Editor’s note: This article is the first installment of a three-part series that delves into how the story of Joie and her two siblings exposes major flaws and gaps in Haiti-U.S. adoptions. Joie, Jocelyne and Joseph are pseudonyms used to protect the adoptees’ identities because of the sensitive nature of their story.

MORNE-ROUGE, Haiti —A 21-year-old Haitian adoptee with disabilities is back in the United States after being sent to Haiti and left stranded there for months, saying she now wants something she feels she has never had: freedom.

Joie Laughlin returned in late February with the help of an attorney after spending three months stranded in Haiti, following years of alleged abuse in the United States and at a Jamaican boarding school.

In December, just weeks before she returned to the U.S., the small details of her daily life became noticeable.

Shy at first, Joie pretended not to notice the snacks laid out on a small table in her Airbnb room — Oreos, Little Bites, Skittles, and Sour Patch candy. Moments later, her eyes lit up.

She had been craving American snacks since her unexpected arrival in Haiti. Someone also gave her paper and pencils so she could draw — one of her favorite pastimes.

But the excitement faded quickly.

“I do have everything,” Joie said softly in a child-like voice. “But that’s not freedom.”

“I was very angry [when they sent me back to Haiti],” she added. “I’m still a little angry. But I’m trying to understand it. I’m grateful for the little things that I have.”

Joie has intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). She spent three months in Morne-Rouge, about 33 miles southwest of Cap-Haïtien— from November 2025 to February 2026. She returned to the United States with the help of her attorney.

The Jamaica-based Youth of Vision School Academy (YOVA), where her adoptive family had placed her to live for six years, sent her to Haiti against her will.

Now back in the United States, Joie says she wants something she feels she has never experienced: freedom — and the chance to reunite with her older sister.

Sent to Haiti after years abroad amid abuse allegations

Joie was adopted from Port-au-Prince in 2008 by an American Christian family along with her two siblings.

She lived with them in California and later Texas for about 10 years before they sent her to YOVA when she was 15. The school describes itself as a “ Christian behavioral, therapeutic and educational” boarding school in Jamaica for children and adolescents.

In November 2025, the school sent Joie to Haiti, placing her in an Airbnb in Morne-Rouge and giving her just $300 for expenses.

Because Joie had not lived in Haiti and in proximity to Haitians since she was 5, she does not speak Creole and did not know how to locate biological relatives. Experts say those factors made her particularly vulnerable to exploitation, abuse or homelessness.

Her return to the United States was initially complicated because her adoptive parents had never completed her U.S. citizenship paperwork. Dawn Post, a New York-based children’s rights attorney advocate and founder of Themis Youth Law & Advocacy, helped her obtain an SB-1 returning resident visa.

Joie and her attorney accuse YOVA of physical abuse and labor trafficking and isolation during her six years at the school. Post said staff restrained her and the school reportedly required her to work without pay even after she turned 18. 

Joie also accuses her adoptive parents, Angela and James Laughlin, of physical and emotional abuse during the years she lived with them in the United States.

The Haitian Times contacted YOVA, its principal and 11 current and former teachers for a response about the allegations. One teacher responded but declined to be interviewed.

The Laughlins did not respond to requests for comment either.

Post said she plans to sue YOVA for labor trafficking and the Laughlins for failing to support a disabled adult after adoption.

According to the U.S. Department of State, after the 2010s, the U.S. began implementing stricter regulations on intercountry adoptions. As a result, adoptions from Haiti have declined in recent years as regulations tightened. They fell from 227 in 2017 to 96 in 2020 and 51 in 2024.

Experts say the system still lacks sufficient oversight after children leave their home countries.

“We see kids moved around like chess pieces and thrown away like trash,” Post said. “And there’s no accountability. That’s one of my biggest frustrations in talking about this.”

A glimpse at Joie’s childhood

Joie was born in Cité Soleil, a populous and impoverished neighborhood in Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital. As a child, she contracted typhoid fever and was placed in an orphanage in Carrefour-Feuilles, a suburban area south of downtown Port-au-Prince, to receive treatment.

Her siblings, Jocelyne and Joseph, had also been placed in orphanages because their mother could not support them.

The Laughlin family, who already had three sons, adopted the three siblings in 2008 and moved them to California.

Joie was 5 at the time. Jocelyne was 12 and Joseph, 10.

According to Jocelyne, the relationship deteriorated after the first year of living with their U.S. adoptive parents. The adopted children and the family’s biological sons often argued over toys and video games, she said.

In one incident, Jocelyne said Joie and one of the Laughlins’ sons bit each other during an argument over toys. When Angela Laughlin found out, she bit Joie.

Joie said her adoptive parents threw objects at her and spanked her when she complained about being lonely.

“They hated me,” she said.

“It makes me feel sad because I did everything I could to make them happy that I was their daughter.”

Jocelyne said she frequently defended her younger sister, which created further tension.

In 2009, Angela reportedly told Jocelyne they were traveling to Haiti for a visit.

“She said we were going to Haiti,” Jocelyne said. “I trusted my mom because that’s what you’re supposed to do.”

Instead, Jocelyne said the plan was to drop her at an orphanage in Port-de-Paix, where she was left behind at age 14.

Jocelyne eventually returned to the United States about five years later.

The Laughlins also removed Joseph from their home but he was later adopted by another American family.

Life at the Jamaican boarding school and now forward

Joie spent about six years at YOVA.

She said staff often punished students for minor infractions, such as speaking out of turn. Punishments included forcing students to do jumping jacks or lie on the floor like a cactus.

Post said Joie was restrained and placed in isolation at the boarding school.

The attorney also alleges the school forced her to work without pay and kept her after she turned 18.

Students at the school are often isolated for weeks and deprived of food or water, Post added.

When YOVA sent Joie to Haiti with the $300, it paid for one month at the Airbnb.

After that period ended, Post arranged for Joie to stay with a nurse in Morne-Rouge who had experience working with children with disabilities. Post covered the costs herself.

She also paid for Joie’s flight back to the United States using donations from a GoFundMe campaign.

Now Post is helping Joie access support services for IDD before reuniting her with her sister.

She hopes the case will lead to stronger protections for internationally adopted children.

“You wouldn’t treat your biological child like that,” Post said. “Why would you do it to a child you chose to adopt?”

For Joie, the goal is simple. After years of moving from place to place, she says she wants to live freely in stability.

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