Pa. governor defends accompanying 12 Haitian children who might not be up for adoption
By Joe Mandak, APWednesday, February 24, 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.
