This article was originally published on The Haitian Times, a partner of URL Media.
VERO BEACH, Fla. — For nearly four years, Haitian American Emmerson Philippe and his wife, Michelle Lake-Philippe, have been fighting to bring home two children they adopted — Philippe’s nephew and niece — from Haiti’s Jérémie to their home in South Florida. A process they expected to last about one year.
Now, the couple is pleading with the Haitian government to issue passports for the two children, saying delays at the Ministry of the Interior and Local Government (MICT, its French acronym) —just to sign approved documents—have left the children stranded in Port-au-Prince as gang violence escalates.
“Every day that passes increases the risk for these kids,” Michelle said.
“We’re just asking for the Haitian government to do what’s right and let us bring them to safety.”
The Philippes, who live in Vero Beach, finalized the adoption after years of navigating Haiti’s complex legal system. The children, aged seven and four, have already completed all critical steps required by Article 5 of the Hague Convention on intercountry adoptions and have received approval from both the United States and Haitian authorities.
“According to the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince, they have met all U.S. requirements and are eligible for immediate visas,” Philippe told The Haitian Times.
“This process [passport issuance] was supposed to take 10 days. It has now been more than three months. The director of the Ministry of the Interior has our children’s paperwork on his desk, and until he signs it, nothing can move forward.”
Emmerson Philippe, adoptive father
“The only step remaining before they can leave Haiti with their visas is the issuance of Haitian passports.”
Emmerson lamented that the prolonged passport issuance process was supposed to take just 10 days. “It has now been more than three months,” he said.
“The director of the Ministry of Interior [Pierre Canisius Guignard] has our children’s paperwork on his desk, and until he signs it, nothing can move forward.”
The Philippes, like dozens of other U.S. families, have spent years and tens of thousands of dollars to complete the two adoptions in Haiti. Despite their cases being finalized in court and approved by Haiti’s central adoption authority, bureaucratic hurdles continue to delay the children’s departures.
“Our kids are in harm’s way in Port-au-Prince, where gangs control the roads,” Michelle said.
“They keep asking us when they can come home. It’s heartbreaking. All that’s missing is one signature,” she added, holding back tears.
“We have not seen our children for nearly two years,” she said, referring to their September 2023 visit as the last of three trips to spend time with the kids before security worsened further.
“When they had to come back to Port-au-Prince about five months ago for their required medical exams, we thought they would have gotten their passports a few days later—and then their visas to travel.”
Children caught in limbo amid bureaucratic backlog
The couple said they were told repeatedly that their children’s passports would be processed, but each time the timeline has been extended. At one point, they were told the director was on vacation abroad. Later, they were informed that cabinet changes under Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé meant a new director had taken over — yet the paperwork still sits unsigned.
Meanwhile, the children have been forced to remain in Port-au-Prince with relatives after completing medical exams required for U.S. immigration. Traveling back to the safer Jérémie region—about 280 miles southwest of the Haitian capital—where they had been staying, is too dangerous due to gang checkpoints along the roads.
“We’re terrified,” said Emmerson. “Our children’s grandmother, who was also my mother, died in September 2023 after a gang invasion triggered a fatal heart attack. We can’t lose anyone else.”
At that time, Emmerson and his wife were visiting the children, who were with their grandmother in Port-au-Prince, waiting for the necessary paperwork to be completed. Shortly after her sudden death, the couple, who were forced to stay inside a hotel with heavy security, returned to the U.S., and the children were escorted back to Jérémie—until about five months ago.
Pierre Canisius Guignard, who became director general of the Ministry of the Interior and Local Government (MICT) in February, told The Haitian Times that his office only signs letters transmitting adoption passport applications to the Immigration and Emigration Directorate (DIE).
“Please, please help our kids. Please sign their paperwork. Please release it so we can bring them to the U.S., where they will be safe.”
Michelle Lake-Philippe, adoptive mother
“I want to emphasize that since I became DG of the MICT, the Directorate General has given no opinion on the analysis of passport applications for children up for adoption,” Guignard said. “Based on this adopted principle, documents for passport applications in such cases are reviewed and approved solely by the ministry’s Legal Affairs Directorate (DAJ).”
Once the DAJ approves an adoption application, Guignard said, his role is to sign the approval letter authorizing the DIE to issue the passports — a step that usually takes less than a month. He noted that a recent clerical error delayed seven cases when required documents were missing, but said the issue was quickly resolved.
Guignard could not confirm whether the Philippes’ files were among those cases, but said he has handled similar applications at least ten times since taking office. He pledged to check with the DAJ and DIE on the status of the family’s paperwork.
Adoption Crisis: By the numbers
- 4 years — Time Emmerson and Michelle Philippe have been waiting to bring their two adopted children to the U.S.
- 10 days vs. 90+ days — Official timeline to issue Haitian passports vs. how long the children’s paperwork has sat unsigned.
- ≈$150,000— Estimated total the Philippes have spent on legal fees, medical exams, travel, relocations and care for the children.
- 70+ children — Number of Haitian adoptees U.S. families sought to evacuate in 2024.
- ≈50 children — Already brought safely to the U.S.
- ≈23 children — Still stranded in Haiti, most in gang-controlled areas.
- 1 grandmother watching children — Lost her life to gang violence during this family’s adoption ordeal.
A broader adoption crisis amid a desperate plea
The Philippes are not alone. Last year, The Haitian Times reported that 55 adoptive American families across 23 states formed an advocacy group to urge the U.S. and Haitian governments to expedite the evacuation of about 70 Haitian children—including Philippe’s niece and nephew.
While the majority of those children have since joined their families in the U.S., roughly 20 remain stranded due to passport or court delays.
Adoptive families, many of them Haitian Americans adopting relatives like in Philippe’s case, say Haiti’s already slow process has been worsened by instability, corruption and the collapse of state institutions under gang rule.
In addition to the process being tedious and exhausting, costs have skyrocketed as families pay for relocation, medical exams, legal fees, back-and-forth trips and necessities, often totaling more than $50,00 per child.
On their part, Emmerson and Michelle have already spent nearly $150,000 on their two children’s draining process, they said. And this amount is expected to keep rising as the adoptees remain stuck in the Haitian capital.
Chereyl Moyes, a case manager with Wasatch International Adoptions Agency (WIAA) working on behalf of many adoptive families, previously told The Haitian Times during a phone interview that families are not seeking shortcuts.
“None of the adoptive parents is asking to bypass any step in the process,” she said. “They are simply requesting emergency measures to allow legally adopted children to leave Haiti safely.”
Now, Moyes is happy that some of the children have successfully left Haiti after receiving their travel documents. However, she said the Utah-based agency still has 23 others—being adopted by 17 American families—who remain stranded in gang violence-stricken Port-au-Prince.
“Out of these 23 children, 13 could leave Haiti now if Haitian immigration and the Department of State would waive the Haitian passport requirement due to difficulties causing the long delay,” Moyes said.
“These children have all received the final court documents, including the adoption decree, and most have completed the exit medical or will do so in the next few weeks.
She reminded that in 2022 and 2024, passports were waived and visas were issued for several families. “So it can be done; they just will not do it [for these children],” Moyes regretted.
Yet, Emmerson and Michelle stress that they understand how difficult things are in Haiti as the transitional government works to guide the country through multiple crises. They are not criticizing Haitian leaders but are issuing a humanitarian appeal.
“We love Haiti — it’s our country, our culture, our family,” they said. “We’re just asking the government to help our children come home. With the director general of the Ministry of Interior, we plead: please sign the documents authorizing the DIE to issue their passports before it’s too late.”
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