By now I'm sure most people have heard about the Baptist group that's being detained in Haiti for alleged child trafficking.
I want to preface this post by saying that I'm not presuming to know what the intentions of these people were. I don't think, simply because it's a religious group, that these people were up to no good. I think that the hellish reality of Haiti has to be a strain to anyone who is there helping and it's possible that these people felt that their actions were justified or even that they had all the necessary permission to to what they tried to do. My issue isn't with the people or the situation - it's with the christian blogs I've been reading who are ripe with claims of persecution, unfair treatment, and complete innocence.
I'm not saying they're guilty but I think it's ridiculous to claim with any authority that they're innocent.
A few details are of particular interest to me. One being that when the kids were taken from the van they were being transported in they were still hungry, still thirsty. In fact, one of the babies they had with them was so dehydrated he had to be hospitalized. If this group - a group who had access to food and water themselves - were so interested in the well being of the kids they had in their company, why didn't they feed them? Why didn't they give them water?
Another detail that's changed since this story initially broke is what the groups told the parents of the kids which were willingly given to them. The group had pamphlets and were handing them out to people, indicating that they were actively collecting kids rather than offering a helping hand to people already considering giving their children up for adoption. Several of the kids were frightened when they were taken from the group's custody, claiming that they were told they would be taken to boarding schools - not that they would be adopted. These strange allegations are made even more interesting given that several parents whose kids were given over to the group want their kids back, claiming that they had thought that they were sending the kids to a place where they would be well-educated and given a better place to stay, not adopted.
My point is not to paint an entirely negative picture of this group because I personally really want to believe that they had only the best intentions in mind when they took those kids. However, this is far from an open and shut case of a group of helpful people who accidentally broke a few laws in the name of being good Samaritans. These people deserve to be prosecuted for the actions they took. Good intentions or not, I believe the evidence points to an ulterior motive beyond wanting to help.
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