Haitian orphans arrive in Pittsburgh

posted on: Jan 20 2010 12:3 by The Reporter. Viewed 506 times.


53 Haitian children arrived by plane at Pittsburgh airport on Tuesday, on their way to new adoptive parents.

Also arriving at the airport yesterday were a few of the families who are adopting the children. Ross Haskel and Jean Griffith, both 38, took the first available flight from Wichita, Kan., to see Alexander, a 17-month-old boy abandoned at a Haitian hospital hours after his birth.

"He's safe now, he's safe," said Haskel, who, with his wife, went to Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, where authorities took the children.

Like other families in the hospital's third-floor cafeteria, the couple vowed not to leave without the boy. "Now we'll just wait," Haskel said.

Most families had nearly finalized adoptions, said Marc Cherna, director of Allegheny County's Department of Human Services. "If they have their paperwork and everything in order, hopefully they can take them home," he said.

Three Port Authority buses brought the children to the hospital, where onlookers applauded their 11 a.m. arrival. Volunteers and medical staffers had wrapped blankets around them after some landed wearing T-shirts and shorts. The children drank juice and ate bananas and chips on the bus ride.
"One of the boys kept piling bags of chips, and he opened them and just kept eating," said Tom Kneier of Upper St. Clair, deputy director of Catholic Charities.

In the hospital, the children clutched toys and stared at television cameras in amazement. Some of the younger ones slept in caregivers' arms. Doctors examined them all in about 50 minutes.
A few of the children suffered from slight dehydration, upper respiratory infections and fever, said Dr. Richard Saladino, chief of pediatric emergency medicine at Children's.
"They're doing well and are in quite good shape," he said.

Some of the children were expected to spend the night in a conference room that officials dubbed the "comfort room." Staffers filled it with cots, teddy bears, toys, blankets and clothing.

The Haitian government granted the 53 children a two-year humanitarian waiver to remain in the United States while their adoptions are completed, Rendell said. Ninety-four children remaining at the orphanage will be cared for by people from countries where their prospective parents live, such as France and Holland, officials said.

The youngest child in Pittsburgh is 11 months old; the oldest, 12 years. Seven are available for adoption, said McCombs, a government-relations consultant for University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. American families, including one from Pennsylvania, are adopting 40 children. Three will go to families in Canada and four to families in Spain.

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