[UPDATED with Family Cleared to Leave Ghana:] Sol and Christine Moghadam, Irvine Couple Held for Child Trafficking, Get Assist

See update at the end of the post on the family being cleared to return home with their children.


ORIGINAL POST, JUNE 27, 3:06 P.M.: A website that allows participating American families to raise money so they can adopt children overseas, including an Irvine couple that was detained in Ghana for suspected child trafficking, is collecting financial and emotional support for them.

Sol and Christine Moghadam first revealed on their AdoptTogether blog that an anonymous tip to officials in Ghana led to the couple being held as they tried to return home with their two natural-born sons and four adoptees.
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The Moghadams had apparently obtained a court order that made them legal guardians
of the Ghanaian children and were awaiting U.S. government approval of the children's visas when they were detained.

“We are emotionally exhausted and traumatized from
the entire incident,” they wrote on the blog. “Our case in not
complete yet, but our chief officer from the Ghana police department has
apologized for their overreaction and stated that our detainment was a
mistake on their part.”

The U.S. State Department later revealed the Moghadams had been reunited with their two natural-born children.

Go to AdoptTogether home page and you will discover the couple is among others whose collected donations are being tracked by the site. This blog post, which includes an Associated Press account of the Moghadams' plight in Ghana, includes links to the donation and email pages.

UPDATE, JUNE 27, 4:57 P.M.: The Dillon International Inc. agency arranging the adoptions in Ghana reports the Moghadams have been cleared to leave the country with their biological and adopted children, although the adoptees are still awaiting visas so they can enter the U.S.

The agency says the couple's natural-born sons, Ethan, 7, and Isaac, 3, (pictured on the opener page) were held away from their parents overnight at an orphanage. The entire family is now reunited, according to the agency, which also corrects the number of adopted Moghadam children in our original post from two to four.

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