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| SOS staff holds a baby at the SOS Children's Village in Santo, Haiti |
February 3, 2010: Children left without parental or other loving adult care after Haiti's recent earthquake are keenly vulnerable to hunger, disease, and human trafficking. On January 30th, Haiti's Social Ministry handed to SOS Children's Villages-Haiti 33 distressed children who were about to be illegally whisked out of the country by 10 Americans who lacked government approval to do so.
The Haitian authorities entrusted these 33 children to SOS because of its successful 30-year track record in Haiti. SOS Children's Villages, an organization with 500 villages in 132 countries, has been caring for orphaned and abandoned children for 60 years.
SOS has two Children's Villages in Haiti -- one in Santo, outside of Port-au-Prince, and one in Cap Haitien. Both remained intact after the January 12th earthquake and are now emergency relief centers.
The 33 children who were about to be taken out of Haiti range in age from 3 months to 12 years. Reportedly upset and hungry after their ordeal, they are now safely sheltered at SOS-Santo. SOS staff have given them food, medical attention, and comfort. SOS has begun searching for the children's relatives.
Nations Have Long Entrusted SOS with Their Children During Crises
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| An SOS mother with children at the SOS Children's Village in Santo, Haiti |
SOS provides warm SOS mothers, homes, and communities for children who have no parents or relatives to care for them, or whose families lack the means of caring for their own children. SOS believes in raising siblings together whenever possible.
Because of SOS's many years of experience in loving, feeding, educating, and offering medical care to traumatized children, a number of countries have entrusted their most precious citizens -- their young children -- to SOS in times of disaster.
For instance, the 2005 earthquake that devastated northern Pakistan caused widespread death and destruction on a par with Haiti's current catastrophe. SOS-Pakistan delivered food and medicine, set up a pediatric field hospital, provided safe shelter for vulnerable children and women, and ran a family reunion program. SOS-Pakistan became the only organization authorized by the Pakistan government to admit children from Kashmir who became orphans by the earthquake.
Adhering to UN Guidelines that Protect Children
SOS adheres to the recently adopted United Nations resolution on the Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children. The Guidelines stress that in emergency situations, the primary goal is to trace and reunify children with their families to the extent possible before pursuing other permanent solutions. Children should not be moved to another country for alternative care except temporarily for compelling health, medical, or safety reasons -- and then only when accompanied by a parent or caregiver known to the child.
Help a child receive love and comfort at such a traumatic time. Donate to SOS now to help care for Haitian children while SOS seeks to reunite them with relatives.
