Orphanages in Haiti are working with various groups to try to find relatives of children who have lost their parents. (SOS Children's Villages)Thousands of children orphaned in Haiti following last weeks' devastating earthquake most desperately need food and basic care — not adoptive parents, say those who run orphanages.

"Taking children out of their community, out of their culture, out of their language in a crisis situation like this is not the best choice," said Boyd McBride, executive director of Ottawa-based SOS Children's Villages Canada.

"The best choice is to find them the immediate care they need right where they live."

McBride estimated that the Jan. 12 disaster may have created 50,000 new orphans.

The best thing people can do to help them is to send money to agencies providing relief in Haiti, he said.

That will help orphanages feed, clothe and care for those children while they work with other groups to try and find the children's other relatives, who could care for them in the longer term, McBride said. If some children have relatives in Canada, they may eventually go there, he added.

McBride's group is the Canadian branch of an international organization that runs two Haiti orphanages, which both survived the Jan. 12 earthquake. They already care for hundreds of orphans and are prepared to take on hundreds more, he said.

Lucie Demers of Manotick, Ont., works with an orphanage in Haiti that is struggling in the wake of the earthquake.

Boyd McBride estimated that the Jan. 12 earthquake may have left another 50,000 children orphaned in Haiti. (CBC)"Right now the children need food. They have enough for a day or two," said Demers, who runs Foundation Re-Imagine.

The foundation has been trying to build a bigger orphanage next to the one run by Louise and Ismorin Noel of Gatineau, Que., in Gonaïves, Haiti. That orphanage, which was badly damaged by hurricanes last year, currently cares for 35 children. Noel said it will be able to take 30 more children who have been affected by the earthquake.

Meanwhile, Canadians who were already in the process of adopting children from Haiti before the earthquake struck could be united with their children this weekend, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said Thursday. The government has been trying to speed up adoptions from Haiti in the wake of the disaster.