Continued from Part One...

In October of 2006, a new IBESR director was assigned. Her name is Madame Beaudin, and so far she has improved the process in IBESR and signed out hundreds of files.

The new hang-up is now with Civil Court. Adoption files are getting stuck there for months. Who knows what the reasons are? Civil Court was recently vandalized. They say they need time to clean-up before they can get back to signing files out. In Haiti, that could mean just about anything.

I have heard that files have been held up due to pride, stubbornness, and possible lack of bribes. If you ever travel to Haiti, you will understand that another cause comes into play. The Haitian … attitude. Haitians are never in a rush. Plans change at the drop of a hat. A perfect example is eating at a restaurant in Haiti. You place your order, then sit back to relax. You might get your beverage in 20 minutes, and as you slowly sip it, you wait. And wait, and wait, and wait for your order to come … for one or maybe even two hours. You might have ordered chicken spaghetti, but instead you receive rice and beans. You make a complaint, and explain the discrepancy, only to be met with the shrugging of shoulders. The look on your waitress' face says, "So what? Why do you care? You just received food. Does it matter that it isn’t what you ordered?"

And then of course, life is plain unstable in Haiti. It does not seem to be a priority to get these orphaned children into their new homes, when there are so many other big things happening there.

I hope that answers any questions. When people ask me now what is taking so long, I usually just shake my head and say, “I do not know.”