By Wendy Young and Michelle Brane

Wash­ing­ton Post Let­ter to the Editor

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/29/AR2010012904227.html

Regard­ing the Jan. 25 front-page story “Debate grows on whether U.S. should let more Haitians in”:

There is no ques­tion that chil­dren with urgent med­ical needs that can’t be taken care of in Haiti should be trans­ported to the United States or else­where to receive the care they need. But it is impor­tant that these chil­dren be care­fully doc­u­mented and reg­is­tered with author­i­ties and that sig­nif­i­cant efforts are made to reunify the chil­dren with fam­ily in Haiti before any adop­tion pro­ceed­ings are considered.

Fam­ily unity is par­tic­u­larly impor­tant in times of cri­sis because chil­dren can be fur­ther trau­ma­tized by sep­a­ra­tion from their fam­i­lies, which can also lead to devel­op­men­tal prob­lems. In the mean­time, safe havens must be cre­ated for chil­dren who are sep­a­rated, unac­com­pa­nied or orphaned.

In addi­tion, mixed-status fam­i­lies should not be forced to choose between leav­ing behind fam­ily mem­bers who do not have autho­riza­tion to enter the United States — par­tic­u­larly chil­dren — or remain­ing in Haiti to stay together.

The U.S. gov­ern­ment should ensure that it does not inad­ver­tently cre­ate more sep­a­rated fam­i­lies; enact­ing a pol­icy to allow these fam­i­lies to come to the United States together would pre­vent fur­ther trauma to Hait­ian children.

Wendy Young and Michelle Brane,

Wash­ing­ton

Wendy Young is exec­u­tive direc­tor of Kids in Need of Defense. Michelle Brane is direc­tor of deten­tion and asy­lum for the Women’s Refugee Commission.