From the Idaho Statesman
Grand ambitions: Laura Silsby has tackled life with faith in God and herself
From the Guardian
Haiti Earthquake: In God’s Name
From the New York Times
Trafficking Charges for Adviser to Jailed Americans in Haiti
A first person account from Anne-christine d’Adesky a US based journalist:
As some of you know, I met the Laura Silsby Baptist missionary group that was arrested for possible child trafficking when I was in Santo Domingo, on the eve of my (and their) entry in Haiti. We met by chance in a hotel there, the Hotel Lino on Sunday, January 24th. After introducing myself and my work monitoring the post-quake orphan crisis (on this blog), we later met and chatted for a half hour in their hotel room. They told me they were a relatively new group to the orphan scene, and were motivated by God to try to help Haitian children. They’d already had a plan to have an orphanage in the Dominican Republic, and with the quake, their plan went into fast-track.
They’d rented rooms in a large hotel, and had chartered a bus that could pick up 100 kids and hoped to bring at least that many – but hopefully more — maybe 200 — to a hotel in the Dominican Republic for temporary housing, while they finished building a permanent orphanage where the children would live. They had a ‘letter’ authorizing them to do this from some Dominican ‘minister.’
I wondered then: official or religious?
Either way, I knew that letter – from the Dominican side – wouldn’t be enough. These were Haitian children, and they required Haitian official permission, and paperwork that adheres to the protocol for transferring Undocumented Refugee Children across national borders. I told them that, but they were convinced they might overcome this ‘red tape’.
At the time, I thought they were trying to be legit, but were misguided – though my suspicions were raised. We discussed Haitian concerns about trafficking, which she knew all about. For my part, I was seeking more information about the needs of orphanages they might be working with, to see how to link medical and food aid to such groups. Silsby informed me that her group was going to find ‘native’ orphanages – or centers – that had ‘children others wouldn’t want to adopt.’ I thought she meant perhaps ’special needs’ children, but didn’t quite understand.
(Later, I learned that her group had targeted a community she had already visited in the past, and she had worked with a local pastor who asked parents to turn over their children for a ‘better life’ in the Dominican Republic.)
She repeatedly told me her group would not be putting the children up for adoption, which is why. she inferred, some Dominican had helped her with paperwork to transfer them ‘to safety.‘
She told me they were on a mission from God and if God wanted them to succeed, they would. She also told me they hoped to cross the border later that night, or the next day, or so on a Monday and be back in the DR the same evening….)
Hearing that, had an immediate ‘red flag’ moment, but also thought: ‘well, the situation has been in flux, maybe they’re not aware of the rules, even if they should be’… My gut told me they knew they weren’t doing it right, but they were driven by a religious missionary fervor and wouldn’t listen. They wanted the kids, and they clearly planned to act as quickly as possible.
(As I later told a number of media reporting on this story, I later informed the UN authorities and orphan advocates that I had told Silsby and two colleagues them that their plan as stated would likely be deemed illegal, possibly viewed as trafficking, and that they risked arrest and possible jail time in Haiti.To do it right, they needed documents and they had to inform Haitian authorities and UN people at the Protection Cluster who were in charge, post-quake. I gave them this information and referred them to my blog, which had these contacts. Laura Silsby said she would look at the blog, and get that information, and we agreed to meet in the morning.
By morning, they were gone.
The next day, in Haiti myself, I discovered that their group had clearly disregarded the advice and protocol I’d offered, and instead, seemed to be racing to round up children as they’d planned. When I got to the capital, and started visiting orphanages, I met the director of His Home for Children in Haiti who said a bus had turned up at his orphanage (near Delmas 60) late the night before, unannounced, with a missionary group that asked him to turn over remaining children in his care. He declined, telling me ‘it smelled fishy.’
(Much later, post-arrest, a Christian school representative in Haiti confirmed that his school, which had taken in orphans, had been visited by Silsby’s group and asked for children, but been turned away. He emailed me to say Laura Silsby had branded their response as ‘heartless’ for refusing to hand over the children to her.)…..
As many know, and as I saw on the Internet, Silsby’s statements to me were false.
Her group is in fact affiliated with an international adoption outfit of the same name, New Life, and in her own Trip Plan, accessible on the Internet for all to read, her group clearly states a plan for future adoption of the children brought from Haiti to the Dominican Republic.
I’ve since dug around a bit on the Internet, like many journalists, and found that others in her religious community have been active in the Dominican Republic since 2006, it appears.So it’s critical now to look more deeply at the activities and history of the Falls Church people, and not just her smaller group, I feel.
There are journalists from the UK and US who’ve been poking around in Idaho, but not turned up too much…..
As I told investigators, though the Silsby group’s lawyers claim that only she and her assistant were the ringleaders in this affair, I actually spoke to three people from their group, and it was clear from my conversation with them that their clearly-stated mission had been excitedly prepared. Silsby may have convinced members of her group they had authority to take children, but I definitely told at least two other members they were likely to be stopped. Moreover, when a policeman stops your bus with 40 children aboard, orders them to get off, then tells you you’re breaking the law, and you still continue to try to do it – again- then what part of the message are you not understanding?
I don’t presume to be other members of that group, but they cannot claim the type of total innocence as has been portrayed by their lawyer OR to the media. They clearly knew that others felt their actions were or might be wrong, even if she may have convinced them those other people were misinformed. So yes, they may have been duped – convinced by Silsby, and by the evocation to do God’s work and follow God’s law above man’s (or human’s) law.
But it’s important for people following this story to know that a group was involved, with open knowledge of their church/parishes in the US, and it was a planned trip, and it engaged Dominicans with prior ties in the Dominican Republic….
…As I have said to inquiring media colleagues and to Haiti-lovers, the greater story here is the ACTIONS taken by the Haitian and outside orphan advocates to prevent this from succeeding, and for insisting on the rule of law, even in this case of catastrophic instability post-quake. I’d love to see articles about that, and articles focusing on how to HELP, legally, and quickly, the tens of thousands for children who have been orphaned or displaced.
As I posted recently, to me the concept of provisional FOSTER placement, working with through the international Unaccompanied Refugee Minor program — NOT ADOPTION — offers a appropriate provisional LEGAL avenue to quickly helping Haitian children, especially those who are amputees and need ongoing medical care outside Haiti, to get to quick safety and care, while allowing Haiti and Haitian officials and orphan groups the time to reorganize and reintegrate these displaced or orphaned children. A mandatory two year period is already the norm required for international adoptions to look for possible living relatives or others that can take in children. Two years would give all parties time to organize this while keeping the urgent needs of children now foremost in mind.
Congratulations to Haiti – to Haitian advocates – for their vigilance, and their insistence on the rule of law. That protects everyone.
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