NPR about to air Haitian Baptist "abduction"

[SundayCrepes]

I think they just said it's getting ready to start (or maybe it's tomorrow.) They're doing news now, but should start momentarily. It should come up amongst this hour's stories. Monday 3pm EST.

[SundayCrepes]

Oh yeah, live Talk of the Nation story.

[mamarhu]

It was on World Have Your Say Today also.

[Smithie]

Apparently the Prime Minister referred to the attempt by the missionaries to take children across the border to a hotel in Dominican Republic as "trafficking."

Now, this church group was naive and inexpert and apparently dumb as all get-out, and their actions have worsened the political situation around evacuations INCREDIBLY, and I'm completely ticked off at them, but trafficking? No, Prime Minister. Trafficking is the sale of children, usually into sexual slavery, that was going on all over your country before this earthquake ever happened, and which so many members of your government received handsome bribes to ignore, while simultaneously delaying legitimate adoptions for YEARS precisely because the legitimate adoptive families wouldn't/couldn't bribe your indescribably corrupt bureaucracy.

These people might be idiots, but they don't deserve to be classed with professional child brokers and the Haitian officials who enabled them (and doubtless still are, probably at an increased clip in the current chaos).

[daisymommy]

Exactly. I really think these people were just trying to help the best they knew how--get the kids out of the bad situation and into a better place. I seriously doubt they knew there would be so much red tape when it came to such a dire situation as this. I mean, kids are wandering the streets starving to death and injured, no one is taking care of them, they're libel to be abused by who knows who, and someone tries to help and they're arrested! Come one. I do realize it was bad that some of these kids were not orphans at all, and it could have been a HUGE mess. But I think the government is out of control on this one.

[tiffani]

Not to mention the fact that the same day these "helpful idiots" were arrested, there were already news reports that the children were going to be sold for $10,000 each. A man from SOS children's village, where the kids were placed, said "a policeman told me they were planning to sell the kids for $10,000 each" -- seriously???? A Haitian policeman told you that on the same day these folks were arrested and you're going to go on national television and state it as fact? without any kind of disclaimer or anything? I understand why SOS and UNICEF would be angry with these people, they're doing the exact thing that these organizations are trying to guard against, but at the same time, they should get to the bottom of the story before they pretend to have unraveled some elaborate child-selling scheme.

[Diane B]

Originally Posted by Smithie

These people might be idiots, but they don't deserve to be classed with professional child brokers and the Haitian officials who enabled them (and doubtless still are, probably at an increased clip in the current chaos).

OK, possibly not, but I'm not overly sympathetic. I think someone needs to make it crystal clear that Haitian children are NOT available to any random person who feels God has "placed it on their heart" to rescue them. Doesn't work that way, folks. The fact that there are also heinous criminals involved in child trafficking in Haiti is irrelevant.

I think there is still an underlying belief out there that it would be ok to airlift large numbers of Haitian children out of the country into the waiting arms of (white) adoptive parents in the U.S. I'm going to repeat a quote that I posted a while back from a Canadian official who said, "Depopulating a country is not an appropriate response to a natural disaster." Not to mention the complete minimization of the negative impact of losing one's culture, extended family, language, food, community, etc. and the challenges of adopting especially older children internationally in terms of attachment, language acquisition, grief and loss issues, etc.

[tiffani]

Originally Posted by Diane B

OK, possibly not, but I'm not overly sympathetic. I think someone needs to make it crystal clear that Haitian children are NOT available to any random person who feels God has "placed it on their heart" to rescue them.

I agree, a strong action needs to be taken to prevent people from feeling they know what's best for random children on the streets. At the same time, don't let the actions of these idiots cloud the water for legally adopted orphans.

Originally Posted by Diane B

I think there is still an underlying belief out there that it would be ok to airlift large numbers of Haitian children out of the country into the waiting arms of (white) adoptive parents in the U.S.

Only by people who haven't really thought through the implications of that (and I don't think most people would stipulate that the families should be white) and those people have no effect on the policy of whether or not that might actually happen. Honestly, who cares what ignorant, albeit well-meaning folks think, they aren't going to influence anyone. I also hate it when people who don't know what they're talking about make anti-Haiti statements (often with a religious twist), but I can easily chalk it up to ignorance, and rest assured that they have no influence on policy. What I'm tired of seeing, though, is that sentiment causing UNICEF to try to prevent all kids from leaving Haiti.

[krisnic]

I agree with everything you said Diane.