Program Background

The January 12th earthquake in Haiti separated families and left thousands of children displaced throughout the country. Many children are crossing the border with adults, and due to the earthquake's destruction of government buildings and the official documents stored within, border authorities were permitting people to exit Haiti without any form of identification. The current situation has become politically charged and requires heightened sensitivity following the attempt by a group of American missionaries to smuggle 33 children out of Haiti without having any legal guardianship of the children.

This endangers children and threatens to permanently separate families seeking to reunify. Separated children who are taken across the border without identification by well-meaning relatives may lose the chance to reunify with their families if they are not identified and registered. In the case of orphaned children who are being transported across the border by adults without legal guardianship, the children are at high risk for exploitation and/or abuse. 

Program Summary

Heartland Alliance is currently providing trained Child Protection Officers at principal Haitian border crossings to assist the Government of Haiti's (GoH) Child Protection Brigades to identify children who are at risk of becoming child trafficking victims.  These professionals are improving the safety of children by enhancing the capacity of government officers to safely and appropriately deal with separated children they identify and stop at border posts.

Additionally, Heartland Alliance's Child Protection Officers are providing guidance on child interviewing techniques, as well as assessing children's needs, and ensuring their temporary placement into GoH and UNICEF vetted interim care facilities in Haiti.  Heartland Alliance provides follow-up assessments of all children placed into interim care facilities, and ensures that, where they exist, their families are located and subsequently reunified.

Program Activities

To prevent trafficking of children into the Dominican Republic, Heartland Alliance is currently:

• Interviewing and registering children, parents, and potential traffickers at key border posts to identify whether a trafficking threat exists;
• Training government officials in appropriate methods for identifying and working with children;
• Referring all trafficking threats to government officials in the Child Protection Brigade and the Interagency Separated Children Program;
• Promoting coordination between all agencies involved in preventing child trafficking at the border areas;
• Registering children being repatriated back to Haiti from the Dominican Republic who seek to reunite with family members.