Laura Silsby, Haiti 'Orphans' ' Would-Be Rescuer, Serial Rule Breaker
"The picture that's starting to emerge of Laura Silsby, the leader of the group of U.S. Baptist missionaries now in Port-au-Prince jail cells for attempting to transport Haitian children without that government's approval, out of the earthquake-devastated nation, is of a woman who arguably found a lot of society's rules optional.
But while she was able, to a degree, to get away with playing outside the lines on American soil, Haiti may be a different matter. Silsby is described by people who know her as well-meaning if unable to keep her end of financial agreements.
If I were Silsby's lawyer, one of the pieces of information I'd be most worried about
is in a Wall Street Journal story.
Silsby has said publicly that she had permission and paperwork from the Dominican Republic to bring the Haitian children into that country from Haiti.
But the DR's consul general in Port-au-Prince flatly contradicts that:
Last week, the group entered Haiti from the Dominican Republic, met with the pastor and gathered a group of children, Mr. Ham said. The group had signed permission "to take children from Haiti back to the Dominican Republic," as well as documentation from the Dominican Republic itself, he said. But when the group got to the border, Haitian officials told the group they lacked "one document," Mr. Ham said.
Carlos Castillo, the Dominican Republic's consul general in Port-au-Prince, gave a different account: In an interview he said he met with Ms. Silsby on Friday and told her she lacked any documents to transport children, and warned her not to try or she could be arrested."
http://harvardhrj.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/King.pdf
"In the first week of February, former President Bill Clinton accepted an
expanded role as special envoy for Haiti, on behalf of the United Nations, to
lead the coordination of international earthquake recovery and reconstruction efforts.43 One of Clinton’s first tasks in Haiti, however, was to put out
the fire of a child abduction scandal involving American citizens.44
On January 29, 2010, less than three weeks after the earthquake, Haitian
authorities arrested ten U.S. Baptist missionaries for attempting to take 33
children by bus across the border into the Dominican Republic without
proper documentation.45 A week later, the missionaries were charged with
child kidnapping and criminal association.46 While the missionaries
claimed good intentions and ignorance of Haitian laws, Haitian prosecutors
argued that there had been intentional wrongdoing.47 In the course of a
month, President Clinton brokered the release of all the missionaries, ex-
cept for the group leader, Laura Silsby.48
While Laura Silsby awaited trial, the press brought to light several facts
that raised serious suspicions about her intent to traffic or smuggle the
children as part of a grey adoption scheme.49 In 2009, Silsby visited Haiti
with the stated intent to establish an orphanage.50 At the time, Silsby faced
numerous court cases in the U.S. for bad debt and unpaid wages.51 In No-
vember 2009, she registered her New Life Children’s Refuge charity at an
address in Boise, Idaho, and a month later the house was repossessed for
lack of payment.52
In the midst of her personal debt crisis, the January earthquake struck
Haiti, and Silsby organized a mission to “gather 100 orphans from the
streets” of Haiti and take them to a shelter in the Dominican Republic.53
The children would be housed in a leased hotel because Silsby’s purported
charity did not yet manage an orphanage or own any property in the Do-
minican Republic.54 U.S. authorities later stated that New Life Children’s
Refuge was not listed as a U.S. nonprofit or as a U.S. international adoption
agency.55
In March, after her arrest, evidence was introduced in Silsby’s case show-
ing that on January 26, 2010, she had previously attempted to take a differ-
ent group of 40 children across the border.56 Haitian and Dominican
authorities turned her away for lack of authorizing documents.57 Three days
later she attempted to cross over with the second group—the 33 children—
again without proper documentation.58
After the earthquake, the Haitian government tried to crack down on
unauthorized adoptions to avoid child trafficking.59 In addition, the Do-
minican consul in Haiti had personally warned Silsby that she lacked the
necessary paperwork to take children out of the country and risked arrest.60
On March 17, 2010, after careful verification of identities by the Social
Welfare Ministry of Haiti, 32 out of the 33 children were returned to their
families (the last one being returned shortly thereafter),61 thus confirming
that none of the children were orphans.
Previously, Silsby had told an Associated Press reporter that the children
were delivered to the missionaries by “distant relatives” or “orphanages
that had collapsed in the quake,” adding that “‘[t]hey are very precious
kids that have lost their homes and families"
then why would there be a video of alefantis on youtube discussing a specific picture (the one with the money in its mouth) from his instagram
people are actually getting their information from Facebook instead of reliable news sources .
