Dear Haiti list,

For those of you that were unable to attend the Joint Council conference call I wanted to just send out
a recap, hitting on some of the key points.
First let me say that I thought the call went very well, was informative and helped give agencies/families some
Hope and direction.
Joint Council talked about the four groups of orphans of High priority in Haiti;
First those children that were at the visa stage or close to the visa stage prior to the quake
Second those who will now fall under the Humanitarian Parole
Third children in orphanages that have already been relinquished and are in the full custody of the orphanage
Fourth children in the orphanages that have not been relinquished
Joint council is concerned with the well being of all these children and will do all they can to protect these children
And keep them safe.
Right now the emphasis is on the first two groups of children, and getting them out of Haiti.
Joint Council hopes to have a secure sight in Haiti soon where the children can be brought not only to be process them
To come to the US but to be able to give them some medical attention and food and shelter.
Next Joint council is trying to secure a location in the US where the children can be brought and meet their parents,
Receive additional medical care.
This is the ideal situation but we are only waiting for approval from the US government to do this, we have
Transportation for the children and are pretty close to having all the volunteers in both countries ready to do
This but need an approval from the US ASAP.
Rebecca Harris will follow up with an email on how agencies and families can help.
If there was anyone else on the call that wants to add to this please feel free.
I do want to add one more thing, Joint Council is still urging families/agencies/orphanage staff
To NOT go to the embassy in Haiti, it is not safe and they are not prepared to have mass numbers of people
Show up there, hopefully soon the compound/uscis processing center will be up and running.

Again, we cannot thank Tom and Rebecca and the staff at Joint Council for all their hard work!

Chareyl Moyes
Joint Council Haiti Caucus Chair