How to Be a Foster Parent for a Haitian Child
Foster parents provide temporary care for orphaned children until they find a permanent home with adoptive parents. Foster care is rife with challenges, but the satisfaction of helping a child in need can be immense. As many as 200,000 Haitian children are orphans. Fostering a Haitian child involves a unique set of challenges because the child is a foreign national. The process involves a great deal of paperwork in order to legally bring the child from Haiti to the U.S.
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Instructions
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Find an adoption agency (see Resources) that specializes or works with Haitian children and orphanages.
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Research and reach out to local foster agencies and public child welfare organizations. They may have Haitian children in the system who are looking for caregivers. Contact the department of child services in your state or locality.
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Review the guiding principles for the International Foster Care Organisation (IFCO) for Haiti (see Resources). IFCO recommends that children be fostered in a foreign country only in emergencies or when they require medical attention that is otherwise unavailable.
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File an application with the agency you have selected, or with the local Haitian foster care agency. Each application will have its own procedures and requirements.
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Wait for your application to be processed and approved.
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Work with the agency in the "child matching" process, wherein you and the agency find a suitable foster child.
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File Form I-600 with the Bureau of Immigration and Citizenship Services. The form requires extensive information about yourself and the child you wish to foster. When the form is approved, the child will be considered an "immediate relative" and will be automatically eligible for travel to the U.S.
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Study aspects of Haitian culture in order to minimize the culture clash that may ensue when you meet your future foster child. Familiarize yourself with Haitian customs, traditions and values so you have a better understanding of the people and culture when you go there. It may also be helpful to learn some basic Creole language.
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Arrange a trip to Haiti to meet with the child. The agency will facilitate the logistics of the meeting although you will have to furnish your own travel expenses. The agency may provide a translator, or the care facility where the child is staying has English-speaking staff. Otherwise, unless you speak fluent Creole, you will need to hire a translator.
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File the requisite exit paperwork with the Haitian government. This requires proof that the child is actually an orphan (which the agency will assist with) as well as a psychological interview conducting with Haitian authorities to make sure the prospective foster parent is capable of caring for the child.
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Continue working with immigration authorities and the agency as they search for Haitian relatives of the fostered child. According to IFCO, it often happens that the non-parent relatives of children separated from their families (especially as a result of natural disaster) later turn up and are deemed willing and capable of caring for the child.
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References
Resources
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