CHATHAM, Ont. -- Some are gone, others missing.

Police confirmed Thursday 12 of the 14 children of a runaway Jewish sect from Quebec, the kids subject to a foster care order, have fled Canada -- six to Guatemala, six others halted in Trinidad and Tobago.

The whereabouts of two others are unknown..

It was a fast-moving day of developments involving the ultra-orthodox Lev Tahor kids and their parents who skipped Chatham, despite a judge's order to stay put, just days before a court appeal that could have sent the kids into temporary foster care in Quebec following allegations there of child neglect and abuse.

Instead of waiting for a judge's ruling on that appeal, which has been delayed, local child-welfare officials got an emergency order to round up the kids.

Now, Chatham-Kent Children's Services, the police and border officials are scrambling to find the two missing kids, while negotiations have begun to return six of the other kids and three adults to Canada from Trinidad.

The Trinidad group is one of two families to leave Canada for what Lev Tahor said was "a vacation," with no plan to return if the foster care order is upheld.

Lev Tahor denies it mistreats its children, saying it's being persecuted for not following Quebec's secular education curriculum.

Trinidad's security ministry said it was meeting with Canadian embassy officials, but had no documents indicating the group was under any order to stay in Canada.

They're at a hotel, stopped from going to Panama to join the others in Guatemala.

"This group is not being kept against their will, nor are they being detained," spokesperson Marcia Hope said in a release.

But the group's Trinidadian lawyer said that's "a blatant lie."

Farai Hove Masaisai said he saw the group Tuesday at Piarco airport where they'd been held in a room since Monday "in less than humane conditions."

He said wasn't allowed to talk to them directly. "They hadn't even been given a meal when they were being kept at the airport. Not even a fruit," he said.

Masaisai said he threatened to call a TV crew if the group wasn't given proper shelter. They were given hotel rooms, "but they're still being heavily guarded with security with guns and all this sort of thing."

In court in Trinidad on Thursday, he demanded to know why they were being held.

"They don't have their passports, they don't have any tickets to go anywhere. They can't leave the security of immigration. That doesn't make any sense and it offends the basic human rights," he said.

Masaisai said the group should at least be heard.

"If justice is that they have to go back to Canada, at least let them be heard as to why they don't want to go back to Canada," he said.

"If justice is they have to on to Guatelmala, let them be heard."

A Lev Tahor e-mail obtained by QMI Agency said one family planned to travel to Guatemala after two days in Mexico. The other family went through Trinidad and planned connecting flights to Panama, then Guatemala.

In Chatham, where Lev Tahor was a no-show for Wednesday's appeal hearing, Superior Court Justice Lynda Templeton's written decision to apprehend the kids was released Thursday. Her "overwhelming and paramount priority" was their safety, she wrote.

More than 200 members of Lev Tahor fled their home near Montreal last fall, settling near Chatham, as the Quebec child-welfare probe closed in on them.

jane.sims@sunmedia.ca

twitter.com/JaneatLFPress

With files by Vicki Gough, Chatham Daily News

LEV TAHOR

-- Ultra-orthodox Jewish sect

-- Led by controversial rabbi who did U.S. prison time for kidnapping

-- Dubbed "Jewish Taliban" for deep religious beliefs, modest dress, closed society

-- Accused of forcing marriages of young teens to older men, beating and neglecting their children and poor educational programs -- allegations the group denies

-- Fled to Chatham from Quebec last fall, as Quebec officials began a court proceeding based on a child-welfare probe.

-- Quebec officials went to the group's home north of Montreal last Nov. 18, only to find most members -- and the kids -- gone

-- Nov. 20, 2013: Parents tell a judge their children were gone to Ontario

-- Nov. 27: Quebec court orders the kids taken into 30-day foster care

-- Feb. 3, 2014: Chatham judge agrees local officials can apprehend the kids. He gives the group 30 days to appeal.