Rob Cole and David Williams,
Sky News Online

Most of the Haitian children taken by Americans in an alleged attempt to move them out of the country “have family” that survived the earthquake, according to reports.

Ten members of a US church group were earlier arrested on suspicion of smuggling the children from Haiti.

The church group members were detained as they attempted to cross into neighbouring Dominican Republic with 33 youngsters.

It is understood they wanted to set up an orphanage at a beach resort in DR.

But the head of the international care centre, Patricia Vargas, said officials at the Haitian Institute of Social Welfare have told her “most of the kids have family.”

She said some of the youngsters “say their parents are alive, and some of them gave us an address and phone numbers”.

Earlier, Haitian social affairs minister Yves Christallin said police arrested five men and five women with US passports, along with two Haitians.

He said two pastors were also involved, one in Haiti and one in Atlanta, Georgia, in the US.

“This is an abduction, not an adoption,” said Mr Christallin.

The group of Americans who were arrested for “abduction” in Haiti

The children were aged between two months and 12 years and had come from different places, he said.

The Americans belong to an Idaho-based Baptists’ charity.

“In this chaos the government is in right now we were just trying to do the right thing,” said the group’s leader, Laura Silsby at the police HQ in Port-au-Prince.

The 10 are due in court on Monday.

Sean Lankford, of Idaho, whose wife and daughter were among those detained, said the allegations were untrue.

He said the children – who were being escorted on a bus – were going to get medical treatment.

Haiti has imposed new controls on adoptions since the earthquake on January 12 to try to prevent child trafficking.

There are fears that legitimate adoption agencies may rush to take earthquake orphans out of the country without proper checks.

Haitian police chief Mario Andresol said the 33 children had been transferred to a facility north of the city, in Croix de Bouquets.

“Now it’s up to the Justice Department do to their job,” Mr Andresol said.

A document posted online by the group asks for donations to bring 100 Haitian children to safety in the Dominican Republic.

It also asks for volunteers to take care of the children during two-week stints.

Under the heading “Purpose” it reads: “Rescue Haitian orphans abandoned on the streets, makeshift hospitals, or from collapsed orphanages.”

It says the group has leased a 45-room hotel in Cabarete as a temporary shelter for the children.

It also includes a prayer request “for God to continue to grant favour with the Dominican government in allowing us to bring as many orphans as we can into the DR”.