• Home
• About Amy
• Serving Minnesotans
• About Minnesota
• Issues/ Legislation
• Media Center
• Contact Amy
• FAQ

News Releases

Klobuchar Speaks on Haitian Adoptions on Senate Floor and Highlights Minnesota Families

Klobuchar presses for safe and fast action to place adopted Haitian children with their American families

January 20, 2010

Washington, D.C. – In a speech on the Senate floor today, U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar urged that adopted Haitian children be quickly and safely brought home to their families in the United States.  In her remarks, Klobuchar highlighted the experiences of families from Roseville, Blaine, and St. Cloud Minnesota, who are in the process of adopting children from Haiti.
 
Link to Video of Senator Klobuchar’s floor speech: http://bit.ly/57u5wM

At a Commerce Committee hearing later in the day, Klobuchar also called on Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano to work with other federal agencies and Haitian officials to develop a timely process to unite Haitian children with their adoptive families in the United States.   

Klobuchar’s office has been working to help Minnesota families with pending adoptions following the January 12 earthquake in Haiti.  In addition, on January 15, Klobuchar sent a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano urging them to grant humanitarian parole to all U.S. families applying for entry to the United States on behalf of their prospective children.  On January 18th, Secretary Napolitano authorized the use of humanitarian parole for orphans who are eligible for adoption in the United States. 

Full text of Senator Klobuchar’s speech as prepared for the floor:
Mr. President, I come to the floor today to call attention to the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Haiti, and to the plight of the many Haitian children who have been adopted by American families and are still waiting to be brought from the disaster to the loving homes that are desperate to welcome them. 

As my colleagues are aware, on January 12, 2010, Haiti was struck by an earthquake of magnitude 7.0.  Since the quake, the international community’s attention has been captivated by the catastrophic loss of life and the ensuing dangerous and deplorable conditions faced by the 9.6 million Haitians who have so far survived the emergency.

In the days immediately following the storm, the United States, the United Nations, and other nations and organizations have moved to provide food and water, medicine and clothing, as well as international aid workers to assist in disaster areas.

Currently, thousands of Americans – civilians as well as members of our federal agencies and armed forces – are in Haiti right now lending their hand to help the Haitian people.   They are on the ground working to distribute clean drinking water and food and medicine, as well as the thousands of tons of emergency food supplies that are being shipped in daily.

Unfortunately, though the United States is doing much to save lives in Haiti, lives continue to be lost.  The death toll continues to rise, and it is now estimated that between 100 and 200,000 people have died as a result of the crisis.

Unfortunately, some of the most helpless of Haiti’s people – its children – are among those in most need of our help. 

I would like to draw attention to a problem of particular importance to hundreds of Haitian children as well as to many of my constituents.

Hundreds of American families began the process of adopting Haitian children long before the earthquake and now are deeply concerned about both the well-being of their prospective children as well as the path forward for bringing them to the United States. 

While many of these families have been able to confirm that their children are safe, they are still unable to bring them home.

My office has been working with several Minnesota families with regard to pending adoptions in Haiti. 

On January 15th, I wrote to Secretary Clinton and Secretary Napolitano urging them to use their authority under the Immigration and Nationality Act to grant humanitarian parole to all U.S. families applying for entry to the United States on behalf of their prospective children during this period of emergency.

I am thankful that on Monday, January 18th, Secretary Napolitano announced her authorization of the use of humanitarian parole for orphans who are eligible for adoption in the United States.  Humanitarian parole is typically used sparingly in cases of compelling emergency, but as I noted to the Secretaries in my letter, the magnitude of this disaster clearly warrants broader application of this policy. 

However, despite the authorization of the humanitarian parole policy, adopted children remain stuck in Haiti.

There are more than 20 families in Minnesota with pending adoptions.

Of the hundreds of families across the U.S. requesting humanitarian parole for their pending Haitian adoptions, these stories in Minnesota are particularly compelling. 

Betsy Sathers, a Minnesota resident, was widowed when her husband of ten months was killed in the tragic I-35W Minneapolis bridge collapse on his way home from work.  Before he died he and his wife Betsy had discussed having children.  After he died, Betsy decided to pursue adoption. 

She recently visited Haiti to celebrate the second birthdays of the twins she is slated to adopt.  Like hundreds of families across the United States, she wants to bring the children home as soon as possible.  She has had contact with the orphanage in Haiti, knows they are safe, but fears for their health.    

Another family, Ginger and Dale Reynolds, are adopting two kids, Roselene and Roodly, and they were in the final stages and hoping to bring their kids home in the next month or two before the earth quake hit – what is striking about this family is that Ginger still signs all of her emails with “blessings” and they are still incredibly positive despite having their kids stuck in an orphanage in Haiti.  They also keep stressing how they want us to help all families, not just theirs. This family is so loving that Dana and Patrick Howard – in-laws of the Reynolds – are also adopting.

Finally, Dawn and Lee Shelton are adopting two children and the conditions have been very bad at their kids’ orphanage. This family has been glued to CNN, which has filmed at the orphanage, just to see their kids’ faces.

While we talk legalities, orphans in Haiti are continuing to suffer lack of water, lack of food, lack of shelter.  Many orphanages have been partially or entirely destroyed in the shocks from the quake.  In others, the bodies of deceased personnel still lie near the children, for aid agencies are unable to take away all of the dead.

The hardship and horror that these orphans face is extreme, and we must act now to bring them out from the unsanitary and potentially traumatizing situations in which they find themselves.

I urge the Department of Defense, the Department of State, USAID and Homeland Security to work together to develop a plan as soon as possible to oversee the safe departure from Haiti and arrival to the United States of these adopted children caught in the middle of this disaster.   Time is of the essence. 

I commend the government for speedily applying the policy of humanitarian parole to these adoption immigration cases.  Now I ask my colleagues in the join me in calling for the quick implementation of this policy so that Minnesota and all other American families may be reunited with their Haitian children. This is our moral responsibility.

I look forward to working with my colleagues as well as agency personnel to explore every means of bringing these children home quickly through humanitarian parole.

Thank you, Mr. President.

####