On Thursday, we published our investigative report on accusations of children being sexually and physically abused in a Christian orphanage in Haiti and lawsuit by the mothers who adopted 11 children from that mission (Haiti Adoption Nightmare). The daily newspaper has a report on the lawsuit in its Sunday edition.
The basic stats on children in Haiti are alarming.
Before the 2010 earthquake, Haiti’s children lived in a country that was already behind on nearly all targets set under the Millennium Development Goals (http://www.undp.org/mdg/basics.shtml), which include such goals as eradication extreme poverty and hunger, reduction of child mortality and achievement of primary education.
In a nation where 43 percent of the population is under age 18, these failures are significant.
According to the United Nations, a child born in the poorest 20 percent of Haitian households has fifty percent fewer chances to reach his fifth birthday than a child born in the top quintile. It’s a major accomplishment for a child to survive long enough to reach his or her first birthday.
After the earthquake, more than 1.2 million children were  deemed by UNICEF to be extremely vulnerable to violence, exploitation and abuse.