Fast-Tracked Haitian Orphans Arrive in US

Small groups of Haitian orphans have already begun arriving in the US in recent days as authorities cut red tape for American families with pending adoptions. Haitian orphanages that were struggling to cope now face being completely overwhelmed with new arrivals, and US officials have sped up paperwork to place children with families, the Telegraph reports.

Some Haitians have expressed misgivings about the speeding up of a process that usually takes years, but officials stress that only adoptions already near the end of the process have been accelerated. "We can't just go in and airlift children out of the country without knowing whether they have parents looking for them in Haiti," an adoption coordinator tells the Salt Lake Tribune. (More Haiti earthquake stories.)