The maternal and paternal instincts of people around the world were aroused after the earthquake in Haiti. The faces of those innocent little victims, their tragic stories of loss and suffering, the look of confusion on their faces, the expression of need in their eyes had everyone talking adoption.

My daughter came home one day after school recently and asked me if we could adopt an orphaned child from Haiti. Several families in the school already were planning on doing so, she said. We've always wanted an addition to the family, and although I love my little girls, she knew I'd always dreamed of having a little boy.

What more perfect moment to satisfy your desire to adopt and at the same time help someone in desperate need and provide him with a chance for a better life? Believe me, when I was in Haiti covering the earthquake, I saw that possibility in the face of so many children whose eyes were calling out for love and some sense of stability.

The need certainly is there. Even before the earthquake, Haiti had a high number of orphaned children, estimated by some to be close to 400,000. After the earthquake, that number doubled, or maybe even tripled.

But as a group of American missionaries found out last week, giving safe haven to these kids is a lot more complicated than it seems. They claimed to be on a God-given mission to provide a home for orphaned children affected by the earthquake. They were detained when they attempted to cross the border into the Dominican Republic with 33 children ages 2 to 12. They said their plans were to create an orphanage in the Dominican Republic, and they had already made arrangements to use a hotel as a temporary orphanage. However, the Haitian authorities saw a different scenario. They were detained and accused of kidnapping and criminal association.

It turns out that the majority of these children were not orphans; they had parents or other family members who could care for them. A closer look at the incident showed that at least in some of the cases, the parents themselves gave the children to the missionaries. Their anguish was so great that they would rather give up their children than have them live in absolute misery. The idea of giving their kids an opportunity to live a decent life and have a warm meal, health services and education was stronger than the pain of losing them. Besides, the missionaries promised that the parents could visit, even if the children eventually were adopted.

While many of us might feel that a child deserves that opportunity, child-welfare organizations say that it's not necessarily the best thing for them, even for those children who did lose their parents. The experience of going through a natural disaster and witnessing such tragic loss of life is traumatic enough for the children. They suggest that these kids would be much better off staying in their own communities. They need to be surrounded by their own culture, ethnic background and language, they claim.

In fact, the United Nations has established guidelines recommending that after a disaster, a two-year period should go by before adoption is considered. During that time, efforts should be made to find family members of the orphaned children, and before putting children up for international adoption, priority should be given to national adoptions.

It's always best to consult the experts in situations like these, but the truth is sometimes hard to swallow. These children would benefit so much if taken in by families willing to provide them with a better life and a more promising future. Those of us who want to help will need to find other ways of doing so that consider the best interests of the child. But still, it's impossible not to be moved by the sight of a child in need.

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(Maria Elena Salinas is the author of “I AM MY FATHER'S DAUGHTER: LIVING A LIFE WITHOUT SECRETS.” Reach her at www .mariaesalinas.com)

© 2010 by Maria Elena Salinas

Distributed by King Features Syndicate