Missionaries Freed

The final two U.S missionaries, who were being held in Haiti for further questioning regarding their attempt to transport Haitian children to the Dominican Republic, are to be released this week. This may be one of the final chapters to a story which, over the past month, has proven to be extremely convoluted. News has been leaked periodically over the weeks. The earliest news of the 10 Idahoan Baptists missionaries who travelled to Haiti to transport 33 orphans to the Dominican Republic without documentation was followed by news that at least 20 of the children were not orphans. Later, complications with the group's legal advisor  Jorge Puello revealed that he is wanted on charges of human trafficking. Information was reported about the group's leader, Laura Silsby, regarding her less than perfect financial and business history.  The story has been called a "media distraction" and has inspired such opposite reactions as both outrage and praise toward the missionaries and the Haitian authorities.

Yet, the story embodies many of the issues surrounding contemporary Haitian adoption: religiously inspired "rescue," the question of human trafficking, high-profile international legal disputes. It also begs many question: to what extent do foreigners coming to Haiti hold the right to "help" the children through adoption who do, unarguably, need some sort of assistance? The group of missionaries admitted to taking the children out of the country without proper documentation. Regardless of their intent, this is a crime. However, arguments have been made both in favor of and against this group's actions. Do their alleged "altruistic motivations" make this crime "okay?" Do laws need to change in response to such international crises as these? Or, as this case stands as a clear example, how can one's "altruistic motivations" be measured? The group came in as a group of missionaries, but became connected to a man wanted for child trafficking and was led by a woman with a less than perfect history with the law.

This story is an example of the issues at stake in Haitian adoption. It is clearly not a simple issue. However, in dealing with the issue it must be remembered that real people's lives and well-being are at stake. Officials working in Haiti are challenged to deal with these large-scale moral issues along side the micro-scale personal lives of prospective adoptive parents, agencies and, especially, Haitian orphans. Solving these issues is an inadvertently long-term task. However, in the meantime a balance must be struck between long-term solutions and helping the children who are in desperate need.