Looks like Silsby was also trying to take children in process of being adopted

suffragette

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Sun Feb-07-10 04:40 PM
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Looks like Silsby was also trying to take children in process of being adopted

I came across this in a fairly comprehensive round up of info on the Silsby case:
http://www.idahostatesman.com/newsupdates/story/1071122.html

They've included a timeline and some parts of it stood out, one being that parents who were in the process of adopting children from Haiti were also contacted by Silsby and that she apparently tried to take their children from the orphange they were at:

Sunday, Jan. 24: Silsby offers to help

Silsby makes the first of three phone calls to Richard and Malinda Pickett of Kentucky, offering to help get their three adopted children out of Haiti. The family tells her not to interfere.

Monday, Jan. 25: Silsby calls again

Silsby calls the Picketts for the last time offering her help to get the adopted children out of Haiti. The family refuses.

Tuesday, Jan. 26: Quest for orphans

� Orphanage worker Isaac Adrien meets Silsby in Port-au-Prince. He says Silsby tells him she is looking for homeless children.

� Silsby attempts to find the three children awaiting adoption by the Picketts, Richard Pickett says. The children were not given to her.

I googled around a bit and found some more info:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/7176083/Baptists-descent-from-Idaho-to-the-hell-of-a-Haitian-prison.html

Others however view her actions cynically. And the extraordinary account of Richard Pickett, a web designer from Kentucky , and his wife Malinda certainly raises questions about Mrs Silsby's intentions.
The Picketts were in the final stages of adopting three Haitian children when, with the paperwork approved, the quake struck. Twelve days later, Mr Pickett travelled to Haiti to collect the children. While he was away, his wife received three calls from Mrs Silsby, of whom the couple had no prior knowledge, offering to pick up the children herself when she arrived in Haiti.
"My wife was very clear with each time that under absolutely no circumstances was she to try and do that," Mr Pickett told The Sunday Telegraph. "In fact, I was already with the kids in a refugee centre by then. But we have since heard from the orphanage that she turned up, claiming to be our friend and asking for the children."
He believes Mrs Silsby had obtained their name from an agency involved in adoptions from Haiti. And orphanage workers have said that she "cried in frustration" when she was rebuffed by her requests for children from other establishments. It was then, it appears, that she lead the group to the village where parents say they were encouraged to hand over the children.

http://www.wbko.com/news/headlines/83728562.html

Adopted Children Home Safe in Bowling Green

Malinda says the phone calls raised some red flags. "Do you realize?" she asked Silsby, "we've been waiting 5 years to get our children, you know it's not that easy to just go to Haiti and pick up kids. You know, you can't do that."

"She kept persisting, and Malinda kept saying no, don't bother our children," said Richard, "and Laura decided to show up at the orphanage anyway, and ask for our children, and said that malinda had sent her there. And our children were not there at the time, they were with me."

With all the information surfacing about Silsby's money woes, Richard Pickett thinks she was financially motivated to get his children.

"And maybe do a mild form of extortion, because here we are, obviously interesteed (sic) in caring for our children and if she had them in the Dominican, she could use us as leverage to have us pay for their support," said Richard.