WCCO news

Here is the news clip that aired last night at 10pm. This is a local MN news group. Jamie VenOsdel is the daughter of Bud and Jan Bonnema who started Children of the Promise.

Here is the link directly to the article. There is a video on the right hand side.

http://wcco.com/local/haiti.adoptions.volunteers.2.1512329.html

Haiti Adoptions Arranged By Minn. Group Hit Snag

Reporting
Darcy Pohland

 

PRINSBURG, Minn. (WCCO) ― The youngsters came as infants to Children of the Promise. Most were abandoned and seriously ill. They've been nursed back to health.

The hearts of two Minnesota families waiting for months to adopt children from Haiti broke over the weekend when they never showed up.

The six babies and toddlers were escorted by volunteers from a Minnesota adoption organization to the airport Saturday.

The children were leaving with volunteers to meet their adoptive parents in Florida. Just as they were about to board, they say they were stopped and detained by Haitian police.

"A group of Haitians came up to them and started yelling, kind of riding. They were very in-their-face, telling them they were trafficking the children," said Jamie VanOsdell, daughter of Children of the Promise's Executive Director.

Detained for hours at the police department, the children were eventually taken to a tent camp. Volunteers from the Children of the Promise organization were prevented from staying with them.

"The children didn't know what was going on, they're 3-and-a-half and under, so it was very confusing for them," said VonOsdel. "It's heartbreaking to see the kids just sitting there, not being with their families."

The youngsters came as infants to Children of the Promise. Most were abandoned and seriously ill. They've been nursed back to health.

"That's what they've been used to. We just keep trying to give them the best care we can. It's really hard for us to see our kids going through that," said VonOsdel

Senator Amy Klobuchar and the U.S. State department are working to fix the situation as parents anxiously wait.

"Everything we were doing was legal. We had the Prime Minister signed off on the papers, everything signed off. There was no reason that they shouldn't be with their parents right now," said VonOsdell.

The goal of Children of the Promise is to first reunite the Haitian children they care for with family members there.

The staff and volunteers wish those who mistakenly thought the children were kidnapped would have done research on the organization, which has arranged family adoptions for 10 years.