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Groups Schedule Second Attempt to Airlift Haitian Orphans
January 28, 2010
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  • By Patrick Fox

    The group behind a failed attempt to bring more than a dozen Haitian orphans to Atlanta will try again Tuesday. And they’ll take more medical personnel and supplies with them.

    But ever-changing rules governing adoptions in the earthquake-ravaged country may bring the same result. Friday, a local relief mission, headed by God’s Plumbline Ministry, delivered medical personnel and supplies to Port-Au-Prince, but efforts to bring back an approved list of orphans failed. Ministry authorities said a new stipulation requires all children to have United Nations clearance before they can leave the country.

    Ministry co-founder Dan Lynch said 16 of the 22 kids they hoped to bring back were later brought to the United States on a U.S. Embassy plane.

    Wrinkles in the adoption process have spurred some area residents to contact their representatives in Washington for help. A spokesman for Rep. John Linder’s office said they had received a small number of calls about the adoption process in Haiti. The office learned Monday that Haiti has temporarily stopped allowing any orphans to travel.

    State Department spokesman Andy Laine said Monday the Haitian government instituted new safeguards late last week requiring governmental approval for any departures of children.

    “We are working with the government of Haiti to establish an appropriate, efficient and expeditious process,” he said. “I think probably the overwhelming concern is the safety and welfare of the child.”

    Duluth-based Kids ‘R’ Kids childcare centers is supplying its corporate jet for the mission. Efforts to bring back children may be a long shot but they’re willing to try, said Kids ‘R’ Kids spokesperson Charlene Taylor.

    Liberty Church of Marietta is also helping with the relief effort, Lynch said. Most of the children have already had their case studies and adoption papers worked through, he said.

    Tuesday’s flight, set to depart at 8 a.m. from Briscoe Field in Lawrenceville, will carry more supplies and medical workers, Lynch said. The local ministry they work with in Haiti is requesting specific equipment, including bone saws, bone drills, antibiotics and morphine.

    Six adoptive parents are scheduled to be on board in hopes of bringing back the children they’ve made arrangements to take in. The U.N. papers must be obtained while there, Lynch said. They are praying no other hurdles arise.

    “We’re not giving up,” Lynch said. ” We serve a big God. We’ll see what he can do for us.”

    http://www.ajc.com/news/gwinnett/groups-schedule-second-attempt-283110.html

    Source: ATLANTA JOURNAL CONSTITUTION
    Date: 2010-01-25