U.S. government is making it easier for Haitian orphans being adopted by Americans to enter the country.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Monday that the humanitarian policy will be applied temporarily, on a case-by-case basis, to orphaned children from Haiti who are being adopted by U.S. citizens or who have been matched to prospective adoptive parents who are U.S. citizens.

“We are committed to doing everything we can to help reunite families in Haiti during this very difficult time,” said Napolitano in a news release. “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.”

Napolitano said the policy is aimed at helping orphans get the care they need after Haiti’s devastating earthquake. It comes after the United States last week granted temporary protected status to Haitian nationals in the United States as of Jan. 12, allowing them to stay in the U.S. for the next 18 months.

The State Department said earlier Monday it is working with DHS and the Haitian government to process nearly 300 cases of Americans who are waiting to adopt Haitian children.

Of those, 200 cases are being accelerated. Twenty-four of those children, whose cases “were at the very end of the process” before the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that struck Haiti nearly a week ago, have departed Haiti and joined their new families after the embassy expedited processing for immigrant visas, said Michele Bond, deputy assistant secretary for American citizen services.

Department officials said Sunday that 150 children had already left Haiti, but corrected that number Monday.