Questions surround status of Haitian kids in Pa

www.ajc.com
25 February 2010

Questions surround status of Haitian kids in Pa

PITTSBURGH — A spokesman says Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell didn't know

several children he accompanied from earthquake-ravaged Haiti to the

United States might not even have been slated for adoption.

The Homeland Security Department says 12 of the more than 50 children

Rendell traveled with from an orphanage didn't qualify for "humanitarian

parole." That can include adoption.

Press secretary Gary Tuma said Wednesday that Rendell didn't know that

at the time. He says getting them out of the shattered country was the

right thing to do, regardless.

The American Red Cross is trying to determine whether any of the 12

children have living parents who want them back.

Tuma notes that the children have been well cared for by a

Pittsburgh-area charity in the meantime.

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