“Am I truly an orphan? Or am I one of the stolen children?”

After discovering multiple inconsistencies between various adoption documents, Filmmaker Elizabeth Jacobs began questioning everything.  As an adoptee from Phnom Penh Cambodia in the early 2000’s, Jacobs suspected the potential that she could have been a part of the Cambodian baby trafficking scandal- an uncovered story of lies and deceit.  American adoption facilitator Lauryn Galindo manipulated hundreds of impoverished Cambodian parents into giving up their children for small amounts of money, all with the promise of safe childcare until becoming financially stable enough to care for their children.  This scandal left a generation of Cambodian adoptees with no information or relationship to their birth parents and homeland of Cambodia.  Jacobs, now 21 years later, returns to Cambodia in search of answers.

What started Jacob’s honors thesis project has quickly emerged into a fully-fledged and funded documentary.  Recruiting old friends, fellow students and peers, this team of young creatives is on a mission to tell this story of reconnection and truth.  With production set to start early January 2022, the small but ambitious team behind The Stolen Children embarks on a journey overseas with nothing but their gear, a few vans, and a translator. 

Through her creative process and outreach to promote the film, Jacobs has found a sense of community in the amount of adoptees with similar experiences of disconnect and ambiguity about their journey as an adoptee. With the goal of interviewing Cambodian locals and potentially meeting her birth parents, Jacobs hopes to uncover this scandal from all angles and perspectives. In the process of connecting with the Asian community and fellow adoptees, The Stolen Children aims to transcend race and upbringing to shed light on the importance of being connected to your roots.