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 "orphans" ...
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Finding Fernanda
The book sheds a light on the extremely politicized landscape of Guatemala's adoption industry, a multi-million dollar trade that was highly profitable and barely regulated. In this corrupt system, children have been stolen, sold, and placed as orphans in well-intentioned Western families since international adoption began there in the 1980s. Yet the governments of Guatemala and the US proved to be unwilling to regulate the illegal baby trade.
Tags: adoption; Guatemala; baby trade
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Earmarks To Nowhere
Just when you thought you had read every outrageous story about congressional pork, last year USA TODAY revealed $13 billion in "orphan earmarks"- highway spending directed to pet projects but never spent. For states, this uncooked pork came at a tremendous cost: almost $7.5 billion of the earmarked money was taken directly out of the state's direct highway funding- meaning states literally lost billions they could have spent to improve or build bridges and highways.
Tags: pork barreling; earmarks; highway; money; orphan earmarks
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Earmarks to Nowhere
USA Today revealed $13 million in "orphan earmarks" in highway spending director to pet projects but never spent. In reaction, Congress demanded an accounting of the earmarks from the Obama Administration, and members of both parties quickly introduced bills to clean up the practice and require public disclosure unspent funds.
Tags: orphan earmarks; Congress
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Ethiopian Adoption Scans
The number of adoptions of orphans from Ethiopia to the US more than tripled from 2006 to 2009. CBS found that at least one US adoption agency in Ethiopia was involved in fraud and child trafficking while agency managers in the US were looking the other way.
Tags: adoption; Ethiopia; child trafficking;
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"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
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The Lie We Love
"This year-long investigation found that there are simply not enough healthy, adoptable infants to meet Western demand - and there's too much Western money in search of children. Healthy babies are rarely orphans; orphans are rarely either babies or healthy."
Tags: orphans; adoption; international adoption;
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Whose Children Are They?
"Focus on Children, a Utah-based adoption agency, is accused by the U.S. government of tricking Samoan parents into giving up their children for adoption and falsely telling American parents they are orphans." The reporter traveled to Samoa to track down families that were affected; she found adoption agency recruiters exploited the families' religious faith, as well as bribed them with cars.
Tags: foreign relations; adoption; kidnapping; Latter Day Saints
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Preying on Parents
A California-based international adoption firm is found to be defrauding prospective parents, taking advantage of "legal loopholes and government neglect." The story involves bribes and kickbacks to foreign government officials, the use of internet fraud on prospective parents, and "the withholding of vital medical information about orphans to misstate their health." In some cases, the children adopted through the agency had such severe medical conditions or other issues, and were institutionalized or sent home to their native countries. Meanwhile, "the company ignored complaints and pocketed hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees."
Tags: Adoption; former Soviet Union; child adoption; fraud; Internet adoption agency; orphans; medical problems
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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
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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