Resource Center

Stories

The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast.

These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need.

Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:



Search results for "orphanage" ...

  • "Ethiopian adoptions: Learning the Truth"

    This investigation by CBC-Radio found that Ethiopian children who were being adopted by Canadian family were not in fact orphans. Detectives found that the children still had families in Ethiopia and that the Canadian adoption agency based in country were "convincing Ethiopian mothers to put their kids up for adoption."

    Tags: Canadian Advocates For The Adoption of Children, CAFAC; Manitoban adoption agency; Ethiopia; orphanage

    By Marie-Claude Guay; Corinne Seminoff; John Nicol; Brent Roy; Richard Marion; Catherine Dumont; Eric Le Reste; Alain Kemeid; Azeb Wolde-Giorghis

    Canadian Broadcasting Corp. - CBC Radio News

    2009

  • Where Do They Belong?

    This 20/20 investigation delves into human trafficking in Cambodia to supply babies to adoptive parents in foreign countries. They discovered that many children were sold by impoverished parents or taken from them under false pretenses and then marketed as orphans to potential adopters. The story includes an interview with Lauryn Galindo, who was convicted of fraud, money laundering and tax evasion in 17 cases related to the adoption scandal.

    Tags: adoption; fraud; Cambodia; human trafficking; kidnapping; orphanages

    By Elizabeth Vargas;Alan Goldberg;Joanna Breen;Deborah Apton;Asher Levine

    ABC News 20/20

    2005

  • The Few Who Stayed: ARW reporting on Rwanda; U.N. Betrayal

    On the tenth anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda, American Radioworks aired this piece on the only American who stayed back in Rwanda. Carl Wilkens an American missionary helped save an orphanage and scoured the city of Kigali in search of water and medicines for the orphaned Tutsi children.

    Tags: Rwanda; genocide; Carl Wilkens; American in Rwanda; American missionary; missionaries; orphanages; Kigali; Tutsi; Hutu

    By Michael Montgomery;Stephen Smith;Deborah George;Bill Buzenberg

    American Radioworks (NPR)

    2004

  • Throwaway Kids: Broken Promises; Curse or Cure? Desperate Children, Haphazard Care; Where New York Lags, Milwaukee Succeeds

    A Journal News investigation into New York's care system for mentally ill children exposes abuse and neglect. Some of the most needy children are sent to residential treatment centers, which "are costly to taxpayers, yet function without adequate standards of oversight and without a means to evaluate the effectiveness of the care." A major finding is that the facilities increasingly use psychotropic drugs to keep the kids under control. Instead of helping children improve their conditions and returning them to their communities -- as a model Wisconsin program has achieved -- the New York system is overhauled.

    Tags: emotionally disturbed teenagers; crime; police; arrests; school; orphanages; Department of Social Services; juvenile justice

    By Jorge Fitz-Gibbon;Leah Rae;Dwight R. Worley;Shawn Cohen

    The Journal News (White Plains

    2002

  • Great Expectations

    Child protection in Wisconsin has serious problems. Social workers are hoping kids run away, one child has died and some kids are being placed with convicted felons. All of this despite the fact that the new, more complex system was supposed to make these nightmares go away.

    Tags: child abuse; children; child proctection services; child services; family services; social services; foster care; foster homes; orphanages

    By Mary Van De Kamp Nohl

    Milwaukee magazine

    1998

  • Precious Cargo

    This one-hour documentary follows adoptees from Vietnam in search of their history and culture in their homeland, visiting orphanages, maternity hospitals and revisiting the history of Operation Babylift.

    Tags: TAPE; TRANSCRIPT; adoption; Vietnam

    By Janet Gardner;Pham Quoc Thai;Micole Domenici;Len McClure

    The Gardner Documentary Group & ITVS

    2001

  • Prophecies of Terror, Attacking bin Laden, The Hunt for bin Laden, The Merchants of Mass Destruction

    A four-part CBS News investigative series reports into the "closed world of Osama bin Laden." The first part features an interview with a former Pakistani intelligence officer, mentor and friend of bin Laden, who warns that America has no idea of the might of Islam in a potential holy war. The second report examines the 1998 missile attack against bin Laden, and the role it played to transform the terrorist into a hero. The third part looks at bin Laden through the eyes of the people of his inner circle and other Muslims, and reveals that they view him as an "Islamic Robin Hood," who supports widows and orphans. The fourth part discovers that chemical and biological weapons from the old Soviet Union stockpile are being sold in the Afghan black market.

    Tags: TAPE; TRANSCRIPT; charity; orphanages; Islam; Muslims; religion; Jihad; holy war; Saudi Arabia; Sept. 11; World Trade Center

    By Dan Rather;Bob Simon;George Crile

    CBS News 60 Minutes

    2001

  • The Unwanted Children of Russia

    "ABC News 20/20's (story) exposed the institutionalized system of neglect, even abuse, enclosing and stunting the lives of tens of thousands of abandoned children in (Russia.) ... (an) undercover investigation, spending time at a balanced range of institutions... The report uncovers handicapped children virtually imprisoned in their beds. Other, apparently healthy, children are officially labeled as 'imbeciles,' and institutionalized, possibly for life. Babies are warehoused in roach-infested hospital cribs, some for as long as two years, without stimulation, and kept on limited diets to reduce the number of diaper changes required. Strong sedatives are used to control, even punish children..."

    Tags: VIDEOCLIP TAPE TRANSCRIPT Human Rights Watch Report United Nations hidden camera international orphanages

    By Diane Sawyer;Catherine Harrington;Jason Maloney;Kate Hunt;Gary Fairman;Tony Wasserman;Irina Ratchkovskaya;George Englesos

    ABC News 20/20

    1999

  • Guatemalan Adoptions

    Through sources in Guatemala, KSTP-TV discovered women there who claimed their babies were stolen from them and placed in orphanages for international adoption. KSTP-TV also found that the head of a Minneapolis adoption agency had done business with a suspected baby trafficker and had invited a Guatemalan judge to Minneapolis who played a key role in declaring babies abandoned.

    Tags: TAPE; TRANSCRIPT; adoption; Guatemala; Central America; babies; kids; children

    By Loraine Roe;Deb Fountain;Gary Hill;Dave Peterson

    KSTP-TV (Minneapolis)

    1998

  • When Foreign Adoption Goes Wrong

    Six years ago, Clevelander Margaret Cole started an agency that has grown to be a major player in foreign adoption. But Cole is facing accusations from parents and professionals who say the agency provides flawed medical records and limited support.

    Tags: Orphanages; International

    By Kristin Ohlson

    Cleveland Magazine

    1998