Couples with Union Co. ties work to get their adopted Haitian children to U.S.

Jill Wilkins holds her son, Samuel, of Haiti in an earlier photo. Wilkins is a 1990 Imbler High School graduate. Samuel, who is 20 months old, was not hurt in Wednesday’s earthquake. - Submitted photo

Concerned not about the more than 1 million people who would soon be watching her, nor worried about a once-in-a-lifetime chance to talk to a television icon.

Wilkins was concerned about just one thing — getting her desperate message to the public.

Wilkins, who grew up in Summerville and now lives in Beaverton, appeared on CNN’s “Larry King Live’’ Sunday with her husband, Joe. The couple went on CNN to boost their chances of getting their adopted son Samuel out of earthquake-ravaged Haiti and into the United States.

Samuel is one of about 300 children in Haiti legally adopted by United States couples not yet able to come to this country. Not able because of remaining bureaucratic obstacles that normally take months for parents to hurdle. The adoptive parents and others are banding together to convince the U.S. government to grant humanitarian parole visas, allowing the children to be brought here immediately.

The Wilkinses’ appearance on “Larry King Live’’ may have jettisoned this effort.

“Someone like Larry King is huge. I hope this will help congressmen and advocates to move on this,’’ Jill Wilkins said Sunday evening following her appearance on CNN.

Those who saw Wilkins Sunday on CNN included Anita Olson of Salem, another woman with close ties to Union County who is facing the same plight.

“(Jill) was fabulous,’’ Olson said this morning.

Anita Olson and her husband, Russ, have adopted two children from Haiti and also need to clear bureaucratic hurdles before they can bring their children to the United States.

The Olsons’ children, like the Wilkinses’ son, are at the God’s Littlest Angels orphanage, 20 miles from Port-au-Prince. Anita Olson, who grew up in La Grande, and her husband are now the legal parents of a little boy, Remy, 7, and a little girl, Erlande, 3. Under normal circumstances Anita and her husband would need another three to six months to clear the remaining bureaucratic hurdles. Anita Olson is praying that her two children can be in the United States much sooner because of extraordinary circumstances created by the Wednesday earthquake.

“We hope that a decision (providing humanitarian parole visas) can be made in several weeks,’’ said Olson.

A quick decision is critical because Haiti’s orphanages need to make room for the many children who no longer have parents.

“If they do not move children (with families) out, other children will die. It is a matter of life and death,’’ said Olson, a 1994 graduate of La Grande High School.

The past six days have been emotional ones for Olson, who first faced the terrifying possibility that her children had not survived or were injured in the earthquake. She quickly learned that all the children at the GLA orphanage were fine — the most welcome words she could have heard.

“Relieved does not begin to describe it ... As a parent to be relieved of that grief (from the fear that her children had been harmed) is unlike anything else,’’ said Olson, whose father, Louis Mentgen, lives in La Grande.

Anita Olson and her husband, Russ, of Salem have adopted two children from Haiti, Erlande, left, and Remy. The Olsons are now trying to clear bureaucratic hurdles and get their children out of Haiti and into the United States as soon as possible. Anita is a 1994 La Grande High School graduate. The Olsons visited Haiti in June. - Submitted photo

One misconception the Wilkinses are trying to clear up is that the children being adopted are footloose. The reality is they have parents who have often been working for two years or more to get them into their home countries.

“A lot are thinking they are roaming the streets. They have had someone (their adoptive parents and their orphanages) caring for them for 1-2 years. These kids are not orphans. They have families,’’ said Jill Wilkins, the daughter of John and Sharon Wilkens of Summerville.

Jill appeared on “Larry King Live’’ from Portland and her husband was in Miami where he is helping organize a supply flight to Haiti on Tuesday. The flight will be made on a 737 jet filled with food, water, medicine and medical supplies. Once in Haiti many of the supplies will be driven in five vehicles to the Gods Littlest Angles orphanage. The caravan will have armed guards.

Joe Wilkins bought only a one-way ticket to Haiti.

“His goal is to stay until they can bring all of the kids (at GLA with American parents) home,’’ said Jill Wilkins, a 1990 graduate of Imbler High School and a 1994 graduate of Linfield College.

The Wilkinses, Olsons and all adoptive parents of the Haitian children are hoping that the U.S. government follows the lead of The Netherlands, whose government cleared the way for children with adoptive parents to come into its country this weekend. Ten children from Haiti left for The Netherlands on Sunday and another 100 may come early this week.

For this to happen in the United States the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services must decide collectively to let the children in immediately.

Jill Wilkins was struck on Sunday by how effective Larry King was at helping her and her husband convey their desperate message.

“He was so gracious, it was awesome. He was so aligned with our message,’’ Wilkins said.

King’s understanding of the situation was apparent when he spoke disparagingly of the bureaucratic hurdles parents face as they try to get their children out of Haiti.

“An earthquake and government red tape, what a joke,’’ King said.

King’s words likely summed up the feelings of the Wilkinses, the Olsons and many other parents.

“That was worth the whole segment,’’ Jill Wilkins said.