And taking five small children all the way to Italy is kind of difficult. It involves someone caring about the kids, making sure their fed, spending money on boat tickets, and food and other stuff the kids would need to survive. So... And than to keep them in Italy, to let them grow up in Italy... It takes a lot of work to add even one child into your family, let alone five. It almost makes me think perhaps the kids were taken by some of the Sodder's family, (with or without their permission) and perhaps sent each child to live with someone different in the family. Which makes it harder to track. Perhaps one was sent to Italy one was sent to Florida to the Cipriani's, perhaps they had some distant relatives in New York and Betty went there, (the photo of the ballet student was from New York).... It just makes things harder to track.
If sting and rescue theory proves true then the ill-gotten insurance payouts (5x) would expedite relocation of the four rescued children away from their immediate family.