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DIYALA — U.S. Soldiers here recently donated soccer balls and school supplies to the Baqubah Summer Camp for Kids, a program designed for orphans and special-needs children organized by the Red Crescent, the Middle East’s equivalent of the Red Cross. Lt. Col. Mitch Rambin, commander of 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, gives colored pencils to children at the Summer Camp for Kids in Baqubah, Iraq, June 9, 2010. Soldiers from 5/20 were at the camp delivering soccer balls and school supplies donated by elementary schools in America. U.S. Army photo by Pfc....

BAGHDAD – Nearly 75 Iraqi orphans here recently received some much-needed aid when U.S. Soldiers brought a truck full of supplies to the Iraqi capital’s Jamia Support Council. While most waited in orderly lines, one group of children performed a song welcoming the members of the 422nd Civil Affairs Battalion and Company F, 52nd Infantry Regiment, 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, who were there to deliver humanitarian assistance goods, March 29. The delivery was part of an overall shipment of 20 tons of humanitarian assistance goods to the 422nd, donated by a stateside nongovernmental organization (NGO). "It...

Russian media has gone wild over the case of the 7-year-old that was sent back to Russia by American adoptive parents. It is a perfect example of the ex-communist tendency to project the misbehavior of the one individual on the whole society. The collectivist mentality of the Russians makes them blame the USA as a whole for the incident – not just the individual who committed the crime. This bulling has to stop. If we play the game the way Russians do, we should remind the world of the horrible way Russians treat orphaned and abandoned children. Especially the...

Janey DeMeo writes an Op/Ed about the horrors in Haiti related to the orphans there, the threat of rape for these children, and those who are starving as the Haitian government holds up relief supplies while waiting for taxes to be paid on the aid....

On Saturday, 6 of our children along with the parent/escort of one of the children, another a couple other escorts and Maria all flew to Port au Prince after being notified by U.S. Embassy staff that their paperwork to leave Haiti was complete including the signature of the Haitian Prime Minister. They arrived at the airport and were sitting in the waiting room waiting for the Embassy staff to come so they could board their charter plane. Before the Embassy staff arrived, they were verbally attacked by a large group of Haitians who were at the airpot accusing them of...

Missionaries, who were accused of kidnapping, could be released Thursdaymsnbc.com news services updated less than 1 minute ago A Haitian judge has decided to release 10 U.S. missionaries accused of kidnapping 33 children and trying to spirit them out of the earthquake-stricken country, a judicial source told Reuters Wednesday. However, NBC News reported that no final decision had been made, though it's possible a decision could be made as early as Thursday. A lawyer representing one told The Associated Press he expects Judge Bernard Saint-Vil to issue his recommendation to the prosecutor Thursday. The prosecutor has the right to appeal...

PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - A Haitian judge has decided to release 10 U.S. missionaries accused of kidnapping 33 children and trying to spirit them out of the earthquake- stricken country, a judicial source said on Wednesday. The source said the missionaries, who have been in jail since they were stopped at Haiti's border with the Dominican Republic on January 29, could be released as early as Thursday. "The order will be to release them," the source, who asked not to be named, told Reuters. The decision has not yet been made public.

Brett Baier just announced that a Hatian Judge ruled that the American Missionaries had no criminals intenetions when they took the children. The Americans are expected home soon.

Port-au-Prince, Haiti (CNN) -- The group of American missionaries in Haiti facing kidnapping charges for trying to take 33 children out of the country last week made an earlier, unsuccessful attempt at taking dozens of other children, a Haitian police officer said Monday. Laura Silsby, left, and two other members of her missionary group are seen after a recent court hearing in Haiti. The officer did not want to be identified for fear of reprisals. He told CNN that he had stopped the 10 Baptist missionaries, including group leader Laura Silsby, on January 26 as they tried to transport 40...

“Crandall flew to Haiti Saturday, Jan. 23, with Julius Hunter, a Baton Rouge, La., pastor, pilot Bruce Case and 1,200 pounds of medical supplies as part of a six-day mission aided by King's Wings, a West Palm Beach-based charity,” wrote Rogers. “There, while attending to Haitians wounded by the Jan. 12 earthquake, Crandall witnessed the chaos, confusion, suffering and hope that emerged.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday it was "unfortunate" that American Christians are suspected of smuggling children out of quake-hit Haiti even if their intentions were good. Haitian prosecutors are due to decide Thursday whether to charge the 10 Christians, who have been held by authorities there since they attempted to sneak a group of 33 children out of the country. "Trafficking of human beings, particularly of children is a problem across the world," Clinton said after holding talks in Washington on Wednesday about the problem of trafficking in persons worldwide. "The Haitian nation acted to protect children...

MERIDIAN, Idaho (BP)--Members of two Southern Baptist churches in Idaho are awaiting word on what a Haitian judge will decide Feb. 1 when he hears the case of 10 Americans accused of unlawfully trying to remove 33 children from Haiti. Five of the 10 are members of Central Valley Baptist Church in Meridian, Idaho, and three are from Eastside Baptist Church in Twin Falls, including Eastside's pastor, Paul Thompson. Two others are believed to be from other states.

Late Friday afternoon, ABC 4 confirmed that at least 50 children were on a flight headed to Miami, where they will be processed into the country by TSA officials. -SNIP- The text posted at 8:48 a.m. Friday morning to the Utah Hospital Task Force blog said, "We have negotiated the release of 125 orphans bound for SLC and are on ramp in Haiti. Steve Studdert and Executive team along with full support from US Military and US Customs and ICE Agents made it happen. It is truly a miracle."-SNIP- ABC 4 News has learned Stephen Studdert, the task force leader,...

The five men and five women were in custody in the capital, Port-au-Prince after their arrests on Friday night. -SNIP-Authorities said the Americans had no documents to prove they had cleared the adoption of the 33 children -- aged 2 months to 12 years -- through any embassy and no papers showing they were made orphans by the quake in the impoverished Caribbean country."This is totally illegal," said Yves Cristalin, Haiti's social affairs minister. "No children can leave Haiti without proper authorization and these people did not have that authorization."-SNIP-"We have a Baptist minister here (in Port-au-Prince) whose orphanage...

Mass graves. Tent cities.More than 90% of the nation’s structures damaged or destroyed. No food.Amputees and orphans left to fend for themselves. Nearly all of the businesses gone. No employment. Yet it still gets worse for the people of Haiti. Haiti’s Prime Ministery, Jean-Max Bellerive told CNN that he is receiving reports of children being stolen and trafficked as slaves, sex slaves and for the purpose of having their organs harvested to be sold.

In light of another earthquake having just hit Haiti this early this morning, this blog article becomes much more important. This little clip is heartbreaking. Now, this is beginning to shape up as a catastrophe on top of a catastrophe. CNN’s Soledad O’Brien pointing out today that the relief workers are unable to get aid to orphanages either because they have pushed it down the priority hole or they are simply overwhelmed. My guess is its a combination of both but wouldn’t you think in a failed state where orphanages are a staple of the society someone would put children...

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Jean Peterson Estime was outside playing soccer when his home pancaked in last week's earthquake and killed his parents and five sisters. Now he sleeps with thousands in a Port-au-Prince park and forages in rubble for food and goods he can sell to survive. "I'm trying to get a little job so I can take care of myself," he says, attempting to look brave even as he shuffles his dirty feet in too-big sandals. What the 13-year-old really wants is someone to take him in. Tens of thousands of children have been orphaned by the magnitude-7.0 quake,...

The tragedy in Haiti has touched so many. I can’t even begin to wrap my head around the images my amazing colleagues are bringing us from the devastation, each story more heartbreaking than the next. Two days ago I got a call from a good friend of mine in L.A. who helps to run Angel House Orphanage in Haiti. Her name is Shannon Hoffman, and I used to work with her husband Gary who is a radio news anchor and reporter at KFI-AM 640. Gary and I were also field reporters together in Sacramento at Newstalk 1530 KFBK, and we...

I have cried as I’ve watched the graphic images coming out of Haiti. Watching a mother cry out in anguish because she’s lost five children broke my heart. The thought of losing a child is more than I can bear. I can only imagine the grief she must be experiencing. Hearing that residents of a nursing home are laying in the streets without food or water while the supplies are only a half mile away at the airport seems unthinkable to me. A 22 year old female missionary from Washington was found buried under the rubble. She was there helping...

The United States will temporarily allow entry to orphaned children from Haiti to receive needed care after the devastating earthquake in their country, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said on Monday. "We are committed to doing everything we can to help reunite families in Haiti during this very difficult time," Napolitano said in a statement. "While we remain focused on family reunification in Haiti, authorizing the use of humanitarian parole for orphans who are eligible for adoption in the United States will allow them to receive the care they need here," she said. The "humanitarian parole policy" will be applied...