Photos: An incomplete family

Marie Lud Francois, with her younger daughter, Bernardin, and Blanc Claireselia with her baby boy, Stefor, are on their way to visit their older children at an orphanage. It is the first time they will be seeing them since sending them off after the Jan. 12 earthquake.  (Liz O. Baylen / Los Angeles Times)

Marie Lud, 33, washes clothes as her husband Bernard Charles sews mattress linings.  (Liz O. Baylen / Los Angeles Times)

From left, Bernard, wife Marie Lud rest during the afternoon heat along with Ludi Bruce, 18, sitting, and Frantz Guyoto, godfather of Bernard and Marie Lud’s elder daughter, Barbara. Without her eldest children at home, Marie Lud says life is not comfortable.  (Liz O. Baylen / Los Angeles Times)

Bernard Charles works in the shade of his makeshift home, sewing linings on mattresses. The first time he saved enough for Marie Lud to make the trip to bring Bernard and Barbara home, Bernadin fell ill and all the money was spent.  (Liz O. Baylen / Los Angeles Times)

Marie Lud, in pink and holding Bernadin, and her friend, Blanc Claireselia, in a striped T-shirt holding Stefor, flank Bernard as he works at his manual sewing machine. Both mothers plan to go to the orphanage in a few days to pick up their elder children but worry about not having enough money. It costs about $3.50 per person round-trip.  (Liz O. Baylen / Los Angeles Times)

Blanc’s baby boy, Stefor, sleeps through the sounds of sewing as Bernard, 37, works at his manual treadle machine lining mattresses.  (Liz O. Baylen / Los Angeles Times)

In the bus, Edner Bruce, Marie Lud, and Blanc Claireselia take out the money they need to take the two-hour trip by bus and multiple shared taxicabs to the orphanage to pick up their children. They spent a week trying to save enough money for the fare for themselves and their children.  (Liz O. Baylen / Los Angeles Times)

Marie Lud, Blanc Claireselia and Edner Bruce make the long walk to the nearest taptap stop where they begin their journey home after visiting their eldest children for the first time since sending them away to the orphanage after the earthquake.  (Liz O. Baylen / Los Angeles Times)

Bernardo struggles to hold back tears as his sister Barbara vies for their mother’s attention. It is the first time Marie Lud has seen them since sending them away after the Jan. 12 earthquake. “Somebody told us we are going to be here forever,” Bernardo says.“Who told you that?” she shot back. “That’s not true, baby. The house isn’t ready yet, but it will be soon.”  (Liz O. Baylen / Los Angeles Times)

Left, Bernardo and Barbara, next to him, stand with friends from their neighborhood, children of Blanc Claireselia and of Edner Bruce. They say they tell their parents sorrowful stories hoping to be taken back from the orphanage.  (Liz O. Baylen / Los Angeles Times)

Bernardo Charles (back, filling a bucket) and other children prepare for dinner at the Centre d’ Action pour le Developpement orphanage in Ganthier.  (Liz O. Baylen / Los Angeles Times)

Children wait to eat supper of rice and beans at the orphanage. After visiting, Marie Lud decides the benefits don’t outweigh the children’s homesickness and her own sorrow.  (Liz O. Baylen / Los Angeles Times)

Marie Lud sits behind Edner Bruce and Blanc Claireselia as they head to the orphanage in early April to bring their children home. It took them more than a week to save up the money for fares for themselves and their children, who they plan to bring home from the orphanage.  (Liz O. Baylen / Los Angeles Times)

Worried about how she’ll look to neighbors, Barbara has her hair braided by orphanage friends for her return trip home. The parents are unable to take their children back to Port-Au-Prince that Sunday because of orphanage policy.  (Liz O. Baylen / Los Angeles Times)

When Marie Lud Francois arrives at the orphanage in Ganthier to take her children home, she is told that according to policy, they can’t be released on a weekend. The children, with bags already packed are eager to leave, so she decides to wait and see if the officials will change their mind.  (Liz O. Baylen / Los Angeles Times)

Barbara, center front, has her arms around little sister Bernardin, after arriving home the next day with Marie Lud and the other children, including those of Blanc Claireselia, center back, who wasn’t able to go and is surprised the orphanage released them.  (Liz O. Baylen / Los Angeles Times)