International Movement ATD Fourth World

Press release - 20 January 2010

ATD Fourth World strongly approves UNICEF’s position against hasty adoptions of Haitian children

“UNICEF warns against the hasty adoption of Haitian orphans because of the extremely confused situation due to the magnitude of the catastrophe,” Véronique Taveau, spokesperson of UNICEF, stated during a press briefing in Geneva.

“UNICEF and its partners are currently working to count these children, to see if they have lost their parents, and to relocate the families,” Ms. Taveau indicated.

“We must undertake this task of reunification in an emergency situation while avoiding undue haste,” she advised, while underlining that with respect to priorities our efforts should focus on the survival of all children who today are living in the midst of rubble.” (See press release of 20 January 2010.)

The Fourth World Movement approves and totally supports this stance and the action undertaken in this direction on the ground.

In a study published in 2004, “How Poverty Separates Parents and Children: a Challenge for Human Rights” with a preface by UNICEF, ATD Fourth World highlighted the mechanisms leading to children being definitively separated from their family against their wishes because of circumstances of persistent poverty.

Haiti was one of the countries where these separations had been observed, owing to the enormous challenges their families had to face.

The study can be found at www.atd-fourthworld.org