The Case of Protection of New Living Children is a legal case of an incident that occurred in the chaos after the Haitian earthquake of January 12, 2010. On January 29, 2010, a group of ten American Baptist missionaries from Idaho attempted to cross the Haitian-Dominican border with 33 Haitian children most are not orphans and have families. The group, known as the Protection of New Life Children, does not have proper permission to transport children and is arrested on charges of kidnapping. The missionaries denied wrongdoing and claimed that they saved orphaned children and took them to a Dominican hotel that was being converted into an orphanage. Nine of the ten missionaries were later released but the founder of NLCR Laura Silsby remained imprisoned in Haiti. By the time he went to trial on May 13, the indictment had been reduced to "organize irregular travel" and the prosecutor's office sought a 6-month jail term. On May 17, he was found guilty and sentenced while imprisoned before the trial.
Video New Life Children's Refuge case
Perlindungan Anak Hidup Baru
The New Life Children's Refuge (NLCR) was founded in November 2009 by Laura Silsby and Charisa Coulter, both members of the Central Valley Baptist Church in Meridian, Idaho. The organization describes itself as "a non-profit Christian service dedicated to saving, loving and caring for abandoned, poor and abandoned orphans and orphans, showing God's love and helping each child discover new healing, hope, joy and life within Christ." The charity claimed to be in the process of acquiring land to build an orphanage and church and school in Magante on the northern coast of the Dominican Republic. The NLCR is further intended to provide an adoption opportunity for "Christian loving parents" from America. On January 12, 2010, Haiti was hit by a major earthquake and the NLCR soon formed the "Haiti Orphan Rescue Mission", a group of ten from Central Valley Baptist Church and East Side Baptist Church in Twin Falls, Idaho. Both churches are affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. The mission plan was to go to Haiti and bring a hundred orphans to Cabarete, Dominican Republic, where the NLCR had rented a hotel to serve as a temporary orphanage.
Maps New Life Children's Refuge case
Timeline of events
Ten missionaries, led by Silsby, flew to the Dominican Republic on January 22, rented a bus, and arrived in Haiti on January 25. American journalist Anne-Christine d'Adesky stated that she met Silsby the day before the entry of missionaries to Haiti. The NLCR leader explained that he had a letter from a Dominican official allowing the transfer of orphans to a hotel in Cabarete. D'Adesky warns Silsby that he also needs proper documents from Haitian authorities. On January 26, the group gathered forty children and left for the Dominican Republic. They were stopped by a policeman, who explained that their actions were illegal. Undeterred the group set out to gather orphans from the devastated Calebasse town (or Callabas) and from the slum of Le Citron in Port-au-Prince. 33 children (20 from Calebasse and 13 from Le Citron) were placed under mission care. On the night of January 29, the missionaries were arrested while trying to cross the Dominican border without proper permission. They denied wrongdoing and maintained that they were doing God's will by helping the victims of orphaned earthquake victims. The children were sent to the SOS Children's Village home in Croix-des-Bouquets, a suburb of Port-au-Prince, and it became clear that most (if not all) were not orphans. The NLCR missionaries stated that they were told that the children were orphaned. In turn, the people in Calebasse Village and SOS Children accused the missionaries of lying about their intentions. Although relatives of the children were told that they would be able to visit them and eventually bring them back, the NLCR mission statement clearly outlines the plans for adoption.
On February 4, ten Baptists were formally charged with criminal associations and kidnappings for attempting to smuggle 33 children out of Haiti. In an interview, US Ambassador to Haiti Kenneth Merten stated that the US justice system would not interfere and added "Haitian judicial system will do what it has to do." On February 17, eight of the ten members of the NLCR team were released by Haitian judge Bernard Saint-Vil. They were soon flown back to Miami by US Air Force transport plane. Laura Silsby-Gayler and Charisa Coulter, were detained for further questioning. On March 8 Coulter was also released, but Silsby remains imprisoned. The accusations against Silsby were ultimately reduced from conspiracy and kidnapping children to "arranging irregular travel". His trial begins on May 13, and the prosecutor asks for 6 months in prison, on the grounds that Silsby is fully aware that he does not have the proper authorization to bring the children out of the country. On May 17, he was found guilty and sentenced while imprisoned before the trial.
Laura Silsby
Laura Silsby founded the New Living Child Protection and led an expedition in Haiti. Although he was released after serving his sentence in Haiti, he also faces legal issues in Idaho. In early March 2010, his lawyer in these cases filed a motion to withdraw as his advisor. Another lawyer representing Silsby in the case of child custody also resigned as his lawyer.
Silsby faces civil litigation for fraud, wrongful termination, and unpaid wages mostly related to Personal Shopper, an Internet company he founded in 1999 with James Hammons. Silsby and Hammons work together at Hewlett-Packard.
Jorge Puello
In the days after the group's early capture, Dominic
See also
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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