What do ABC Adoptions, Deborah West and “corruption” have in common?
I was contacted by a reader of my blog last week who has lost a grandchild to ABC Adoptions and the adoption was handled by Deborah West. We spoke over the phone for well over an hour and after approval of her daughter to tell her story, she has asked me to post about it here, today.
In 2002 a young girl made an adoption “plan” through ABC Adoptions with Deborah West. She didn’t have very much money and looked into adoption as an option for the future of her child. Like any mother, knowing the fate of your child is crucial to your well being, she was adamant from the beginning that she wanted an open adoption and she was promised one.
With the option of pictures, updates, letters and contact Theresa surrendered her child to adoption through ABC Adoptions and chose the adoptive family for her child. For the first year, pictures, letters and updates came and then one day, for no apparent reason, the letters, pictures and updates completely stopped.
Think about that for a minute. Faced with a situation of desperation, feeling as if you have no other options you surrender your child to a family who promises to have ongoing contact and updates as well as pictures, and suddenly for no reason, you get nothing. The family you trusted with the life of your child backstabs you. Or did they?
Theresa and her mother continue to try and contact the family through the agency with no luck. The agency will no longer help them, so they take measures into their own hands and track the adoptive family down on their own. They send them a letter asking what has happened and how her child is doing, only to be replied through a lawyer stating that the aparents wanted a closed adoption all along and intended for it to be this way, it has always been this way.
More contact between the lawyer and the natural family is made and it turns out that the aparents were under the impression that they paid for the mothers hospital bills yet Theresa had the proof that medicaid paid for all of her expenses.
Soon speculation comes around the authenticity of the letters and pictures they had been receiving for the first year of her child’s adoption, was Deborah or one of her employees writing them under the alias of the adoptive parents? Were the adoptive parents communicating with the natural family at all? ever? Nobody knows for sure at this point, but they have reason to believe this to be true.
Further contact was made through the lawyer to the adoptive parents of the child, to see if they had received over $500 in christmas gifts and gift cards during the holiday season, and it was confirmed that nothing was received. Yet when Theresa’s mother dropped the presents off to the agency to be delivered to the adoptive home of her surrendered grandchild they assured her they would be sent. Fortunately, the gift cards were traceable and it turns out they were spent, not in the city of the adoptive family however, right there in the city of the agency, the child was surrendered through. Again proof can’t be shown that it was the agency who used the gift cards intended for the surrendered grandchild, but all fingers are certainly pointing to them.
Now here we are, 5 years later, the agency is shutting down for numerous accounts of fraud and malpractice. The lawyers don’t want to listen to this mothers case because it was so long ago. There is nothing that enforces open adoption agreements in the state of Florida, and this mother, who never would have surrendered her rights to her child, if she wouldn’t have had ongoing contact with them, is without contact. Played completely by the agency, the industry and the possibly even the adoptive parents.
This family is looking for some type of reform group in the state of florida. They want to change these laws so that this doesn’t happen to others who are in desperate situations and expecting a child. If you know of a group working to reform the Florida adoption policies please comment here and we’ll put you two in contact. This type of malpractice is happening to families every day, around the world. The Baby Scoop Era isn’t over, its happening to fathers, and mothers of today, only its expanded across the world and has implemented new procedures to secure the adoptions and make thousands off of the placement of children into new homes.
Enough is enough.
This entry was posted on September 16, 2008 at 9:34 am and is filed under adoption agencies suck, anti-adoption, child placement reform, florida with tags ABC Adoptions, adoption, adoption fraud, closed adoption, corruption, deborah west, florida adoption fraud, fraud, open adoption. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
September 16, 2008 at 9:58 am
Like I have said many times, Florida is the worst state concerning Adoption, and the Agency I was adopted through, CHS, lied to me for years about non-identifying information I had a legal right to have. See, what has happened to this Real Mother and her family, is what I am talking about on the internet. If they pull this bullshit off line, OF COURSE people in the industry (and some AP’s) ARE going to play games, and lie like this online-the internet is perfect for their seedy little games too, because it is so easy for them not to get caught and to assume any idenity or place in the triad they want to lie About Adoption. I hope they get to the bottom of this, because despite the fact that there is no legal protection for women who place their child in Open Adoption, STEALING IS STEALING, and no one had a right to use gift cards and keep presents meant for someone else. Who ever did this should be in jail for theivary. This case is just another example of how Adoptees are used by the Adoption Industry and how much respect for us they DON’t have. Good post Kali.
September 16, 2008 at 10:14 am
This is frightening right? The lawyers prosecuting Deborah West seem to only want to work with recent cases involving the malpractice against paps and ap’s not the natural families. I wonder why that is? And I wonder how the workers of this agency Deborah and Angela can sleep at night? What happens to the records when this agency closes down? Can you believe these people were in charge of children? What the hell has our world come to?
September 16, 2008 at 11:21 am
Then we have the “creme de le creme”, the well-tenured executive director of “Children of the World Adoption Agency” out of Verona, N.J. This woman, Veronica Serio was a protege of Seton Hall’s much revered Professor of human study, Mr. James Boskey, she even helped him write N.J. adoption law. It turns out though, that her skills were better suited for writing affidavits of fiction. The Office of Attorney Ethics [OAE] know this, yet will not acknowledge that it is true. A signed and dated affidavit claiming attorney innocense cannot carry more weight than the DHS, can it? Confusing? Not really. The affidavit served purpose for the exoneration of the attorney under investigation by the OAE, yet pryor documented N.J. evidence that contradicts everything stated on the affidavit falls on deaf ears. Then remarketably, after the case of the OAE is found to be in the attorney’s favor, the affidavit is only now used as evidence against COW. This affidavit then leads to the issuing of revocation papers against COW. COW then withdraws and voluntarily closes its doors.
September 16, 2008 at 11:39 am
Have they tried to go to the press? Isn’t there anyone who will pick up on this story?
September 16, 2008 at 11:48 am
I recommended the press to them as well, they’re also currently trying to find a lawyer who “isn’t” connected to an agency that will “really” help them. I’m not sure whats up with the press and them. She reads here, hopefully she’ll comment on that. I referred them to Joe Soll as well and his “list” of lawyers I’ve heard he has. Hopefully some justice can be done with this.
September 17, 2008 at 7:07 am
Both the agency workers and the APs need media srutiny – they need to be outed. If this happens often enough, public opinion will begin to change.
We also need to do away with the concept of adoption as it is currently practiced. Telling people they can take the child of another and suddenly that child will become “their child”…I think there is something demented about that entire mindset.
September 17, 2008 at 7:49 am
“We also need to do away with the concept of adoption as it is currently practiced. Telling people they can take the child of another and suddenly that child will become “their child”…I think there is something demented about that entire mindset”.
Yes, it is called pyschosis…
September 17, 2008 at 9:20 am
We also need to do away with the concept of adoption as it is currently practiced. Telling people they can take the child of another and suddenly that child will become “their child”…I think there is something demented about that entire mindset.
Incredible marketing isn’t it? They’ve convinced hundreds of thousands of people that because they can’t have children of their own, they can purchase someone else’s and call it their own complete with a new birth certificate and everything.
That really.freaks.me.out.
I look at how I came into my adoptive family and it irks me. I must have been so terrified and nobody thought twice about it, nobody even questioned if I missed my mom or not, it NEVER.CROSSED.THEIR.MINDS. They just thought I was some moldable, changeable little girl who they could change her name and call themselves mom and dad to me before even “knowing” me.
Yes, I grew to love them, but let ME choose to call them mom and dad on my own comfort. Let ME choose to change my name if I wanted to. Make it be about the adoptee, not about the freakin’ needs or wants of everyone else.
That being said, in reality if my mother would have been given a little bit of support to keep me, i never would have been surrendered.
Adoptive parenting is replacement parenting, caring for someone else’s child. I think if the reality of it was honestly presented from the get go, we’d eliminate a lot of the corruption and wrong doing in the industry. I wonder what PAP classes are like… I wonder if I could stomach one, I’d like to take one just for the heck of it, to see what they’re “really” told.
September 25, 2008 at 12:34 pm
Wow – some angry words about the people who took you in, raised you and provided for you when your “birth” mother was unable to or chose not to do so. As the Mother of an adopted baby, I’m thankful that the “birth mom” chose to allow her child to be raised in a loving, caring environment. As a 15 year old child, she made a difficult, but important decision. Please don’t belitle all adoptive parents. As in all circumstances, some are more effective than others. Some, as my husband and I did, welcome the little baby into our lives and care for her as if she was born to us.
September 25, 2008 at 12:57 pm
Lisa please point out to me where the “angry” words were in my post or comments. There aren’t any. This comment in reply to yours is more angry( but not too much ) than anything else in this thread. Let me explain why.
You are dismissing the reality of how I came into my families life. In reality ( which they admit too ) they didn’t have a clue about my needs as a child experiencing separation loss and trauma, I was there to fulfill their needs of wanting a child that they couldn’t have naturally. Those are facts, that is not judgment, nor is it anger. I let go of my anger on that long ago. They WERE my replacement parents, all adoptive parents are there to replace the parents who didn’t or couldn’t raise the children. Thats not a statement of anger, thats a reality. And its not an insult either.
I’m a little irked by the fact that I can tell you didn’t take the time to read around my blog here, or else you would have seen that I love for and care for all 4 of my parents dearly.
It sounds to me, like you are assuming, i’m just an angry dismissive adoptee. When thats not the case at all.
I’m also irked that you are trying to get me to be grateful for people taking me in under the assumption that my natural mother was unable and chose not to do so. When in reality, you don’t know how or why my mother surrendered me. Adoptees should never be grateful to have been adopted, that is dismissive to the entire adoptee experience.
Of course you are thankful that your child’s natural mother chose you to raise her, adoptive parents are the ones who benefit in adoption without loss. You don’t lose anything for adoption to “work” for you. Adoptees and natural parents DO lose, a lot. Adoption is based on loss, and i will never be grateful for that. Who is to say that your child’s natural mother couldn’t raise her in a loving, caring environment? Nobody. 15 year olds can make great mothers, who are just as loving and caring as the next.
I am NOT belittling all or ANY adoptive parents in this thread. Please point out to me where i have done ANY belittling. And by the way, my adoptive parents were incredibly “effective” and welcomed me into their lives and cared for me like I was their real child.
If you feel like it head right on over to the “Posts I want you to read” section, and take a look at ‘be grateful you weren’t aborted’ and ‘You must have had a bad life’ those posts would clear some misinterpretations up imo.
Feeling better now, that thats off my chest. Have a good day.
September 27, 2008 at 5:42 am
Well, I am an angry dismissive(and abused by the Adoption system and my Adoptive “Mother) Adoptee, and you know what Lisa Carter, I am SO sick of you bitter, spoiled barren bitches there aren’t enough bastard barf buckets in the world for me to puke in. IF YOU CAN’T HAVE A KID, YOU CAN’T HAVE A KID-NONE OF YOU DESERVE ANOTHER WOMAN’S BABY YOU BRAT! Women should of gotten help to KEEP THEIR babies, help is NOT letting some, angry, slobering, resentful infertile raise the child. Society and America has totally screwed this up. And AP’s attitudes are screwed up too, BIGTIME. And oh yeah, leave Gershom alone you bully.
September 27, 2008 at 11:24 am
Improper… please try to keep it a little cooler than that. Nothing productive is going to come from comments like that. I’m putting it (the comment) on hold and giving you some time cool off a bit.
October 1, 2008 at 12:17 am
Its been a few days and I’m posting the comment through as it came. I don’t want to censor, i don’t want to stop people from speaking their minds. I don’t want you improper to feel that you can’t speak your feelings.
I do want to ask people though to try and remain as respectful as we can. I know that there are so many differing views in adoption, especially on an antiadoption blog. I don’t agree with the industry, but I’m trying hard to not result to name calling. Differing opinions is fine. To each their own. Please try and keep it respectful even in disagreement from here on out, and I’ll try too because i’m not always innocent myself. You should have seen me on y!a’s today.
October 1, 2008 at 6:51 am
Like I said Gershom, if you wanted to delete my comment that is fine with me. All Adoptees get upset and seriously go off on the internet, I have seen it many, many times, on many boards and in many forums. As I told you in my email, I have chosen not to live in the if we express anger towards Adoptive Parents and the Adoption System we are ax murders that the Adoption Industry, the Social Worker Industry and the Christians built for us out of that lie. AP’s love to shove us in that box too, online and off, and they try to use guilt and manipulation to keep us in it. I am digusted at the self-centeredness and lack of love and caring so many AP’s show towards the children they Adopt and to Adoptees in general on line, because they put their own wants, needs, ego fufillment, and the ability they are given by the Adoption Industry to corrupt the unatural power they are given over us. That does not make a good parent, or even a good human being. Whether my comment is up or down, it doesn’t matter to me as this is your blog and I will respect that.
October 1, 2008 at 1:54 pm
Whoops-typo-
As I told you in my email, I have chosen not to live in the if we express anger towards Adoptive Parents and the Adoption System we are ax murders *that the Adoption Industry, the Social Worker Industry and the Christians built for us out of that lie.
*box