Six months after a dramatic airlift, 12 Haitian orphans brought to Pittsburgh have not been adopted and continue to live at the Holy Family Institute in Emsworth.
The children are being well-provided for, but when they will find permanent homes is an open question.
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The rescue was complicated by the fact that 12 of those orphans were not under contract to be adopted in the U.S. Orphanage, but directors Ali McMutrie and her sister, Jamie, wouldn't leave them behind.
That decision has meant those 12 are still not cleared for adoption and Gov. Ed Rendell says he's frustrated.
"There are American families and families for that matter all over the world who want to adopt these kids and this is a bureaucratic - just unbelievable bureaucratic pile up and the kids are being used as sort of fodder for this," he said.
Since the 12 had not been under contract with American families, the Haitian government wants all efforts to be made to determine if there are parents or relatives in Haiti who want them back. Even though those efforts have been ongoing, the children have still not been released for adoption.
"If there's a Haitian parent that wants them back and wants to care and nurture for them, then we have the obligation to send them back, escort them back and give them to that Haitian family," Rendell said, "but I have been told that is not the case for these 12 and it's just a case of deciding who can process an adoption and to whom."
Source: KDKA Pittsburgh
