Haiti arrests US nationals over child 'abductions'

Haiti arrests US nationals over child 'abductions'

news.bbc.co.uk

Haitian police have arrested 10 US nationals on suspicion of trying to illegally take 33 children abroad.

They say the Americans were held on the border with the Dominican Republic.

The group from Idaho-based charity New Life Children's Refuge told the BBC they wanted to take quake orphans to an orphanage in the Dominican Republic.

(visit the link for the full news article)



[Mod Edit - fix link]

[edit on 31/1/2010 by Sauron]

Any of you guys heard of "New life Children’s Refuge"? Or know of there legitamacy??

I am hoping that this is just a big mistake by the Haitian authorities and that it was a legitimate act.

Although i suppose it’s not completely unthinkable... whenever there is human tragedy there will be those who exploit it


I did do a search for this but couldn’t find anything... If it has already been posted, mods please remove thx


news.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)




[Mod Edit - fix link]

[edit on 31/1/2010 by Sauron]

they broke so many international laws i dont even know where to begin.

it was the first news i heard this morning when i woke up ,

WOOPS!! BUSTED!!

Well I am glad they got caught.

I am also glad people will see what is really happening in Haiti.

Originally posted by Muckster


Any of you guys heard of "New life Children’s Refuge"? Or know of there legitamacy??

Untill now, never heard of it..

NEW LIFE ADVANCE INTERNATIONAL (NLAI) is an interdenominational faith mission that is dedicated to the evangelization of the least reached peoples of the earth. We value innovation and we seek to develop gifted, creative leaders, both American and foreign national, who will pioneer new approaches to church planting, business as mission and children's ministry.

www.nlai.org...

Type "www.newlifechildrenshome.com" will redirect you to this site :
worldharvestmissionsoutreach.org...

nlch.org...
This is the website of "New Life Childrens Home"

This is a huge worldwide christian organisation.
How it's possible to "forget" the paperwork, is very strange.
They of all must be aware that no papers means no children traffic out of Haiti..Something is not right.



[edit on 31-1-2010 by flymetothemoon]

Well...seems some of the rumours are coming true.

Stupid people!

I just read about this on Sky News

If these kids needed medical attention that could only be given somewhere else, WHY were these children chosen and WHAT was the treatment that could only be given off the island.

I think they are going to have a hard time over this but the good side of the outcome may be that authorities may look out better for those in need and screen aid workers more.

Another example of Christian extremists .

This so called "church" should be prosecuted under international law, via the international criminal court. Sick individuals.

The group should be outlawed.

Originally posted by infinite
Another example of Christian extremists .

This so called "church" should be prosecuted under international law, via the international criminal court. Sick individuals.

The group should be outlawed.

Do we know for sure their reasons for taking the children out of the country? could they of been doing it to help the children. Surely before blundering in and condemning them we should at least hear their side of the story?

reply to post by franspeakfree



My personal thought on this is one of suspicion... i don’t know why, i have nothing yet to base this suspicion on, just a gut feeling... something doesn’t feel right. But, until we have some proof either way, i will reserve my judgement and continue hoping that it’s just a mistake!

Gotta agree with you franspeakfree... no point making assumptions until all the facts are out.

However... if it turns out that this group has acted illegally... they should be punished to the full extent of the law!!

Originally posted by franspeakfree
Do we know for sure their reasons for taking the children out of the country? could they of been doing it to help the children. Surely before blundering in and condemning them we should at least hear their side of the story?

Erm, breaking international law is (obviously) illegal. So there is no good reason. It is called abduction. Taking someone, without permission of the guardians (in this case, the Haitian government) is abduction.

And why should we hear their story? It's going to include the words "God", "Jesus", "Bible" and "He told us to do it"

Originally posted by infinite
And why should we hear their story? It's going to include the words "God", "Jesus", "Bible" and "He told us to do it"

Aye - those would be the words that would be used.

And since when were you one of my foes? Hmm.....

reply to post by flymetothemoon


the evangelization of the least reached peoples of the earth????

why do such people still exist for?

the worst part is... i'm sure organizations like this receive unicef money
can anyone confirm?

Originally posted by infinite
Erm, breaking international law is (obviously) illegal. So there is no good reason. It is called abduction. Taking someone, without permission of the guardians (in this case, the Haitian government) is abduction.

As I am sure many of you know I am not a religious person per se, but come one surely we need to give them the benefit of the doubt, what happened to innocent until proven otherwise.

Since when was it a crime to help orphaned children ?

Originally posted by franspeakfree


And why should we hear their story? It's going to include the words "God", "Jesus", "Bible" and "He told us to do it"

that's a good one !!!
makes a change from the devil made me do it

talk about don't let a good disaster go to waste

all I can say is thank God ...
someone spotted the "hob goblins" trying to assimilated and steal the children...out of the country



edited to fix emoticons

[edit on 31-1-2010 by xsheep]

[edit on 31-1-2010 by xsheep]

[edit on 31-1-2010 by xsheep]

reply to post by infinite

Erm, breaking international law is (obviously) illegal. So there is no good reason. It is called abduction. Taking someone, without permission of the guardians (in this case, the Haitian government) is abduction.

And why should we hear their story? It's going to include the words "God", "Jesus", "Bible" and "He told us to do it"

Yeah maybe we should just skip an investigation and/or trial and execute them on the spot?!?



It may well turn out that they are guilty but until we understand the full story it is not wise to judge them simply because they are Christians!

That is called discrimination!!!

You actually sound like the stereotyped image of the people you're criticising... except it’s the ones that existed in the Middle Ages and would shout "Witches... Burn em”

Like i said before... once we have more information... and find out that they didn’t lose the documentation... or that it’s just a clerical error... then by all means shout your anger in their direction... until then we should really try and remain as open minded as possible!

reply to post by ModernAcademia

the evangelization of the least reached peoples of the earth????

why do such people still exist for?

the worst part is... i'm sure organizations like this receive unicef money
can anyone confirm?

I am a Christian myself but I must admit that this sent a shiver down my spine...

"The evangelization of the least reached peoples of the earth”????

LEAVE THEM ALONE!!!!

If they want to find God they will come to you.

People that use disasters to evangelise, in my opinion, are not religious... they are hypocrites... You should help people because you simply want to do good... NOT because you want them to join your gang!!!

*This is not an attack against New Life Children's Refuge because i have NO proof that this is what they were doing... This is just a mini rant at those that do... Rant over*

It seems they are member of some Baptist Church and wanted to setup an 'orphanage', their plan was to pick 100 kids.

The Baptist church members from Idaho called it a "Haitian Orphan Rescue Mission," meant to save abandoned children from the chaos following Haiti's earthquake. Their plan was to scoop up 100 kids and take them by bus to a rented hotel at a beach resort in the Dominican Republic, where they planned to establish an orphanage.

and

The 10 Americans include members of the Central Valley Baptist Church in Meridian, Idaho and the East Side Baptist Church in Twin Falls, Idaho, as well as people from Texas and Kansas. Idaho friends and relatives have been in touch with them through text messages and phone calls, Lankford said.

"The plan was never to go adopt all these kids. The plan was to create this orphanage where kids could live. And kids get adopted out of orphanages. People go down and they're going to fall in love with these kids, and many of these kids will end up getting adopted."

Source: www.chicagotribune.com...

Something is very wrong, there are different versions coming out from different news media:
* Plan was to set up a orphanage
* Plan was to only evacuate children's from baptist church and take to US
* Plan was to collect 100 kids from anywhere in Haiti and take to Dominican Republic

Also I found their website, it's not NLCH or NLAI as mentioned above. This is their draft letter this group created - (in pdf)
www.esbctwinfalls.com...
And this is their contact info:

Contact Information:
New Life Children Refuge:
Laura Silsby, Executive Director and Founder 208‐861‐7879 cell, [email protected]
Charisa Coulter, VP and co‐founder 208‐340‐8856 cell, [email protected]
Website under construction: newlifechildrensrefuge.org
Central Valley Baptist Church
Carla Thompson, Missions Coordinator 208‐407‐0269
Pastor Clint Henry

and this is the website of the Baptist Church this groups belongs to:
www.centralvalleybaptist.net...

reply to post by ModernAcademia


Well don't think they have received money from UNICEF but they sent out a draft letter (refer my previous post) asking for donations. Secondly, they are from Baptist Church and also Cherry Lane Baptist Church Idaho, there could be other sources for funds.

reply to post by xsheep


A little notice Here

I have tried 3 times to edited my last post
In order to change the name on the quote...
and it seems that this is not possible

My apology to both "franspeakfree" and "infinite"

As the original quote I posted was in fact written by "Infinite"

Originally posted by infinite
Another example of Christian extremists .

This so called "church" should be prosecuted under international law, via the international criminal court. Sick individuals.

The group should be outlawed.

Wow, such vitriol for Christians. You jump staight to guilty from a news article? Seems there are two sides to the story (as is usually the case)...

Purpose: Rescue Haitian orphans abandoned on the streets, makeshift hospitals or from collapsed orphanages in Port au Prince and surrounding areas, and bring them to New Life Children’s Refuge in Cabarete, Dominican Republic.

The Urgent Need: The number of Haitian orphans is estimated to have increased by 300% as a result of the catastrophic earthquake this past week. Thousands of children have lost their
parents, and are injured, hungry, thirsty and alone with limited chance of survival without help.

The Plan:
Rescue Orphans from Port au Prince, Haiti
• Friday/Saturday, Jan 22nd : NLCR team fly to the DR
• Sun Jan 23rd: Drive bus from Santo Domingo into Port au Prince, Haiti and gather 100
orphans from the streets and collapsed orphanages, then return to the DR
• Mon Jan 24th: Bus arrives in Cabarete, DR at New Life Children Refuge
• Haiti Team: Laura Silsby, Charisa Coulter, Carla Thompson, Nicole & Corrinna Lankford
Paul Thompsons Team from East Side Baptist Church, Twin Falls

I don't know which story matches the intent of the people involved but please don't use it to bash Christians in general... seems these people could have just made a stupid mistake - one that fit in nicely with anti-American, anti-Christian political agendas.



[edit on 31/1/2010 by Iamonlyhuman]