WASHINGTON (AP) — The government is making it easier for Haitian orphans being adopted by Americans to enter the United States.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Monday that the humanitarian policy will be applied temporarily, on a case-by-case basis, to orphaned children from Haiti who are being adopted by U.S. citizens or who have been matched to prospective adoptive parents who are U.S. citizens.
Napolitano said the policy is aimed at helping orphans get the care they need after Haiti’s devastating earthquake. It comes after the United States last week granted temporary protected status to Haitian nationals in the United States as of Jan. 12, allowing them to stay in the U.S. for the next 18 months.