Slum residents say all Haitian ‘orphans’ taken by US missionaries had parents, other relatives

Parents: All Haitian ‘orphans’ had relatives

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Not one of the 33 children a U.S. Baptist group tried to remove from Haiti is an orphan, The Associated Press has learned.

During a visit Saturday to a rubble-riddled slum where 13 of the children lived, residents told the AP that each one of the youngsters was given away by a parent or close relative.

Their testimony echoes that of residents in the mountain town of Callabas, outside the capital of Port-au-Prince. Parents there told the AP on Feb. 3 that desperation and blind faith led them to hand over 20 children to the religious Americans who promised them a better life.

That contradicts statements from the missionaries’ jailed leader, Laura Silsby, who has said all of the children were orphans or came from distant relatives.