Can we reinstitute flogging for the alleged 'mother'?
As one friend put it, most people just abandon their kids at a local church or hospital--they don't go to Africa and dump them there.
Seven kids, all Americans from Houston, were found living in a shack in Nigeria by Nigerian authorities back in June and were moved to an orphanage. When a missionary (ironically, also from Texas) heard American accents and asked them where they were from, he was astounded. The kids, age range in age from 8 to 16, three boys and four teenage girls. As my friend also pointed out, we can only hope they suffered nothing worse than malaria--since in Africa AIDS is often spread by men seeking to 'cure' the disease by having sex with young girls. Sigh. Even without that, that was a lot of responsibility that probably fell on the oldest's shoulders, and a lot of anxiety and mental hardship, too.
The adoptive mother allegedly took them to Nigeria (she either is engaged or married to a man with ties to Nigeria, depending on the story), enrolled them in school, but then didn't pay the tuition and went off to work as a private contractor in Iraq. My understanding is that she is being investigated for fraud (by cashing the government cheques meant for the children's support but not providing for them), abandonment, and the state is determining whether to press criminal charges. They have formally removed her rights to custody and taken them back into state protection. The children are in foster homes, have been treated. They want to stay together, and the story has garnered a lot of help (a Senator and Congressman united to get the embassy authorities to the kids and get them the papers they would need to return, and various people helped with getting them back in protective custody, back to Texas, and to medical care). Most importantly, the chance meeting sent the minister into action, calling back home and alerting them to the situation to get the ball rolling, because he certainly couldn't leave them behind.
The first thing they asked for once back in the States? Pizza. :)
Seven Abandoned Children Returned from Nigeria
Youth Minister Discovers 7 Children Abandoned In Nigeria
US children 'abandoned in Africa'
Texas officials get emergency custody of seven adoptive children returned from Africa
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