Other children awaiting adoption will endure this same wait unless a law is passed now.

With the help of UNICEF and others, a new adoption law has been developed for both domestic and intercountry adoption in Haiti. The law clarifies adoption processing protocols and mandates clear government oversight responsibilities which will correct many of the problems with the present adoption system.

Many Haitian children are in desperate need of adoptive families and will benefit from this new law. This includes children who have been waiting in the adoption system (many up to three years) due to confusion and difficulties surrounding the outdated law.

URGENT ACTION NEEDED:
The Haitian Legislature will convene soon. It is URGENT that the new Haitian Adoption Law be included for approval in the agenda for the upcoming session.

Contact your Congressional Representatives and urge their strong support of the new proposed adoption law in Haiti. Please ask them to contact the Haitian authorities.

Please share this Call To Action with friends and family to join this effort

By: Bruce Dahl, Director of Programs for Africa

On a recent trip to Haiti, Country Director, Mansour Masse drove Dan Lauer and me around to see the wonderful work Holt is doing in the lives of families and children in Haiti.

The Holt Fontana Village
When we arrived at the Village, the children were taking their afternoon naps, and it was quiet as the midday heat surrounded the compound. Inside, the almond trees and other tropical plants provided abundant shade and a small, almost cool breeze below the canopy.

During my last visit to Haiti, the construction of the Holt Fontana Village had just been completed, and our first children, six girls, had been accepted into care. Today there are 31 children in care, and the second phase construction of four additional houses is close to completion, which will allow the intake of another 20 children, expected by the end of this year.

Family Preservation
We traveled the half hour north from the Holt Fontana Village to Montrouis, where we met Abdullai, who is managing Holt Haiti’s Family Preservation program.

Holt’s Fanmi Ansam (family together) program has about 90 participating families. The central focus of the program at this time is the provision of school sponsorship and family trainings, which family members are encouraged to attend each month. Besides learning about health, hygiene, family planning and other practical information, the families receive useful kitchen utensils, dishes, a pot or pan, a tool, or cleaning supplies at the end of the training to improve their lives and, of course, to encourage their participation.

The monthly trainings are instrumental in bringing the families together, but also teach people who live in dire poverty how to protect themselves from disease and to improve health, through adopting simple daily behaviors, such as washing hands with soap and water.

Mansour shared a story of a single mother whose child had become seriously ill with diarrhea and a high fever. She took her sick child to the doctor and was told that he had parasites. This had been a recurring problem with all of her children and no matter how much medicine was prescribed, the condition would always reappear.

However, it was because of the Fanmi Ansam trainings that this mother realized her children were not good at washing their hands and that this alone could be the reason for her child’s sickness. She immediately began to train her children on the basic hygiene routines she had been taught through the program, and after several weeks her children remained well and their health was stable. She thanked Holt Fontana for the information she believed had saved the life of her child. The experience provided new confidence in raising all six children. She provided testimony to other families in the training class, which increased the awareness of the entire group about the results of proper hygiene.

This is just one small example of how Holt Fanmi Ansam is having a significant impact on the 90 families currently involved in the program.

At this time, an additional $5,000 is being freed up in the budget to cover the cost of housing improvements, to replace roofs, walls, doors, and windows at homes that have experienced damage from storms or from general wear and tear. Perhaps 30 families are being considered to exit the program by year-end. However, continued monitoring will be essential considering the poverty in the country and general unavailability of opportunities and capital.

The new adoption law
Towards the end of our visit, we met with staff at UNICEF, regarding the status of the new Haitian adoption law, which is currently before the Prime Minister and will soon be passed to the legislature for consideration. From what we learned there is strong support for the new law by all stakeholders. Holt has been working with Joint Council on International Children’s Services members to develop support for a few changes in the law that would further open family eligibility. We believe that advocacy efforts through Holt and other agencies, for approval of the law is a priority given the limited time the legislature will be in session and in consideration of the all-too-real possibility of government ministerial changes and reorganization, that could de-rail efforts made up to this time.