Some general facts about Haiti

The Haitian National Flag

Population: 10, 413, 211

Capital City: Port-au-Prince

Geography: Western portion of the island of Hispaniola (the Dominican Republic is on the eastern side)

Language: 

History (very abbreviated): Originally inhabited by the Taino people, Haiti became the first independent nation of Latin America. & the Caribbean.  Christopher Columbus landed in what is now Haiti in 1492, and brought with them an epidemic of various infectious diseases which devastated the people on the island.  The island was divided between France and Spain in 1697.  The French set up sugar cane plantations and brought thousands of slaves from Africa.  The treatment of the workers on the sugar-cane planation was considered especially brutal.  Between 1789 and 1803 the people of what is now Haiti (At the time, Saint-Domingue) pushed for freedom and independence, and a revolution, aided by a yellow-fever outbreak, caused France to withdraw their troops.  The revolution caused approximately 170,000 deaths.  For years after this revolution the governments of the America's didn't recognize Haiti as a republic, and since this time Haiti has gone through a number of significant military and political challenges.

Currency: The Haitian Gourde (national currency)

Religion: 80% of the population is Catholic, 16% protestant, some Vodou is also practiced.

Language: French & Haitian Creole

Healthcare: Only 40% of the population receive access to healthcare.

A new journey begins...

Well, after 2.5 years we are officially starting a 2nd adoption.

We actually completed our home study last year, with the desire to adopt again from Ethiopia, however due to various factors, including: increasing timelines, various ethical challenges facing agencies and adoptive families as well as what seems to be a growing sentiment of mistrust around the Ethiopian adoption world, we have decided that our 2nd child is not in Ethiopia.

This is the first (and last time) I'll bring up some of the challenges that are supposedly occurring in Ethiopia.  As a caveat, I'm not saying or meaning to imply that there aren't ethical adoptions occurring in Ethiopia, or that the agency we used previously is engaged in any unethical behaviour. But overall in Ethiopia there are reports of various breaches in what I will call adoption ethics, including the systematic erasing of children's birth histories, that are making adopting from Ethiopia right now somewhat concerning for everyone involved.

Coupled with the extremely long wait times facing Canadians (4-5 years from Dossier to country until referral), and the continual slowing down of the Ministry in Ethiopia in their case processing- which again, we aren't criticizing, particularly if it's in the best interest of the children, have made us look elsewhere to build our family.

And as I'm sure you've guessed… we've chosen Haiti!!

We are extremely excited about this.  We are working with our same agency in British Columbia, and have partnered up with an Ontario facilitator for the Haitian side of our adoption.
We are hoping to adopt 1 or 2 children who are younger than our daughter.

The typical process in Haiti moves quite quickly from the time your dossier travels to Haiti to when you receive your referral, however the timeline for visa's afterwards are often very slow, with reports of 1-2 years waiting after referral to bring home your children.  We will be hoping for a faster process, and at this time are planning on an 18 month turn around from referral to home with our newest family members.

I'll be sure to update the blog as we progress in our adoption, and keep a timeline.
Right now we are at "papers signed",  home study being updated for Haiti.

Wish us luck..
Haiti, here we come!