The tragedy of the situation in Haiti has moved some U.S. citizens to decide to open their hearts and homes to an orphaned Haitian child.

On Monday, the U.S. Department of State and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced a humanitarian parole policy which will allow certain Haitian children to legally enter the U.S. for adoption.

When there is a disaster of these proportions, it is often difficult to determine whether or not a child is truly an orphan. Widespread destruction, displacement and panic can lead to uncertainty about whether family members are dead, injured or lost. Records and identification may be destroyed.

For this reason, at the present time, the U.S. government will be applying this humanitarian parole on a case-by-case basis to two groups of children: 1) those who were confirmed as legally available for international adoption and were already in the process of being adopted by U.S. citizens; and 2) those who were previously identified by an adoption service provider or facilitator as eligible for intercountry adoption and had been matched to prospective U.S. adoptive parents.

Of course, this leaves a large group of orphans who are not going to be immediately eligible for immigration to the United States. Some children in this group will be going to other countries for adoption.

As the situation unfolds, and authorities are able to sort out which children are true orphans, the U.S. Department of State will continue to monitor the situation and provide policies accordingly.

The humanitarian goal is first to reunite families whenever possible. Next, other relatives within the child's home country are sought and it will be determined whether they are willing or able to care for the child. If not, then the next step is to determine if there are adoptive parents in the child's home country. After these options are exhausted, the child may be certified for international adoption.

Unfortunately, due to the level of devastation in Haiti, we can expect that there will be many children who are orphaned and have no one to care for them.

Just as in any other international adoption, once the child has been certified as available for adoption in his/her home country and has immigrated to the U.S., there are certain steps that must be taken by the adoptive parents to follow the proper procedures with both U.S. immigration and the laws of the adoptive parents' home state.

We will keep up to date on the situation and post updates periodically. There is also a website where you can register to receive updates if you are considered adopting a Haitian child. http://bit.ly/5e6LQH