SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) 鈥 At only 6 years old, Esai Reed has endured three emergency evacuations from orphanages across Haiti as gangs pillage and plunder their way through once peaceful communities.
He is now in northern Haiti under the care of a U.S. organization after the director of Esai鈥檚 last orphanage fled the troubled Caribbean country .
Nearly five months have passed since the last evacuation, and in that time, Esai, who loves soccer and is mischievous, hasn鈥檛 been able to talk to his adoptive mother in the U.S. or his two older brothers who live with her as internet connections and other logistics falter.
鈥淐learly, this is an emergency,鈥 said Michelle Reed, a 51-year-old teacher and single mother who lives in Florida.
Reed's is one of 55 families from Tennessee to California asking the U.S. government for humanitarian parole for some 70 children they鈥檙e adopting. It was an opportunity the U.S. granted to more than a dozen other children earlier this year when gangs attacked key government infrastructure and forced Haiti鈥檚 main international airport , prompting evacuations of dozens of U.S. citizens and 39 children from March to May who had final adoption decrees.
Reed and other families said they were initially told they would be part of the evacuation group, but the U.S. government later said that 鈥渄espite intensive efforts,鈥 it had not found a solution to allow children without adoption decrees to leave Haiti and enter the U.S., according to a letter from the office of children鈥檚 issues at the State Department.
鈥淲e understand that this update will be disappointing for both you and your child(ren),鈥 the office wrote.
Reed and other families warned that completing the adoption process in Haiti instead of in the U.S. as requested forces the children to travel to Port-au-Prince, which is largely under siege by gangs, to obtain a visa, passport and medical exam.
鈥淲hy aren鈥檛 they doing that for our kids?鈥 asked Emmerson, who lives in the U.S. and requested that his last name be withheld for safety since he and his wife, who are adopting his niece and nephew, have family in Haiti.
Reed noted that the Haitian Central Adoption Authority has given the families permission for the children to leave the country and complete the adoption in the U.S.
But a State Department spokesperson told The Associated Press that other Haitian authorities overseeing the adoption process do not agree. It added that it鈥檚 working with the Haitian government 鈥渢o move adoptions forward as quickly as possible鈥 while ensuring that laws, regulations and obligations are met.
鈥淭he Department is working to expedite final processing steps for additional children,鈥 it said, adding that all Haitian government offices that process adoptions are open, 鈥渁lthough some offices could be intermittently closed or operating at limited capacity due to localized violence.鈥
The department said it 鈥渦nderstands and empathizes with the concerns and frustration of U.S. families adopting from Haiti.鈥
St茅phane Vincent, director of Haiti鈥檚 Directorate of Immigration and Emigration, did not return messages for comment.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security told the AP that consideration for parole applies 鈥渢o a very limited number of Haitians adoptees鈥 who have reached a specific stage in their process. It said that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services 鈥渋s working tirelessly鈥 with U.S. government partners 鈥渢o navigate the current circumstances.鈥
Aside from the dangers of being in Port-au-Prince, families note their cases could be further delayed because Haitian judges have been on strike while others have left the country because of the violence.
The U.N. noted in a recent report that ever since Haiti鈥檚 judicial year started in October 2023, 鈥渃ourts have been operational for barely ten days.鈥
Backing the families in their push to obtain humanitarian parole are lawmakers including U.S. Sens. Sherrod Brown, Marco Rubio and Rick Scott, who have written the U.S. State Department and the Department of Homeland Security on their behalf.
Haiti has been under a for several months, and the State Department has long upheld a 鈥渄o not travel鈥 advisory, warning of kidnappings, killings, sexual assault and other crimes, adding that 鈥渢he U.S. government is very limited in its ability to help U.S. citizens in Haiti.鈥
From April to June, at least 1,379 people were reported killed or injured, and another 428 kidnapped, according to the U.N., which noted that 88% of those crimes were in Port-au-Prince.
Meanwhile, gang violence has left at least 700,000 people homeless in recent years, half of them children, William O鈥橬eill, the U.N. independent human rights expert on Haiti, said Friday.
鈥淎ll indicators remain extremely worrying,鈥 he said during his visit to Haiti. 鈥淭he first and most concerning of them, insecurity.鈥
Meanwhile, as part of a U.N.-backed mission to help quell gang violence only recently launched joint operations with Haiti鈥檚 police and military as the U.S. ponders a U.N. peacekeeping operation after warning that the current mission lacks resources.
鈥淭he children are at great risk,鈥 said Diane Kunz, executive director for the New York-based nonprofit Center for Adoption Policy. 鈥淵ou have the State Department saying they can鈥檛 guarantee the protection of their own people.鈥
In Florida, Reed worries about Esai as she tries to comfort his brothers, ages 8 and 10, who were physically abused, sick and malnourished when she adopted them nearly two years ago.
鈥淭he boys are afraid for him, and they don鈥檛 want to talk about it,鈥 she said, adding that no one told her they had a brother when she adopted them.
Reed recalled how, after arriving in the U.S., her two older sons slept in a single twin bed despite having two available and held each other through the night.
鈥淣ighttime was scary for them,鈥 Reed said. 鈥淭hey had nightmares for a long time.鈥
Fighting alongside Reed is Emmerson and his wife, Michelle, who also asked that her name be withheld for safety.
Emmerson鈥檚 mother was in Haiti looking after his niece and nephew when she had a heart attack after gangs raided their neighborhood, located near where a young U.S. missionary couple .
鈥淭hey were shooting, and she passed away,鈥 he said. 鈥淭he kids were traumatized.鈥
After speaking with his brother, who has health issues and struggles to care for his five other children, they agreed adoption was best. But Emmerson and Michelle have not been able to visit Haiti in nearly a year given the ongoing violence.
Gangs forced the children to relocate to southwest Haiti, where their family is running low on food and other basic supplies. Gunmen control the main roads leading in and out of Port-au-Prince, on occasion firing on those passing through.
The boy is 6 years old and extroverted, and his sister is 鈥渓ike a little old lady in a 3-year-old鈥檚 body,鈥 Michelle said. They worry what will happen to them if they鈥檙e forced to travel to Port-au-Prince to finalize the adoption, with Emmerson recalling how his brother鈥檚 twins were kidnapped in the capital and later released, with the boy鈥檚 face slashed by gangs.
鈥淲e just don鈥檛 want that for our kids,鈥 he said.
Angela, who lives in California and asked that her last name be withheld for safety, said she and her husband are trying to adopt a 5-year-old girl who 鈥 like Reed鈥檚 youngest son 鈥 has been evacuated from orphanages three times.
Angela recalled how she was on the phone with an orphanage worker and her daughter when gunfire erupted.
鈥淨uite honestly, I didn鈥檛 know if she was going to be killed right then and there,鈥 she said. 鈥淕unfire was penetrating the walls.鈥
She said it鈥檚 terrifying to think that her daughter, who is shy and loves to read books, will have to travel to Port-au-Prince to complete the required paperwork after violence forced her to flee the city.
鈥淚t鈥檚 just not right for these children to be thrown into the war zone to meet requirements that could easily be waived,鈥 Reed said. 鈥淲e are not looking to bypass any part of the adoption process. We want our children evacuated to safety so we have children to adopt. We don鈥檛 want them to die in Haiti.鈥
