Arrival of adopted Haitian children still unclear

The final hurdles are being cleared to allow 154 Haitian children to be united with their adoptive parents in Canada but it's still unclear when they will arrive, said Quebec's minister of social services, Lise Thériault, on Friday.

Thériault met with several parents in Montreal.

The Quebec government is working with the federal government to co-ordinate efforts to bring the children, including 103 destined for families in Quebec, to Canada.

Planes and government support teams are being put on standby in order to be able to retrieve the children as soon as they have the clearance to do so – something that could happen as early as this weekend, Thériault said.

"It is really a very delicate operation that we are doing on the ground," Thériault said. "From hour to hour and minute to minute, there are new developments."

Food and diapers will have to be made available along with other supplies needed to care for the children once they are with Canadian officials, the minister said.

Safe transportation will also have to be arranged from the orphanages to the Canadian embassy in Port-Au-Prince.

"We need to make sure we don't take the wrong children, because we have a responsibility to do so," Thériault said.

Thériault said the province will oversee the arrival of all the children, no matter what region of Canada they are headed to.

Those in need of medical care will be taken to Montreal’s Sainte-Justine hospital, she said.

Given the special circumstances, many of the children who will be arriving will not have received the final confirmation of their adoption from Haitian authorities, Thériault said.

Earlier Friday, federal Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said the situation was "very fluid."

It is unlikely officials will know how many children will be on the first flight until it takes off from Haiti.

Parents somewhat relieved

Following their meeting with Thériault, the adoptive parents said all they can do now is wait.

"I am reassured that things are in place for immigration; that things are in place for the rescue team; that the children when they return will see a team of doctors — that they will be well taken care of," said Jayne Engle-Warnick, who is waiting for her three-year-old adoptive daughter to arrive. "I just want to see it happen today."

Images on television of adopted children from Haiti arriving in other countries, including France and the Netherlands, only added to the parents' frustration.

"It's a terrible period to go through right now," said Rémi Fortin, whose two-year-old adoptive son is still in Haiti. "My wife has cried all the tears of her body in the last days and weeks."

Theriault said the government has done the best it can to accelerate the process with the federal government and Haitian authorities.

She said there is also a difference in the number of bureaucrats that Canada and other countries have in Haiti.

"Normally, in Quebec, we welcome about 65 Haitian children a year," Thériault said. "In France, they get more than 700."

There might also be a difference in conditions at the country’s embassies, she said.