2 February 2010 I don’t care what the groundhog might say, they look like orphans

2 February 2010 I don’t care what the groundhog might say, they look like orphans


The more I read about this incident, the less I like it.

I’m reminded of children torn from their native cultures and sent to mission schools everywhere missionaries could reach. This is a prime example of how it can happen today. It is my considered opinion that any child unfortunate enough to fall under the care of people such as these will undergo loss of culture, loss of contact with any living relatives, and will most certainly be handed a new religion whether or not they want one.

One wonders how many children would have been kidnapped or appropriated for an unlicensed and undocumented adoption service?

There are thousands of children in this nation who are already in the files of legal adoption agencies. There is no reason to look beyond our borders for children who need homes, education, and support from a new family. There is no reason to up route children from the only lives they have ever known in order to satisfy the desire to save souls while filling empty nests.

The “Haitian Orphan Rescue Mission” was ill-conceived, illegal in nature, and illegal in execution. The same people that mounted this mission would likely oppose re-settling adult Haitians in Idaho. While they may have had the most honorable intent, they failed to act in any manner approaching legal or ethical. Haiti is right to bring charges.

The various links below describe disregard for the laws of Haiti and the U.S. Have fun reading,

“A document on the Eastside Baptist Web site laid out the group’s plans for a “Haitian Orphan Rescue Mission.”

The itinerary for Jan. 23 said: “Drive bus from Santo Domingo into Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and gather 100 orphans from the streets and collapsed orphanages, then return to the D.R.”

The itinerary said the group planned to take the children to a 45-room hotel the group leased in Cabarete, Dominican Republic, where they would live until a permanent orphanage was constructed in nearby Magante.

Although Ms. Silsby said the group did not intend to offer the children for adoption, the Web site said they would “strive” to “provide opportunities for adoption through partnership with New Life Adoption Foundation,” which subsidizes adoptions “for loving Christian parents who would otherwise not be able to afford to adopt.”

The status of New Life Adoption Foundation was not immediately clear. The group is not registered as an adoption agency in Idaho and does not appear to be registered as a federal nonprofit. The group also did not appear on a list of accredited international adoption agencies on the Web site of the State Department.

Mel Coulter, Ms. Coulter’s father, said of the group, “It was never their intent to establish an adoption agency or anything similar to it.”

“I can’t at all question where they went and what they did because I’m really convinced it was at God’s direction,” he said. “They were acting in faith. That may sound trivial, but they were acting not only in faith but God’s faith.”

But in Haiti, the group may have run into worldly issues they had not anticipated.

Haiti has long been a target for trafficking organizations, Mr. Denis, the justice minister, said, and in the wake of the earthquake authorities had alerted police and judicial officials that criminal organizations might attempt to take advantage of the disaster.

Asked what he thought about the Americans’ claims to be doing God’s work, Mr. Denis shrugged. “What is God’s I leave to God,” he said. “What’s the state’s is ours.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/02/world/americas/02orphans.html?th&emc=th

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/02/02/haiti.border.arrests/index.html?hpt=Sbin

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703422904575039761361995340.html