The Impact of the 2010 Haitian Earthquake on Intercountry Adoptions to the United States

Mary A. Davis, Sam Houston State University

This paper analyzes the impact of the 2010 Haitian earthquake on adoptions through an examination of adoptions from Haiti in the decade immediately preceding the 2010 earthquake and in the immediate aftermath (1,200 granted Special Humanitarian Parole). Data are United Nations Hague Convention statistics. Reports from Convention members contextualize this flow with flows of Haitian intercountry adoptees to the top receiving Hague convention members (Canada, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, and the United States). As the countries have vastly differing populations, for comparison persons analyses use three metrics of intercountry adoptees: adoption rates per 100,000 population; adoption rates per 100,000 aged 0-4, and adoption ratio per 1000 births. Population characteristics used, from the United States Census International Database, are the midyear population, the birth rate per 1,000 births, and the population aged zero to four. The increased flow highlighted issues of compliance with Hague convention standards.