Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s bill would help adopted children from Haiti gain United States citizenship
By Stephanie Gaskell , DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Marie Lionel, a 49-year-old building manager from Brooklyn, had completed her adoption of a 5-year-old girl, Jessika, when the 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck.
Lisa and Duke Scoppa managed to get their two adopted kids out of Haiti and home to Harlem with the help of an emergency humanitarian visa.
Now they’re stuck in legal limbo, like nearly 1,200 other American families who were in the process of adopting children from Haiti before the massive Jan. 12 earthquake devastated the country.
“If anybody asks us, ‘Are these your children?’ we don’t have anything to prove that,” Scoppa, 36, told the Daily News Tuesday. “The children don’t really have any paperwork. We’re kind of stuck.”
The Scoppas adopted 4-year-old Erickson and 9-month-old Therline and were able to fly them home on Jan. 21 — but without a key signature from the Haitian Interior Ministry that would allow the kids to become U.S. citizens.
Without that paperwork, it’s difficult for adoptive families to get health insurance and enroll the children in school. And if something happens to the adoptive parents, the children could be sent back to Haiti.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) introduced a bill in Congress yesterday that would help families like the Scoppas.
The Help HAITI Act of 2010 would expedite the process and help the adopted children obtain U.S. citizenship.
“I am relieved that the Haitian orphans who have been waiting for their adoptive parents are finally safe and sound with their proud mothers and fathers,” Gillibrand said. ” But the unprecedented devastation has turned the adoption process upside down, where it could take years before these children could have any legal status.
“We must clear the gridlock and ensure that these children have the legal protections that they deserve.”
Marie Lionel, a 49-year-old building manager from Brooklyn, had completed her adoption of a 5-year-old girl, Jessika, when the 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck.
“I don’t know if I have to start all over,” she said.
Lionel, who said Jessika is doing remarkably well in her new home, hopes this legislation is passed quickly and they can begin their new life together.
