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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...

Gov. Ed Rendell, Channel 11 has learned, was one of those on the flight from Pittsburgh International Airport to bring back dozens of orphans from the BRESMA orphanage in Haiti. Two sisters from Ben Avon run the orphanage and their story is making national headlines

Orphaned children from Haiti will be allowed to enter the U.S. temporarily on a case-by-case basis to ensure they received proper care, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State announced Monday. "We are committed to doing everything we can to help reunite families in Haiti during this very difficult time," DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano said in a statement. "While we remain focused on family reunification in Haiti, authorizing the use of humanitarian parole for orphans who are

Saturday night I was watching CNN in the wee hours while taking care of my friend and patient who has pancreatic cancer. I was watching Fox, but I could not stand another second of Jerald Rivers, so I flipped channels to CNN. I watched a lovely video about two beautiful young Pennsylvania girls who were taking care of orphans in Haiti. After the video at about 3:00 in the morning, a message from CNN said that "after recording this segment, the Girls and the orphans were given permission to go to the U.S. I came home, and told my wife...

These are not the observations of paid strangers venturing into Haiti only for so long as the earthquake and the loss of human life garner the label, newsworthy. These are the observations of those living in Haiti who have been called there by God to serve the Haitian people in His name. These missionaries were in Haiti long before the earthquake and will remain there long after the news crews leave. These missionaries experience the poverty and tragedy and joy of Haiti on a daily basis and now they need your help.

During the quake, our three-year-old grandson told his mom that he thought a train was coming through their house. Our son’s reaction was that he knew something bad had happened but not until Wednesday morning did they know that something REALLY BAD had happened. Indeed, something REALLY BAD had happened. Having served on many mission trips to Haiti the area of the REALLY BAD was a very familiar place. I have walked on those streets, shopped in the stores and visited the Compassion country office that was right in the midst of the devastation. I could mentally picture these houses...

As of Wednesday morning, Compassion International reports that they have not yet made contact with their Haiti office, which is near the epicenter of Tuesday’s 7.0-magnitude earthquake. The quake has produced many aftershocks, including two of significant intensity - over 5.0 in magnitude. Communication to Haiti is virtually impossible with widespread damage to cell towers and communication lines. Compassion shared on Twitter that their reach in Haiti involves 230 churches helping 65,000+ children/families, 2,200 Child Survival Program moms and babies and almost 100 leadership students. “Based on the epicenter, media reports and our center locations, we expect centers have been...

Bobby and Sherry Burnette, the founders and directors of Love A Child Orphanage, are reporting widespread destruction in Haiti in the aftermath of Tuesday’s massive earthquake.

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have donated over $100,000 to an orphan children charity on Christmas. Called the SOS Children's Villages charity in the US, it is a foster care facility, which enables siblings to stay together during the adoption process, reports contactmusic.com. "We have seen first-hand the remarkable job SOS does to raise orphaned and abandoned children and keep families together," Jolie said in a statement. Her partner Pitt said: "In this holiday season, many of us take for granted that we are surrounded by loving family members. The poor outcomes for foster children indicate that we must do...

Children excitedly reach toward Santa Claus, played by Pfc. Brent Read, HHC, 2nd HBCT, 3rd ID, to see what gifts he has to offer at a church in Kermles, Iraq, Dec. 24. Spartan Soldiers visited the orphaned children of Mosul and Kermles on Christmas Eve, bringing toys, candy, backpacks and shoes. Photo by Spc. Crystal Witherspoon, 3rd Infantry Division. FOB MAREZ — As smiling children filled a room almost to capacity, their faces shining and full of excitement, Col. Charles E. Sexton asked them, "Have you all been good boys and girls or bad boys and girls?" "Good!" screamed the...

Soldiers, civilian workers and visiting actors Jeffrey Donovan (left) and Bruce Campbell (far right), of the USA show Burn Notice, enjoy a charity bazaar hosted by the Daughters of Iraq at Combat Outpost Meade, Nov. 13. Photo by Sgt. Robert Jordan, 30th Heavy Brigade Combat Team. BAGHDAD — The Daughters of Iraq, a national womens' organization here, held a bazaar on Combat Outpost Meade to raise money for local widows and orphans, Nov. 13. Soldiers of the 113th Field Artillery Battalion's Civil Affairs Team, based at the COP, hosted the bazaar that featured the work of several female Baghdad-area artists...

MADRID (AP) — A Spanish woman believed to have become the world's oldest new mother when she gave birth at 66 has died at 69, leaving behind twin toddlers, newspapers reported Wednesday. Maria del Carmen Bousada, who reportedly died Saturday, gave birth in December 2006 as a single mother after getting in vitro fertilization treatment at a clinic in Los Angeles. The births ignited a firestorm of debate over how old is too old for a new mother, and how much responsibility fertility clinics have over who gets treatments. Bousada told an interviewer she lied to the fertility clinic about...

MADRID – A Spanish woman believed to have become the world's oldest new mother when she gave birth at 66 has died at 69, leaving behind twin toddlers, newspapers reported Wednesday. Maria del Carmen Bousada, who reportedly died Saturday, gave birth in December 2006 as a single mother after getting in vitro fertilization treatment at a clinic in Los Angeles. The births ignited a firestorm of debate over how old is too old for a new mother, and how much responsibility fertility clinics have over who gets treatments.

MADRID – A Spanish woman who deceived a U.S. fertility clinic about her age and become the oldest woman to give birth (66) has died at 69, leaving behind 2-year-old twins.

Ms. Nisreen Abdul Raoof plays with an orphan at the Deep Strike farewell to the children of the Kut orphanage at the Rehanah Al-Haydaryah Family Park, June 26. Nisreen said they came up with the idea to have a farewell in the park so the American forces could say goodbye to the children. Photo by Sgt. 1st Class Joe Thompson. FORWARD OPERATING BASE DELTA — Children from the Kut orphanage were treated to an evening of games, gifts and entertainment at the Rehanah Al-Haydaryah Family Park by 2nd Battalion, 20th Field Artillery Regiment, 41st Fires Brigade, June 26."It was an...

In 2003, police in Warwickshire, England, opened a garden shed and found a whimpering, cowering dog. It had been locked in the shed and abandoned. It was dirty and malnourished, and had clearly been abused. In an act of kindness, the police took the dog, which was a greyhound female, to the nearby Nuneaton and Warwickshire Wildlife Sanctuary known as a willing haven for animals abandoned, orphaned or otherwise in need. Animals Have Feelings Too! Jasmine and her brood of friends

A National Police Officer gives a wool blanket to a child during a humanitarian blanket drive at the Kamaliyah orphanage in New Baghdad, Jan. 3, 2009. Photo by Thomas Ribas, 82nd Airborne Division Public Affairs. BAGHDAD — Iraqi National Police Officers donated more than 400 blankets to an orphanage in the Kamaliyah neighborhood of New Baghdad, Jan. 3. The donation drive was led by the 4th Brigade, 1st Iraqi National Police Division along with neighborhood leaders and the orphanage headmaster. The donation was to help children and widows battle the chilly weather this winter where average temperatures can dip down...

9-11 affected many people in many different ways. Heart for Africa is one way one person dealt with that fateful day. Her name is Janine Maxwell and her story is "Its Not Okay With Me". Her story is gut wrenching and mind boggling. My story that follows is a happy, travel adventure for your reading pleasure. I hope you will read both stories, mine for entertainment and her's as a call to action. I hope you visit the website www.heartforafrica.org and make a difference. We are so lucky, so fortunate, to live in the USA. Please don't take that for...

Roseanne said, "do you not know that the African daughter you hold in every picture had parents who suffered and died because of the Republican party's worldwide economic assault on Africa over the last few decades since Reagan?"

You want to build anything in Silicon Valley - a company, a career, a reputation - it's all about networking. Eagle Scout project? Yep. Networking. You need your venture capitalist, your Fortune 1000 company founder and some good-hearted friends and neighbors. Ask Tad Malone, a Homestead High School junior, who took on a project that, looking back, seems slightly insane even to him. "Kids needed help," he says, "so I thought I'd help." Kids in Africa. Orphan kids that Tad met on a family trip in 2005 to a place called Children's Town in Zambia. The 300 children had people...

On a bare patch of ground outside the entrance to Sadr general hospital, 15 women clad from head to foot in black squatted in a sandstorm, wailing and waiting for their dead. Lightning flashed, thunder rolled and the women’s robes were spattered with mud falling from a sky filled with rain and sand, but they did not notice. “Ya’mma, Ya’ba” (“Oh mother, oh father”), cried Amira Zaydan, a 45-year-old spinster, slapping her face and chest as she grieved for her parents Jaleel, 65, and Hanounah, 60, whose house had exploded after apparently being hit by an American rocket. “Where are...

In the village of Sanhe, Hubei province, the police interrupted the Christmas festivities of a little orphanage run by a famous Christian leader, who has been arrested 12 times for his leading role in the life of China's unauthorised domestic churches. Sanhe (AsiaNews) - Police in the central province of Hubei arrested, on Christmas Eve, a group of orphans and Christian volunteers who were preparing to celebrate the holiday with them. The agents confined the children to a hotel, and "convinced" the owner of the land that the orphanage stands on to evict the renters. This is the charge of...

BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan, Jan. 4, 2008 – Afghan national security forces and coalition forces delivered more than a ton of food, clothes and toys to the nearly 380 children of Shahid Ali Ahad Khan Karzi Orphanage and school in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province, Dec. 30. A coalition forces soldier greets a group of Afghan boys at the Sahid Ali Ahad Khan Karzi Orphanage and school in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province, Dec. 30, 2007. U.S. Army photo   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The children, ranging in age from 6 to 13, received clothes and shoes to help them endure...

BAGHDAD: The shocking pictures of neglect that emerged from a grisly state-run Baghdad orphanage this week revealed the Iraqi government's inability to care for some of its most vulnerable citizens. With four years of war having cannibalized much of the Iraqi government, volunteers have begun providing vital social services at their own expense, relying on the generosity of friends and neighbors. The images of the inside of the Al-Hanan orphanage were disquieting even by Iraqi standards: two dozen emaciated children, some tied to cribs, others writhing in their own waste and some appearing, at first glance, to be dead. US...

CBS's Lara Logan Follows Up on U.S. Soldier Orphanage Rescue Posted by Justin McCarthy on June 21, 2007 - 13:23. After reporting on the compassionate U.S. soldier rescue of abused Iraqi orphans, CBS’s Lara Logan ran a follow up story on the June 21 edition of "The Early Show." To her credit, Logan continued to defend the soldiers. She noted that an Army captain went "back to check on the 24 boys he and his soldiers rescued" and "thanks to these soldiers...the boys’ lives were saved."Upon reporting that the Iraqi labor and social affairs minister accused Lara Logan of reporting...

India urges Britain to adopt its orphans NEW DELHI, April 8 (UPI) -- India is struggling with a surplus of abandoned and unwanted children and is urging people in Britain and other Western countries to adopt its orphans. The Sunday Times of London says India is renewing its efforts to save its children from a life of poverty and deprivation by finding homes for them in Europe and the United States. India is estimated to have more than 11 million abandoned children, and the Times reported that the number of newborn babies abandoned at adoption facilities is continuing to rise....

RYBINSK, RUSSIA – Children pour out of Rybinsk's orphanage No. 72, laughing and waving, when the Murziki pull up in their mud-spattered convoy of cars. The kids know many of these adults from distant Moscow by name, and they hurry to help unload the cars, stacked with boxes of toys, sports equipment, and coats - as well as cutlery and a new VCR with a selection of cartoons, needs the Murziki carefully noted on their last visit. The Murziki tell the kids that they come from the mythical country of Murlandia, a kind of cross between Neverland and Santa's Village....

Pledges to the "Grandfather Frost" campaign continue Exactly one week ago the newspaper 'Noviy Vestnik' declared the start of a New Year's charity drive. We proposed that all those who wished to feel like a real Grandfather Frost could do so by making the wishes of orphans at the Home for Handicapped Children come true. The results of the first week of the campaign has been stunning. We must admit, we did not expect such success. Our editorial staff has been visited by a dozen Grandfather Frosts. The Bogatyr food company brought in a large gift. Reader Irina Reznikova...

12/4/2006 - MEHTAR LAM, Afghanistan (AFPN) -- The Mehtar Lam Provincial Reconstruction Team paid an unexpected visit to a girl's orphan school Nov. 27 to donate three trailers full of supplies, including items to help with the approaching winter. The staff of Rosantoon Orphan Girl's School in Mehtar Lam City welcomed the team and helped coalition troops unload the winter clothing, school supplies, hygiene products, food and other items. An entire trailer of food was an important part of the delivery, said Army Capt. Bernice Logan, Mehtar Lam PRT civil affairs officer. "Some of the girls only eat one meal...

There are no orphan homes in Western Europe and the USA - there are queues for abandoned children. Will it be harder or easier for foreigners to adopt a Russian child since custody regulations in Russia have changed? The rules concerning activity of foreign organizations dealing with children adoption have recently been amended which caused a confrontation of opinions: some consider the new regulations more liberal, others claim it’s nothing but toughened demands.

Earthquake orphans 'in hands of jihadists' By Isambard Wilkinson in Muzaffarabad (Filed: 07/10/2006) Charities linked to jihadist groups have been using humanitarian aid operations to extend their influence over children orphaned by last year's earthquake in north Pakistan. Jemima Khan, a Unicef ambassador, visits a temporary school in the border region devastated by the Pakistan-Kashmir earthquake Contrary to government rules that earthquake orphans must be cared for only by the state or relatives, large numbers have been taken into care by religious charities and madrassa Islamic schools. A senior cleric, Qazi Mahmood-ul Hassan, who runs the Jamia Dar-Uloom al Islamia...