A Regina couple says their plan to adopt two Haitian teenagers is shrouded in doubt after last week's devastating earthquake, which damaged the youngsters' orphanage and cut off the couple's ability to communicate with the lawyer who was working on their case.

Charles and Marcia Kooger began the process of adopting the teens, Jennifer and Lovensky, two years ago. Their adoption application had been approved and they were waiting for the paperwork needed to bring them to Canada when the 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck.

The Koogers, among an estimated 100 Canadian families now unsure if their pending adoptions of Haitian children will go through, say they know the children are alive, but cannot reach their lawyer in Port-au-Prince.

They have also heard the judge primarily responsible for international adoptions was among the thousands of Haitians who lost their lives, and suspect the building in which their adoption paperwork was being processed lies in ruins.

The Koogers said Tuesday all they really know is the orphanage in Port-au-Prince in which the teens lived was severely damaged by the quake, so the 100 children were moved to a church compound.

"We have not spoken to (the teens) yet," Charles Kooger told CTV News Channel early Tuesday afternoon. "We get our information from friends, from people who are closer, relatives of the orphanage director and so forth."

The Koogers, who have three children born to them and 20 years ago adopted children from Korea and Brazil, had hoped to provide a home to two teenagers that would soon be turned out of the orphanage.

"We decided, being not really young anymore, that we ought to adopt teenagers that are close to the end of the adoption cycle," Charles said, "and to provide a home for kids that might not have too much chance to find a forever family."

They had chosen to adopt from Haiti because their eldest daughter was working in the country as a schoolteacher and knew officials at a number of orphanages.

According to the United Nations Children's Fund, there were 380,000 orphans in Haiti before the quake struck in the late afternoon of Jan 12. Aid groups estimate that number has grown by tens of thousands.

Governments around the world immediately pledged to expedite immigration and adoption applications. The Netherlands asked Haitian President Rene Preval to approve about 100 pending adoptions, and has since started airlifting those children out of the country.

The United States Department of Homeland Security said that orphans who have family living in the country are eligible for special permission to travel to and remain in the U.S.

While the Canadian government announced plans last weekend to process a "couple thousand" immigration applications from Haitians with family in Canada on an "accelerated" basis, it was more cautious about adoption applications.

On Saturday, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said adopted children do fall under the new guidelines to have their applications to come to Canada expedited.

However, he admitted this will be made difficult by the fact that many adoption files were destroyed by the quake.