Rescuers in Haiti have found the body of a five-year-old New Zealand girl killed in last week's massive earthquake, in the collapsed hotel where she was staying with her family in Port-au-Prince.
However, the search and rescue team was not able to recover Kofie-Jade Sanson-Rejouis' body from the Karibe Hotel due to the extreme instability of the building, her aunt, Rachel Sanson, said on her Facebook page today.
"We are waiting to hear what further attempts are possible to bring our precious girl home."
The girl's father, French-Haitian UN worker Emmanuel Rejouis, and sister Zenzie, 3, died in the quake and their bodies were found last week.
Her mother, Nelson woman Emily Sanson-Rejouis, and other sister, two-year-old Alyahna, survived and had evacuated Haiti.
The family was still working with the UN on how the bodies of Zenzie and Emmanuel Rejouis would be brought home, Ms Sanson said.
Meanwhile, the quake has left thousands of children lost or separated from their families, but adoption was not the answer, Unicef NZ executive director Dennis McKinlay said.
He said concerned New Zealanders had called him to ask how they could help by adopting Haitian children.
"While people have the best of motives and really do want to help, it's wrong to think of vulnerable Haitian children as if they are lost puppies that can be rescued from an SPCA shelter."
Adoption was not a "quick fix" solution as the children could not be assumed to be orphans, Mr McKinlay said.
"It is difficult to determine the fate of their parents or close relatives immediately following a disaster and it has to be assumed for the moment they still have close relatives who are alive."
Unicef had set up safe spaces for unaccompanied children and was attempting to reunite them with family members.
"Only if that proves impossible, and after proper screening has been carried out, should permanent alternatives like adoption be considered."
Unicef was also liaising with authorities on child protection and trafficking issues, Mr McKinlay said.
"In an emergency children are particularly vulnerable to abuse and exploitation from unscrupulous individuals, including the risk of trafficking and sexual exploitation.
"...Children have suffered enormously from this emergency and are deeply distressed by the horrors they have experienced. With the right support, however, most children will be able to begin the process of healing."
The best way for New Zealanders to help was to make a donation, he said.
New Zealand MP Paula Bennett is doing her bit to raise funds for the Haiti relief appeal by doing a 40-hour famine during the first week of Parliament, which starts on February 9.
She hopes to raise $10,000.
