On January 18, 2010, the Department of Homeland Security established two categories of eligibility for Humanitarian Parole for Haitian orphans in the process of being adopted by U.S. citizens. 

• Category 1 are those children who have completed the process described below through Step 7.
  
  
• Category 2 are those children whose adoptive parents have completed the process through Step 5, and who can demonstrate they have established a genuine relationship with the child.
  
  

Official Steps Required for an American citizen to Adopt a Haitian Child

• The prospective adoptive American parents file an Application for Advance Processing of Orphan Petition (Form I-600A) with US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS is a division of the Department for Homeland Security).  The Application includes a home study, criminal background check, financial, medical and other vetting of parents.  USCIS approves the Form I-600A.

• Parents submit an application to adopt a child to the Haitian government, including their home study and other personal information, and their approved Form I-600A.
  
  

• The application to adopt is reviewed and approved by the Haitian Instiute of Welfare and Research (Institut du Bien Etre Social et de Recherches or IBESR).

• The Haitian government proposes a child to the U.S. prospective parents, providing information about the child’s background, including medical history.  Prior to proposing any child, IBESR confirms that the child has no parents, or has a sole/surviving parent unable to provide proper care who has irrevocably released the child for emigration and adoption.  If the child has a disability, the adoptive parents’ home study must specifically address their readiness to care for a child with a disability, and their Form I-600A must specifically approve them to adopt a child with a disability.  Similar specific reference must be made in order to adopt a sibling group.
  
  

• The parents formally agree to adopt that child.  The IBESR certifies the file. 

• If the parents have been married for less than ten years, or if they already have a child, or if one of the adopting parents is less than 19 years older than the child they plan to adopt, the parents must receive a special dispensation from the President of Haiti to adopt the child, before the file can be forwarded to the court.
  
  

• The Haitian family court reviews the file again to ensure full compliance with Haitian law.  The documents are certified by the court, and a judge issues a Haitian adoption decree. 

• The file goes to the Ministry of the Interior for a third review, and a passport is issued.
  
  

• The child undergoes a medical examination in preparation for the U.S. visa interview. 

• The parents file a Petition to Classify Orphan as an Immediate Relative   (Form I-600) with the USCIS office at the Embassy.  They submit the child’s original birth certificate, certification from IBESR that the child meets the legal definition of an orphan and the adoption decree from the court (or a court decree certifying they have been granted full legal custody of the child, and permission to take him or her to the United States to complete the adoption). 
  
  

• USCIS reviews the entire file to ensure the child has been properly     classified as an orphan as defined by the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, as amended, and approves the Form I-600. 

• The parents bring the child to the Embassy with the child’s visa application and the results of the child’s medical exam.  A State Department consular officer interviews the parents, reviews the file, and issues an immigrant visa for the child.