Continued from Part Three…

If adopting from Haiti, particularly in the case of an older
child, should parental visits to Haiti be allowed or encouraged before
the adoption is finalized? I have heard the pros (early bonding) and
cons (feelings of abandonment when you leave without the child) on this
subject.

And more responses:

Agency 5

It is a matter of opinion.......about half of our parents do and the others do not. I myself from a personal stand point think it would be very difficult to leave the child once I held them in my arms.......I have adopted 8 times and never visited before the adoption.....but that is personally my own feelings and others would definitely disagree. Hope that helps.

Agency 6

We have always allowed it in the past, S, but _______ is leaning toward "no" as our last case made the little boy fairly angry and resistant to the adoptive dad when he returned to Haiti for the adoption. He did great with the adoptive mom he met for the first time. It seems like it should promote bonding, but I think it adds a trust problem as well.

Agency 7

This depends on the orphanage you work with. They all have different policies about visiting your child. However, the ones we've worked with most closely in the past, have concerns about parents visiting prior to being able to take the child home with them. They feel that this is confusing to the child and that the child may begin to feel abandoned by their adoptive parents when they leave without them. This could have an effect on the formation of attachment with the child who may then come to expect that their adoptive parents will leave them at some point. Some orphanages will allow parents to come prior but only as volunteers to help out in the orphanage without the child known who they are at that point.

Agency 8

As an agency, we feel that it is completely up to the adoptive family as to visits before placement. Each parent and child are different and will respond differently. Our agency has seen a lot of positive feedback from families who have visited Haiti before placement of their child.

Agency 9

My answer is YES! One or both parents can and should visit.

Continued…