Posted on 08/19/2004 5:08:47 PM PDT by aculeus
Seven US children have been discovered suffering from disease and malnutrition in a Nigerian orphanage. The children, aged from eight to 16, were reportedly left there by their adoptive mother.
The three boys and four girls were found by a visiting Texas missionary after he heard their accents, reports the Associated Press news agency.
They are now back in their home state of Texas, in the care of the local child protection agency.
It is investigating claims that the adoptive mother, a Houston woman, abandoned them last October and later went to work in Iraq.
AP reports that the woman took the children to an unspecified area of Nigeria in October, where a relative of her fiance lived.
They were enrolled in a school, and the mother returned to Houston a month later. She reportedly went to Iraq in April to work as a private contractor.
Wooden shack
The children were reportedly found living in a wooden shack by Nigerian social services, having been discharged by the school for the non-payment of tuition fees.
They were taken to an orphanage in late July, where they were discovered by a visiting minister from a San Antonio church who overheard them speaking with American accents.
They said they liked the Houston Rockets, and sang the US national anthem to prove they were Americans, according to San Antonio pastor John Hagee.
After arriving in the US, three of the children were admitted to hospital with malaria, said Texas Child Protection Services spokeswoman Estella Olguin.
All were said to be thin and covered with mosquito bites.
"It's horrible, horrible," said Ms Olguin. "I haven't seen anything like it. Seven children fending for themselves in a foreign country where they have no family members."
Four of the children were said to have been adopted in Houston in 1996, and three in Dallas in 2001.
They are now in two Houston foster homes.
Ms Olguin said the adoptive mother was at a hearing on Monday in which a state district judge ordered that the children be returned to CPS custody.
She is due back in court on 26 August to hear whether she will face criminal charges.
Published: 2004/08/18 10:47:27 GMT © BBC MMIV
We're missing part of this story.
"We're missing part of this story."
Yep - Like the truth?
On her back?
Sounds like this Ms. Bates was the children's guardian angel who would NOT give up on them. Her persistance probably saved them.
At least the kids are home safe now.
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