Protecting Haiti's Most Vulnerable
At just 8 years old, Wilson Benoit is all alone. Both of his parents were kill in the earthquake.
"What goes through your mind when you think of them?" asked CBS News correspondent Seth Doane.
"I miss them a lot," Wilson said in Haitian Creole. "I used to cry all the time."
The streets of Port-au-Prince have become his home. A filthy fountain - his bath.
"Can you show me how you sleep when you sleep at night?" Doane asked.
Wilson shows him a stone bench.
Complete Coverage: Devastation in Haiti
Haiti Quake: How You can Help
Determining what's best for kids like Wilson is not easy. There are terrifying but unconfirmed reports of people using the chaos in Haiti as an opportunity to prey on children, so the U.N. is trying to register these vulnerable kids.
"They may be subject to exploitation and abuse," said Bo Viktor Nylund, a senior advisor with child protection for UNICEF.
At the same time, there's pressure to cut through the red tape. Heartwarming pictures of legal adoptions approved before the earthquake have prompted a surge of interest at adoption agencies.
"The phones are ringing off the hook," said Nancy Dykstra-Powers, the director of Bethany Christian Services of New York and New Jersey. "For adoption, right now we are getting 300 a day just wanting to adopt from Haiti."
But she agrees with aid groups who have called for a temporary halt on new adoptions.
"It's going to take months to find out if these children really are orphans," Dykstra-Powers said.
But on Capitol Hill today, lawmakers pushed to make sure that the process keeps moving.
"If we're going to wait for the Haitian government to get completely organized, staffed back up, you know, in new buildings dusted off and ready to roll before we act, we'll be waiting for the next 50 years," said Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La.
Since CBS News met Wilson this weekend, he found safe haven in a shelter that CBS News was not permitted to film.
"He's obviously traumatized and it will take time to find a good placement for him - but like other children here - he's finding a way to move forward," Nylund said.
The first thing Wilson did was take a shower. That was easy. It's what comes next that's complicated.
