Big Fat Story
Church movement encourages adopting as a Christian responsibility.
The arrest of 10 U.S. missionaries attempting to take more than 30 Haitian children out of the country is less surprising in the context of the teaching of American evangelical churches, which are urging Christians to adopt as a religious duty. In the past year, Russell Moore, dean of the theological school at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, released a book that impressed upon Christians the importance of being “at the forefront of the adoption of orphans close to home and around the world.” Moore’s efforts lead to a “contagious” adoption craze in evangelical churches—hundreds of congregations took part in “Orphan Sunday,” during which sermons focused on adoption as a Christian responsibility, and a number of upcoming Christian conferences center on the importance of adoption. (The Southern Baptists say the accused group was acting independently from the church when it attempted to take the children out of the country.) The call for Christians to adopt as a solution to poverty and crisis, with the goal of spreading their faith, is causing concern, as many seem not to understand the meaning of “orphan” and others view the effort as U.S. colonialism, casting the American adopters as “saviors.”
Business in shambles, home foreclosed.
It’s no surprise Laura Silsby was drawn to Haiti—her father did missionary work in Haiti, and her family was steeped in the missionary tradition. “Laura was raised in a missionary’s home and just felt the burden for mission work,” her father said. Silsby, a divorced mother of three and Internet business owner, became involved with Idaho’s Central Valley Baptist Church, which has an active international mission program. She was working to create an orphanage in the Dominican Republic for Haitian children, an ambition her father’s work inspired. But soon her business began to fail—as CBS reports, Silsby has faced 14 legal complaints for unpaid wages. She also defaulted on the mortgage for her Idaho home, but used the same address to register her nonprofit, New Life Children’s Refuge, in an effort to seek donations for the orphanage. According to a document obtained by The Wall Street Journal, Silsby said her goal was to “equip each child with a solid education and vocational skills as well as opportunities for adoption into a loving Christian family.”
Photo: Ariana Cubillos / AP Photo
All missionaries except Silsby may be freed.
Former President Bill Clinton, who’s now a U.N. special envoy for Haiti, has been heavily involved in coordinating relief efforts for the country, and he may bring relief to nine of the 10 American missionaries jailed on child abduction charges, after reportedly brokering a diplomatic deal. Clinton’s intervention could lead to the release of all charged missionaries except their leader, Laura Silsby, according to legal sources in Port-au-Prince. During his visit there on Friday, Clinton told reporters that the Haitian government wasn’t looking for a fight. “They just want to protect their children,” he said. “I think they’ll find a way to defuse the crisis.” The Haitian lawyer representing all of the missionaries says he applied for the release of his clients pending investigation, but singled out Silsby. “Laura was the only one who had knowledge of what was going on. The rest came to Haiti to help. It is scandalous that they are being detained,” he said. Haitian authorities continue to categorize Silsby’s actions as kidnapping. The judge overseeing the missionaries’ case is scheduled to resume hearings on Monday.
Photo: Lynne Sladky / AP Photo
Baptists on Trial
The trial of 10 Americans accused of kidnapping in Haiti just keeps getting stranger. From a note saying they fear for their lives, to their lawyer getting fired for bribery, to the real story behind ringleader Laura Silsby’s failing business and nonexistent orphanage, The Daily Beast on the case’s bizarre details.
Families say they willingly gave away their kids to the Baptists.
While at first Silsby claimed the 33 children she was attempting to take out of the country were from collapsed orphanages and had no parents, the Associated Press found scores of parents in the town of Callebas who said they willingly handed their children over to the Baptists so they could have a better life. “It’s only because the bus was full that more children didn’t go,” said one parent who gave her adopted 10-year-old daughter to the Americans. The parents were told they could visit their children in a new orphanage in the Dominican Republic, and villagers were told that no kids would be up for adoption. (Silsby and the other missionaries took down contact information of each family.) The Americans’ Baptist church had been planning to build an orphanage in the Dominican Republic and then to work with U.S. agencies to find “Christian parents” for the children, but the orphanage had not yet been built. One man said he gave up his two children to Silsby because he trusted her. “I would like to find out if these people were really going to help the kids or were trying to steal them,” he said.
Photo: AP Photo
Lawyer fired for bribery, Americans say they “fear for our lives.”
The trial of the 10 American Baptists was already shocking, but over the weekend it was revealed that the group’s lawyer, Edwin Coq, had been fired amid accusations of bribery. Coq, who has characterized Silsby as the guilty ringleader of nine innocents, was accused of attempting to bribe authorities to get the Americans out of jail. He says the $60,000 he requested from the Americans’ families was his fee. Meanwhile, the arrestees, minus Silsby and her close friend, Charisa Coulter, slipped a CBS producer a bizarre note during a jailhouse interview Saturday. “We fear for our lives here in Haiti,” read the letter. “Please you must listen. We have No Way to Call. Court will NOT let us have a say with anything about trust for US. We only came as volunteers. We had NOTHING to do with any documents and have been lied to.” Meanwhile, some are arguing the Haitian judicial system is such a mess that the Americans will not receive a fair trial.
Photo: STR New / Reuters
Haitian children are being separated from their families, NGOs warn.
Many countries have begun fast-tracking adoptions to allow hundreds of Haitian children to move out of the devastated country and be settled with new families. But NGOs Save the Children and World Vision say some children are being shuttled out of the country without being properly assessed, and some of the hastily arranged adoptions are separating children from their families, as appears to have been the case with the 33 children Laura Silsby attempted to take out of the country. Almost all of those children had living parents and families. Susan Bissell of UNICEF said that even before the earthquake, Haiti had problems with illegal adoption and serious child protection issues. “What we’re understanding is that large numbers of children who do not have such documentation are leaving the country,” she says. “Some of them accompanied and going by air, some of them accompanied and going across land into the Dominican Republic, some of them unaccompanied and going to the Dominican Republic. So we have quite—I have to say—an alarming situation on our hands.”
Photo: Manu Fernandez / AP Photo
anghiari
Is it any more clear that these were a bunch of creeps coming to sell off black children from Haiti?
White folks who have no known relationship with black people period,but suddenly want to whisk black kids off to an orphanage in the Dominican Republic...to help them??? Please! I hope they do some police checks on some of those white males in the group, most of whom look like pedophiles to me. So-called church going folks don't get a pass. This presumption by this woman is an affront...she thought she needed nothing more than to be white ...to be able to pick up a busload of black kids and take them off. Put all the bastards under the haitian jail!
persophone1
I doubt that the motivation was to sell the children. It seems more likely to be expanding their 'message' and their church. If the kids were adopted by Christians they'd be brainwashed into being good little God-fearin folks.
vin301
...
jojo12
These so called good Christians took advantage of the turmoil wrought by the earthquake, to benefit themselves. The leader of the group, Silsby, is deep in debt & probably conned the rest of the pack into going along with her to make some money for their church, when in actuality she was planning on lining her pockets. Beware of do-gooders, they always have ulterior motives.
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