Haitian Orphans

My wife and I have been talking about the orphans created by the earthquake in Haiti ever since the day of the quake. For the first 9 years of our marriage we were unable to have kids. Since then we have been entrusted with three of the most fun and inspiring individuals I have ever known. But before they came my wife and I had talked about adopting.

The last pregnancy was very high risk and hard on my wife. And although we would consider having more children I do not wish for her to got through that again. So the discussion of adoption had come up again. Naturally because of the situation our minds and hearts were drawn to Haiti.

Haiti has very restrictive adoption rules.

1. A married couple can adopt as long as one of the members is over 35 and they have been married at least 10 years. Okay I get that. They want a stable mature couple. Check.

2. A single woman can adopt as long as she is over 35. Again a mature grown up person. I get it.

3. The adoption process takes 2 years and must be approved by the Haitian president. Okay we don't want to rush things. Got it.

4. A married couple or single woman can only adopt a Haitian child if they have no biological children of their own. What?!!!

That I do not understand. If you have your own children you cannot adopt a Haitian orphan. I have tried to figure this out. The only thing I can come up with is they want to give children to people who really want a child and cannot have one on their own. But why keep children from parents who love their own children and want to care, love, and make another one their own. I do not understand that.

Maybe because of the sheer number of children that will be needing good homes they will loosen this restriction.