Since the 2010 earthquake took the lives of thousands of Haitians, it was commonly believed hundreds of children lost their parents, ending up living in orphanages in the country.

However, according to UNICEF and the Institute of Social Welfare and Research (IBESR) in Haiti, about 80 percent of children in orphanages have a close relative living in Haiti.

The Officer of Child Protection for UNICEF in Haiti said there are parents who abandon children for many reasons, and these children end up in orphanages and nurseries. Some children are also abandoned by their parents at the maternity hospitals, and these children are recovered by IBESR and placed in orphanages. "That's the reason for declaring eighty 80 percent of these alleged orphans are not in fact orphans," the officer said.
The Haitian Government is seeking to restore contact with the families of the children so that they will take the child or children and support them.

UNICEF supports the removal of children from institutions to reunion with their relatives, and also wants to the government to adapt a multi-sectoral approach, including involvement of the socio-economic, justice, reproductive health and education sectors, to get children out of orphanages and reunited with their families.

In recent incidents of Haitians attempting to flee the country, at least one person died and several others, including four Haitian nationals were rescued, when a boat sank off the coast of the Dominican Republic last Sunday, January 20.
Police reports state the accident occurred at around midnight at sea and the Haitian nationals were rescued about five miles off the coast. The report said those rescued were found holding on to an open keel boat that had capsized and the Haitians were brought ashore and admitted to the Portsmouth Hospital. The police report also indicated two Dominican Republic nationals were rescued, detained by the police, but were assisting the police in the investigations.
The police also reported a search and rescue helicopter from the Maritime Coordinating Centre in Martinique joined the search and rescue operations when they discovered the body of a woman floating in the water. The report said a post-mortem would be conducted to determine the woman's cause of death.

The senior United Nations official in Haiti has called on that country's government to carry out free and fair local municipal elections this year. Elections have been delayed for over a year.

Mariano Fernandez Amunátegui, Special Representative of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for Haiti, has however welcomed initiatives begun by Haiti's President Michel Martelly, and the President of the National Assembly to organize local, municipal and mid-term legislative elections by the end of the year.

"We hope that the three branches of the state power work together diligently toward that goal," the UN official said in a statement released by the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti, MINUSTAH, which Fernandez heads.

Recently, Congresswoman Frederica Wilson of Miami, Miami-Dade County Commissioner Jean Monestime and over twenty other elected officials from South Florida's District 24 met at North Miami City Hall and urged the U.S. to remember its commitment to Haiti, as that nation marked the third anniversary of the devastating earthquake on January 12. The massive earthquake killed an estimated 250,000, injured another three hundred thousand, and left one million people homeless.

"The people of Haiti are hurting. Still, hundreds of thousands of people live in tent cities, and progress has been slow in rebuilding homes, roads, schools, hospitals and businesses. As the most powerful democracy in the world, the U.S. has a duty and moral obligation to provide leadership and continued support to the people of Haiti. I also urge the international community to continue its support, to help rebuild the struggling island nation," says Congresswoman Wilson.

Wilson and elected officials within District 24 are standing in solidarity with the people of Haiti, who are still suffering. The congresswoman and the elected officials participating in last week's news conference wore black in honor of those who lost their lives in the devastating quake.
In the meantime, the assistant secretary general of the Organization of American States (OAS), Albert Ramdin, said the commitment by the international community to rebuild a better Haiti should not wane.