Since late January, when Laura Silsby and a group of Americans tried to take 33 kids from Haiti only to be arrested due to not having the required paperwork, the kids (12months to 4 years in age) have been living in SOS Children's Village. All except one have now been reunited with their families as of Wednesday. Even though when Silsby tried to take the children out of Haiti, she claimed all were orphaned or abandoned, all of the children had at least one parent who took them home. For the one child who has not been reunited with her family, it is not clear when she will see them, the SOS Children's Village is still going over paperwork for her. Authorities say that it has taken a while for the children to be reunited with their families, and this is due to making sure they were giving to the right parents. As for Silsby and the others, they were charged for many things, one including kidnapping of minors. Nine of the ten have been released on bail, Silsby still remains in jail in Port-au-Prince. This story is just something strange. First, we hear about a group of Americans trying to take a bunch of kids out of Haiti- you think, oh that's nice, they are taking them to a place where they can get proper food, water, shelter, etc.- only later, you find out that these kids were not orphans and still had parents in Haiti, and that the Americans didn't have the proper paperwork! Your viewpoint changes within seconds. I think it's great that the Americans wanted to help, but if you're going to help, you need to do it properly. These poor people of Haiti, they just suffered through a 7.0 earthquake and are trying to survive, their heads must have been spinning like wild at the time. The article said that some of the parents had let Silsby take their kids in hope that they would have a better life. I just feel bad for the kids, they are too young to understand what's going on in the first place, then their parents send them with some people who they don't know... to add to this, these people then get arrested so the kids end up in an orphanage-like place and not until over a month later are they reunited with their families. Wow. Also, the fact that it took them over a month... I know that things aren't going so well in Haiti, they are trying to pick up the pieces after everything was torn down, but still... a month? I'm not too sure about that one. All in all, through everything, I am very happy that the kids are now with their families once again and hope that all goes well for them. I also hope that soon the last little girl gets reunited with her family.
This is a very strange story! I can see where the person was trying to be helpful and try to save the kids, but you cannot just take them! You need to do things properly, and not just take them away from a place, especially their parents. I can see why some parents would let Silsby take their kids, for a better life, however, you still need to go through the proper procedure to make sure you are giving your child a truly better home. Silsby could have said that she had an amazing home, and would take good care of the kids, but really she could have had a crummy home, and ignore the kids. Those poor kids have gone through a lot in just a few months, like you said Krista. Why did it take them a month to get the kids back and why have they not reunite the last little girl with her family? I can see where you want to make sure that you are giving the children back to the right parents, but does that really take a month? Also what you said, Krista, i agree that Haiti is going through a major pick up after the earthquake, but still, having to take a month to get the kids back to their parents seems too long, even for a slightly frazzled place. I hope that the little girl does get to her family, and that all of the people in Haiti can pick themselves up again after the earthquake.
ReplyDeleteWhy did the people in charge allow the whole process of reuniting these children with their families to take a whole month? Wouldn't you think that that would be a priority? If I was a parent of one of these children I would want my child again and as soon as possible. I wouldn't want to be separated for a whole month. And I am glad that the Americans were trying to help but if they were going to do it you would think that they would want to do it right to avoid complications. If they had done all the proper paper work and such then hopefully the kids would have been returned to their parents faster. I don't think that the paper work would have taken a month which is how long it took to return the kids to their parents. So I guess I understand why the Americans were arrested. The people of Hatii had to make sure that their children were protected. Not everyone has good intentions like these particular Americans did. I believe that this could have been handled by both sides. If you help someone you need to make sure that you are doing everything you need to so that your help can go through. My prayers go out to all of the people of Hatii and I hope that they can recover.
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