The United States has said it will allow Haitian orphans in for treatment on the heels of the killer earthquake in the impoverished Caribbean nation.
Meanwhile, a plane carrying 53 children from Port-au-Prince's BRESMA orphanage landed in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The US announcement came as the United Nations voiced concern that orphans would be exploited through trafficking or sexual abuse.
"Children are always deeply affected by major disasters of this type, and almost half of the Haitian population are children," the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child said in a statement.
The panel said it was "alarmed by emerging reports of looting and violence, which highlight the importance of immediately adopting effective systems and measures to protect children from all forms of violence and exploitation, including sexual abuse and abductions masquerading as adoptions."
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Identifying families is key
The 18 legal experts, who are currently meeting in Geneva, said they were particularly concerned for those who were isolated from their families following last week's quake.
"It is imperative they are identified as soon as possible and provided with care and protection both to avoid further trauma and to minimize violations of their rights," they added.
The committee urged relief workers to pay special attention to the vulnerability of children, notably as crowds of people jostled for food distribution, "to ensure that the food reaches those most in need, and not just those who are best placed to receive it."
"We are committed to doing everything we can to help reunite families in Haiti during this very difficult time," US Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said in a statement.
"While we remain focused on family reunification in Haiti, authorizing the use of humanitarian parole for orphans who are eligible for adoption in the United States will allow them to receive the care they need here," she said.
US open for treatment only
The US move does not open the country's doors to all Haitian orphans.
Rather it grants case-by-case humanitarian entry to those "legally confirmed as orphans eligible for intercountry adoption by the government of Haiti and are being adopted by US citizens ... (and) children who have been previously identified by an adoption service provider or facilitator as eligible for intercountry adoption and have been matched to US citizen prospective adoptive parents."
That means that US parents adopting children from Haiti will not have to wait for final paperwork or passports from the Haitian government, which is struggling to cope with a humanitarian disaster after a 7.0-strength quake flattened much of the capital and killed thousands.
"Unaccompanied minors entering the country without a parent or legal guardian are subject to special procedures regarding their custody and care. DHS coordinates with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Refugee Resettlement on the cases of these unaccompanied minors," Napolitano added.
Spain speeds up adoption paperwork
Spain has also sped up the paperwork required to allow a child who has completed the adoption process in Haiti to travel to Spain to join its new family.
The ministry said it was "taking all possible steps so that Haitian minors who have been adopted by Spanish families can travel to Spain given the special conditions affecting Haiti."
It is holding meetings with families which had completed adoptions of children in Haiti but had not yet brought the children to Spain to help them navigate the process more quickly as well as with adoption agencies.
After adoptions are finalised in Haiti it can still take months for final approval to bring the children to their new homes in Spain.
Search for answers
Many families around the world who adopted in Haiti are now in a desperate search for answers as to how their children are doing.
Some fear the needed paperwork may be buried and lost forever in crumpled buildings, stalling the adoption process for good.
Earlier on Monday a plane chartered by The Netherlands and two adoption agencies flew out to Haiti to fetch around 100 Haitian children aged from a few months to seven years who are being adopted by Dutch families.
