It's as sensational as the story line of a TV crime show. And the characters--at least as they appear on TV--are every bit as colorful.
But unfortunately, it's real life.
A night club dancer turned "adoption professional" and her business partner "hang out their shingle" as Waiting Angels Adoption Services, Inc. and begin facilitating adoptions from (well, where else, but) Guatemala.
Their clients?
According to a local TV station: "Desperate would-be parents." Some of whom, profiled by the TV station, longed for a baby after lengthy struggles with infertility. Parents who were so eager to have a baby in arms that they took out second mortgages on their homes, forked over their life savings, signed contracts with, and then placed their hopes in the hands of these same Waiting Angels "adoption professionals."
Lest you think these parents didn't do their "homework" in checking out Waiting Angels Adoption Services before signing on, think again. Prospective adoptive parents (PAP's) recently testified in criminal court that they had asked Waiting Angels for (and received from the same) client references--the email addresses of satisfied former Waiting Angels' clients.
How were these PAP's to know that the email addresses of these "satisfied clients" were apparently (according to allegations in criminal court) owned by one of the adoption agency principals, Joe Beauvais? And that the replies they received--glowing recommendations for Waiting Angels--were allegedly, according to evidence presented recently in criminal court, simply Joe, pretending to be several former clients?
As if that isn't enough to turn your stomach, an undercover investigation by a local TV station using a hidden camera, reveals a peek, in sordid detail, into the alleged way in which at least some "adoption professionals" procure Guatemalan children who are then offered for adoption here in the U.S. The descriptions come from the couple's own lips, captured on tape for all the world to see. It's not pretty. Like seeing the proverbial way sausage or laws are made. Not for the faint of heart or those who want to preserve their adoption-is-an-absolute-good belief system.
Despite this procurement system and for reasons, at this point, known only by agency principals, Boraggina and Beauvais, Waiting Angels apparently failed to deliver babies to many waiting PAP's. PAP's allege they were given many technical reasons for the failure of their children to "come home" and that, as a result of their complaints, more promises were made and, for whatever reasons, those promises too were allegedly broken.
The trail of adoptive parents with broken dreams, empty savings accounts, and second mortgages for which they had nothing to show but payment books and empty nurseries, allegedly grew.
Refunds of adoption fees, like the promised babies, allegedly also failed to materialize.
In publicly available legal documents, prospective adoptive parents allege a pattern of increasing unresponsiveness by Waiting Angels to their requests and questions.
Eventually, in 2005, a class action law suit was filed against Waiting Angels by several families.
But, as we all know, the wheels of the justice system turn slowly.
Meanwhile, the children that eager families had hoped would be their own, continued to grow and and develop. Babies outgrew layettes they never wore. Tiny babies promised to adoptive families, babies with whom some heart-sick PAP's had previously bonded on trips to Guatemala and with whom others had bonded through photos and video updates, grew into toddlers without ever seeing the dream nurseries their would-be parents had lovingly and lavishly outfitted months, and now years, earlier.
Monthly payments on second mortgages served--and continue to serve even now--as painful reminders of what does not lie behind closed nursery doors where dust gathers on dead dreams.
A local TV station's investigative team had earlier taken up the cause of the weary, teary-eyed, and empty-armed PAP's. In a series of investigative reports, it explored and then made public the case against the agency and its principals.
Evidence mounted and finally, in the face of sympathetic public outrage, law enforcement moved in with search warrants against Waiting Angels Adoption Services, Inc. and its principals, Simone Boraggina and Joe Beauvais.
The local TV station covered the raid of the two homes from which Waiting Angels and its principals ran their adoption agency. Footage shows policemen carrying out computer hard drives and crates of paper files--to be gone through and kept as evidence.
But no one was prepared for what turned up in one of the houses.
In one of the two homes of the "adoption professionals," police were astonished to find A HALF A MILLION DOLLARS IN CASH. Indisputably, there it is, caught on camera--$500,000 in cash in neat stacks of bills stored in multiple, neatly sealed zip-lock baggies.
Where did this money come from? Why was it there?
Had Simone and Joe ever sent the money given them to Guatemala to procure the children they had promised the couples? If they had, what was this money?
More generally, why would anyone--and specifically why would Simone and Joe--keep this huge amount of cash in a private residence instead of putting it into a bank?
Only Simone and Joe know where the money came from and why it was there. Only they know what they did or didn't do to procure the children they had promised adoptive parents.
Shortly thereafter, Simone Boraggina and Joe Beauvais--the principals of Waiting Angels Adoption Services, Inc.--turned themselves in and were arrested as local TV cameras rolled and astonished TV investigators looked on.
Desiree
News Video That Introduces Allegations Against Waiting Angels:
Rescue 4 Undercover: Shocking Details About Adoption, Channel 4 Detroit,
News Video Announcing Arrest of Waiting Angels Principals:
Rescue 4 Undercover: Arrests Made in Adoption Case, Channel 4 Detroit, arrest and search
New Video Showing Confrontation with One of Waiting Angels Principals:
Rescue 4 Undercover: Karen's Confrontation, Channel 4 Detroit, short confrontation
News Video Detailing Waiting Angels' Alleged Modus Operandi:
Rescue 4 Undercover: The Desperation Behind Selling a Baby, Channel 4
News Video (which is mostly audio) in whichAttorney General Mike Cox Alleges What Joe & Simone were doing and what he intends to do as Attorney General in Response:
Adoption Scam, 9 & 10 News.com, 4 May, 2007
Most Recent News Video Showing First Day of Trial:
Rescue 4 Undercover: Waiting Angels Adoption Scam, Channel 4 Detroit, 13 Sept 2007
Law Firm Summary of Earlier 2006 Class Action Law Suit against Waiting Angels: The Quisenberry Law Firm Newswire, Michigan, "Class Action Says Adoption Agency Just Keeps Demanding More Money," 23 October 2006
IBL, Class Action Reporter, Headlines List, alphabetical under W for Waiting Angels (scroll down for a detailed summary), 27 Oct 2007
PDF of Class Action Law Suit Filed Against Waiting Angels with US Court:
Class Action Lawsuit: Heinrich et al v. Waiting Angels Adoption Services, Inc. et al. (Case No. 5:06-cv-00168-RHBter), October 2006 by Fixel Law Offices of East Lansing Michigan in U.S. Federal District Court
PDF of 2007 Lawsuit Filed Against Waiting Angels with US District Court:
Heinrich et al v. Waiting Angels Adoption Services, Inc., filed 27 March 2007 in US Federal District Court in the Western District of Michigan
Legal Counsel's Summary and Update Page for Waiting Angels Lawsuit: Waiting Angels FAQ: Waiting Angels Litigation, Fixel Law Offices, last updated 12 September 2007
And the Adoption Agency's own website, still up and running and advertising adoption services:
Waiting Angels Adoption Agency Website
Showing posts with label Poor Adoption Practice Hurts Real People. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Poor Adoption Practice Hurts Real People. Show all posts
Friday, October 19, 2007
America: Waiting Angels Prosecution, Part II: The Legal Cases
Waiting Angels Adoption Services, Inc., an American adoption agency out of Michigan, and its principals, Simone Boraggina and Joseph Beauvais, have been and are now the subject of several lawsuits, including:
1. The Federal Class Action Suit
The essentials of the class action suit, Heinrich et al v. Waiting Angels Adoption Services, Inc. et al. (Case No. 5:06-cv-00168-RHBter), filed in October 2006 by Fixel Law Offices of East Lansing Michigan in U.S. Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on behalf of "ten named plantiffs" (all adoptive parents who were clients of Waiting Angels), is explained in the legal publication, Class Action Reporter, as follows:
Barring any real information, one could speculate that either the process to certify the class is ongoing or else, the plaintiffs failed to convince the court to certify the class so that the case could proceed as a "class action suit."
A link to the actual text of the Class Action suit as it was filed with the Federal Court is available both below and also here at Class Action Lawsuit: Heinrich et al v. Waiting Angels Adoption Services, Inc. et al. (Case No. 5:06-cv-00168-RHBter), October 2006 by Fixel Law Offices of East Lansing Michigan in U.S. Federal District Court
2. The Federal Civil Suit against Waiting Angels Services, Inc.
Whatever happened with the 2006 Class Action Suit against Waiting Angels, this much is clear: A Federal civil lawsuit was brought by the same plaintiffs plus an additional family which joined shortly after filing, using the same lawyers, on March 27, 2007. This second suit seems to be one and the same case in a slightly different incarnation, for certainly the cases have the same court case numbers and the texts of the complaints are almost exactly the same.
The families allege that they "have all been victims of fraud, misrepresentation, and various violations of Federal Laws." According to court documents the defendants are being charged with four counts (two against Waiting Angels as an entity, one against Boraggina and Beauvais as persons; one against both Waiting Angels and Boraggina and Beauvais) of a scheme to defraud, solicit bribes, extort, and defraud under the Federal RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations)Act; one count of unjust enrichment (Waiting Angels, Boraggina, and Beauvais); one count of conversion; one count of civil conspiracy; one count of concert of action; one count of fraudulent misrepresentation; one count of innocent misrepresentation; and finally one count of exemplary damages explained thus: "Defendants Waiting Angels, Boraggina and/or Beauvais representations were made intentionally and maliciously and have caused Plantiffs...to suffer humiliation, outrage, indignation, sleepless nights, and emotional distress.
As to the current status of this suit, the law firm maintains a public web page to apprise Waiting Angels families and the general public of the status of the law suit. This website explains the current status law firm that brought the suit on behalf of the families involved:
3. The Michigan State Attorney General's Criminal Case Against Waiting Angels Services, Inc.
The allegations that resulted in the criminal case are easy to understand if you take the time to watch the four linked videos at the end of this blog post.
Anyone who wants to understand just how unprotected and at the mercy of entrepreneurial adoption agencies adoptive parents are in the current under- and un-regulated adoption climate in the US should definitely take the time to watch them. As the saying goes--a picture is worth a thousand words.
The latest video from the Detroit's Channel 4 Investigative Team gives the latest update on the criminal proceedings. Although the prosecutor on this video mentions a few of the crimes with which Boraggina and Beauvais are likely to be charged, to my knowledge no comprehensive list of these crimes has yet to be published (again someone please correct me if I'm wrong).
According to an update to the lawsuit information page referenced earlier, the status of the criminal case as of October 16, 2007 was as follows:
The unsympathetic judge said, "NO WAY."
What I want to know is why the Waiting Angels Services, Inc. web site advertising Simone and Joe's business is still up on the internet. Are they still fielding adoption inqueries from PAP's?
Desiree
News Video Announcing Arrest of Waiting Angels Principals:
Rescue 4 Undercover: Arrests Made in Adoption Case, Channel 4 Detroit, arrest and search
New Video Showing Confrontation with One of Waiting Angels Principals:
Rescue 4 Undercover: Karen's Confrontation, Channel 4 Detroit, short confrontation
News Video Detailing Waiting Angels' Alleged Modus Operandi:
Rescue 4 Undercover: The Desperation Behind Selling a Baby, Channel 4
News Video (which is mostly audio) in which Attorney General Mike Cox Alleges What Joe & Simone were doing and what he intends to do as Attorney General in Response:
Adoption Scam, 9 & 10 News.com, 4 May, 2007
Most Recent News Video Showing First Day of Trial:
Rescue 4 Undercover: Waiting Angels Adoption Scam, Channel 4 Detroit, 13 Sept 2007
Law Firm Summary of Earlier 2006 Class Action Law Suit against Waiting Angels: The Quisenberry Law Firm Newswire, Michigan, "Class Action Says Adoption Agency Just Keeps Demanding More Money," 23 October 2006
IBL, Class Action Reporter, Headlines List, alphabetical under W for Waiting Angels (scroll down for a detailed summary), 27 Oct 2007
PDF of Class Action Law Suit Filed Against Waiting Angels with US Court:
Class Action Lawsuit: Heinrich et al v. Waiting Angels Adoption Services, Inc. et al. (Case No. 5:06-cv-00168-RHBter), October 2006 by Fixel Law Offices of East Lansing Michigan in U.S. Federal District Court
PDF of 2007 Lawsuit Filed Against Waiting Angels with US District Court:
Heinrich et al v. Waiting Angels Adoption Services, Inc., filed 27 March 2007 in US Federal District Court in the Western District of Michigan
Legal Counsel's Summary and Update Page for Waiting Angels Lawsuit: Waiting Angels FAQ: Waiting Angels Litigation, Fixel Law Offices, last updated 12 September 2007
And the Adoption Agency's own website, still up and running and advertising adoption services:
Waiting Angels Adoption Agency Website
- A Federal class action suit brought by at least ten named plaintiffs
- A civil lawsuit brought in US Federal District Court by at least six adoptive families
- And finally a criminal case currently being actively pursued by the Michigan State Attorney General.
The essentials of the class action suit, Heinrich et al v. Waiting Angels Adoption Services, Inc. et al. (Case No. 5:06-cv-00168-RHBter), filed in October 2006 by Fixel Law Offices of East Lansing Michigan in U.S. Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on behalf of "ten named plantiffs" (all adoptive parents who were clients of Waiting Angels), is explained in the legal publication, Class Action Reporter, as follows:
"The suit specifically alleged violations of the federalClass action suits have their own special procedures beyond the usual ones for most law suits:
Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization (RICO) statute, 18
U.S.C. Section 1961, and various other Michigan statutes and
common law doctrines.
[and...]
"The suit alleges the adoption agency defrauds vulnerable, would-
be foster [surely using the word "foster" here is a typographical error?] parents by demanding extra money for unspecified fees,
and threatening they will never get their babies unless they
pay."
After the complaint is filed, the plaintiff must file a motion to have the class certified. In some cases class certification may require additional discovery in order to determine if the proposed class meets the standard for class certification.It is not clear from public documents (at least those that we could find), what exactly the current legal status of the Waiting Angels Class Action suit is. If anyone has any information on this, especially in a publicly available form, we at Fleasbiting would certainly like to know.
Upon the motion to certify the class, the defendants may object to whether the issues are appropriately handled as a class action, to whether the named plaintiffs are sufficiently representative of the class, and to their relationship with the law firm or firms handling the case. The court will also examine the ability of the firm to prosecute the claim for the plaintiffs, and their resources for dealing with class actions.
Barring any real information, one could speculate that either the process to certify the class is ongoing or else, the plaintiffs failed to convince the court to certify the class so that the case could proceed as a "class action suit."
A link to the actual text of the Class Action suit as it was filed with the Federal Court is available both below and also here at Class Action Lawsuit: Heinrich et al v. Waiting Angels Adoption Services, Inc. et al. (Case No. 5:06-cv-00168-RHBter), October 2006 by Fixel Law Offices of East Lansing Michigan in U.S. Federal District Court
Whatever happened with the 2006 Class Action Suit against Waiting Angels, this much is clear: A Federal civil lawsuit was brought by the same plaintiffs plus an additional family which joined shortly after filing, using the same lawyers, on March 27, 2007. This second suit seems to be one and the same case in a slightly different incarnation, for certainly the cases have the same court case numbers and the texts of the complaints are almost exactly the same.
The families allege that they "have all been victims of fraud, misrepresentation, and various violations of Federal Laws." According to court documents the defendants are being charged with four counts (two against Waiting Angels as an entity, one against Boraggina and Beauvais as persons; one against both Waiting Angels and Boraggina and Beauvais) of a scheme to defraud, solicit bribes, extort, and defraud under the Federal RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations)Act; one count of unjust enrichment (Waiting Angels, Boraggina, and Beauvais); one count of conversion; one count of civil conspiracy; one count of concert of action; one count of fraudulent misrepresentation; one count of innocent misrepresentation; and finally one count of exemplary damages explained thus: "Defendants Waiting Angels, Boraggina and/or Beauvais representations were made intentionally and maliciously and have caused Plantiffs...to suffer humiliation, outrage, indignation, sleepless nights, and emotional distress.
As to the current status of this suit, the law firm maintains a public web page to apprise Waiting Angels families and the general public of the status of the law suit. This website explains the current status law firm that brought the suit on behalf of the families involved:
"After the police raid in April 2007 and while criminal charges were pending, the Plaintiffs in this lawsuit (6 families) were granted a Stay of Proceedings placing the lawsuit on hold until the completion of all criminal proceedings."A PDF of the 2007 Civil Lawsuit Filed Against Waiting Angels in US Federal District Court is available online at Heinrich et al v. Waiting Angels Adoption Services, Inc., filed 27 March 2007 in US Federal District Court in the Western District of Michigan
The allegations that resulted in the criminal case are easy to understand if you take the time to watch the four linked videos at the end of this blog post.
Anyone who wants to understand just how unprotected and at the mercy of entrepreneurial adoption agencies adoptive parents are in the current under- and un-regulated adoption climate in the US should definitely take the time to watch them. As the saying goes--a picture is worth a thousand words.
The latest video from the Detroit's Channel 4 Investigative Team gives the latest update on the criminal proceedings. Although the prosecutor on this video mentions a few of the crimes with which Boraggina and Beauvais are likely to be charged, to my knowledge no comprehensive list of these crimes has yet to be published (again someone please correct me if I'm wrong).
According to an update to the lawsuit information page referenced earlier, the status of the criminal case as of October 16, 2007 was as follows:
"Preliminary Hearings were held for Joe Beauvais and Simone Boraggina on September 10 & 11, 2007. The Michigan Attorney General's Office was successful in convincing the Macomb County District Court that probable cause exists and Joe & Simone were bound over to the Macomb County Circuit Court to face criminal charges. Details are not yet known but there will be an arraignment hearing later and a future trial date will be set."Of interest, in the last Channel 4 video update was Simone's lawyer's plea to the judge to please let Simone, as she awaits criminal trial, forego her court ordered house arrest and tether, so that she could "return to night club dancing" as that was her only means to support herself now that she had lost her only other means of support.
The unsympathetic judge said, "NO WAY."
What I want to know is why the Waiting Angels Services, Inc. web site advertising Simone and Joe's business is still up on the internet. Are they still fielding adoption inqueries from PAP's?
Desiree
News Video Announcing Arrest of Waiting Angels Principals:
Rescue 4 Undercover: Arrests Made in Adoption Case, Channel 4 Detroit, arrest and search
New Video Showing Confrontation with One of Waiting Angels Principals:
Rescue 4 Undercover: Karen's Confrontation, Channel 4 Detroit, short confrontation
News Video Detailing Waiting Angels' Alleged Modus Operandi:
Rescue 4 Undercover: The Desperation Behind Selling a Baby, Channel 4
News Video (which is mostly audio) in which Attorney General Mike Cox Alleges What Joe & Simone were doing and what he intends to do as Attorney General in Response:
Adoption Scam, 9 & 10 News.com, 4 May, 2007
Most Recent News Video Showing First Day of Trial:
Rescue 4 Undercover: Waiting Angels Adoption Scam, Channel 4 Detroit, 13 Sept 2007
Law Firm Summary of Earlier 2006 Class Action Law Suit against Waiting Angels: The Quisenberry Law Firm Newswire, Michigan, "Class Action Says Adoption Agency Just Keeps Demanding More Money," 23 October 2006
IBL, Class Action Reporter, Headlines List, alphabetical under W for Waiting Angels (scroll down for a detailed summary), 27 Oct 2007
PDF of Class Action Law Suit Filed Against Waiting Angels with US Court:
Class Action Lawsuit: Heinrich et al v. Waiting Angels Adoption Services, Inc. et al. (Case No. 5:06-cv-00168-RHBter), October 2006 by Fixel Law Offices of East Lansing Michigan in U.S. Federal District Court
PDF of 2007 Lawsuit Filed Against Waiting Angels with US District Court:
Heinrich et al v. Waiting Angels Adoption Services, Inc., filed 27 March 2007 in US Federal District Court in the Western District of Michigan
Legal Counsel's Summary and Update Page for Waiting Angels Lawsuit: Waiting Angels FAQ: Waiting Angels Litigation, Fixel Law Offices, last updated 12 September 2007
And the Adoption Agency's own website, still up and running and advertising adoption services:
Waiting Angels Adoption Agency Website
Friday, September 14, 2007
India: Baby Farming for Domestic Adoption Using Young Household Servants
An investigative team from CNN-IBN in Delhi, India has uncovered a trafficking scheme in which impoverished rural village girls, many of them tribals, are being recruited by employment agencies who ostensibly place them in larger cities as domestic servants. Subsequently cut-off from contact with their village families, the girls also fall victim to a much more sinister, profitable (for the agency) scheme.
According to allegations, the girls, while working for minimal or non-existent pay, also reportedly become unwilling baby-producers for the placement agency. Reportedly arranging to have the girls raped so that they become impregnated, the agency supposedly continues to monitor the girls (who continue working as domestic servants) as the babies are gestated. When the girls give birth, the newborns are, according to news reports, taken by the placement agency and sold on India's thriving domestic adoption black market.
The racket was busted when, after receiving a "tip-off," two members of CNN-IBN's Special Investigation team posing as an adoptive couple wanting a baby for domestic adoption, visited a particular Delhi placement agency with a hidden camera.
While negotiating a price for a baby, the investigative couple met both the mother of a child who had previously been adopted out and also the midwife who had delivered her baby 20 days earlier. During the meeting, the midwife and the agency representative, with the mother in question looking on, had a disagreement about the mother's age--was she or was she not an minor?
Apparently the CNN-IBN investigative team later followed up with the midwife who told them not only that the mother was a minor but also that:
The investigative team called the local police who proceeded to conduct a raid. With information from the midwife, the police and the investigative team were able to locate the family who had bought the young mother's baby.
Police subsequently returned to the placement agency. By day's end, they had arrested and/or taken in for questioning, the placement agency director and some agency personnel, the young mother, and the adoptive family. The lawyer who supposedly effected the transfer of the infant from agency to adoptive family was also located, but denied all knowledge of the situation.
The racket and similar ones involving other placement agencies, are being investigated by Delhi police. According to press reports, since the original arrest, several other young women who were being similarly exploited as baby producers have been taken into protective custody.
At last press report, according to North-West Delhi DCP (Deputy Commissioner of Police--the ranking police chief of the area), the crimes that were to be booked in the case included kidnapping, rape, confinement, abduction (of the baby), intimidation, and the intention to commit all the above crimes.
The discovery of this racket has created special concern among those on the Delhi Child Welfare Committee. They have "asked for strong action against the culprits."
The racket has also created serious public concern in India, bringing into sharp public focus at least three related areas of concern--areas of concern that have helped make possible the exploitation of these minors as baby-producers for the adoption market:
According to news reports, an abundant number of placement agencies recruit children, mostly from rural areas, to work in larger nearby cities, most often as domestic help. Many of these placement agencies are not registered businesses, but rather transient entrepreneurial "mom and pop" operations run by a husband and wife team. Most placement agencies are not registered businesses; most do not keep records of their own activities. Many hire young tribals as agents to go from village to village to find the child workers and are paid according to the numbers of children they find.
One press report tells of a man named Ghusari who is missing both a son and a daughter:
Some who manage to come home again, tell of long work hours, abuse, and all too often of failing to get paid for the work they have done. As for justice for these children and their families, it is rare.
In the last two years, reports of crimes committed against domestic help, many of them young people, have increased by forty percent, but during the same period, conviction rates for the same have stayed steady at ten percent of the total.
But what of the adoption climate in India?
According to Western popular knowledge and press reports, India is fairly overflowing with adoptable young infants--so many infants that Western adoption agencies beg for parents for these children. In such a climate, why would there be an adoption black market? Why, if there is an overabundance of adoptable infants, would anyone bother to gestate yet more adoptable babies and in a way that was clearly criminal--and so put themselves in danger of criminal prosecution?
With some thought we could imagine many possible answers to this question--perhaps Indians don't like the formal process for one reason or another, perhaps some people are shut-out of the process for one reason, perhaps the cost of a formal adoption is too high, or perhaps some people want to adopt in such a way that their adoption is secret or hidden, etc. etc. etc.
Rather than speculate as to the reasons why someone would go to the trouble of hatching such a scheme if the country were overflowing with adoptable babies, let's let an expert on Indian adoption--an official spokesperson of the Indian government's agency charged with overseeing and regulating the adoption of Indian children both domestically and abroad, answer the question herself.
Leila Baig, Secretary of CEVARA (the Central Voluntary Adoption and Resource Agency), a domestic arm of CARA (Central Adoption Resource Agency), was a guest on a segment of CNN-IBN's Sunday Special, an in-depth TV show that examines critical issues in India. The show's host posed this question:
'Just why do such cases [of exploiting minor domestic help to gestate babies for the adoption trade] happen? Are laws--or the lack of them--to blame? Is that the reason why trafficking of children is now becoming a part of adoption practice in the country [of India]?'
And Leila Baig of CARA answered thus:
"There aren't enough children..."??
Hmm....how interesting.
And it comes straight from the lips of a CARA official. You can watch the video yourself by clicking on one of the links below.
Demand for legally adoptable infants exceeds supply.
Something that we who have been watching the adoption climate in India--both domestic and international--have suspected for some time.
It could make sense of a good many things.
More on this later in another post.
Desiree
Initial Video Which Broke the Story:
Exposed! Delhi's Baby Sellers Exploit Minors, IBNLive.com, 2 Sept 2007
Corresponding Text:
Exposed! Delhi's Baby Sellers Exploit Minors, IBNLive.com, 2 Sept 2007
A Series of Four Videos which comprise CNN-IBN's Sunday Special "Babies for Sale" (a longer investigative TV format looks at the issue in more depth and with expert guests):
Video Part I--Babies for Sale, CNN-IBN's TV show Sunday Special, IBNLive.com, 2 Sept 2007
Video Part II--Babies for Sale, CNN-IBN's TV show Sunday Special, IBNLive.com, 2 Sept 2007
Video Part III--Babies for Sale, CNN-IBN's TV show Sunday Special, IBNLive.com, 2 Sept 2007
Video Part IV--Babies for Sale, CNN-IBN's TV show Sunday Special, IBNLive.com, 2 Sept 2007
Corresponding texts for four part video report:
Text--Minor Mothers: Ill-Fated Girls Pawns for Sex-Racket, IBNLive.com, 3 Sept 2007
Domestic Help: How Trafficking Takes Place?">Domestic Help: How Trafficking Takes Place?, IBNLive.com, 2 Sept 2007
Follow up report:Welfare Board Takes Abused Minors into Protection, IBNLive.com, 2 Sept 2007
According to allegations, the girls, while working for minimal or non-existent pay, also reportedly become unwilling baby-producers for the placement agency. Reportedly arranging to have the girls raped so that they become impregnated, the agency supposedly continues to monitor the girls (who continue working as domestic servants) as the babies are gestated. When the girls give birth, the newborns are, according to news reports, taken by the placement agency and sold on India's thriving domestic adoption black market.
The racket was busted when, after receiving a "tip-off," two members of CNN-IBN's Special Investigation team posing as an adoptive couple wanting a baby for domestic adoption, visited a particular Delhi placement agency with a hidden camera.
While negotiating a price for a baby, the investigative couple met both the mother of a child who had previously been adopted out and also the midwife who had delivered her baby 20 days earlier. During the meeting, the midwife and the agency representative, with the mother in question looking on, had a disagreement about the mother's age--was she or was she not an minor?
Apparently the CNN-IBN investigative team later followed up with the midwife who told them not only that the mother was a minor but also that:
"They [the placement agency] have been involved in getting young girls pregnant, making them give birth to children. Whoever they give the baby to, they take a lot of money from them."The midwife insisted that she had been "smelling a rat for some time."
The investigative team called the local police who proceeded to conduct a raid. With information from the midwife, the police and the investigative team were able to locate the family who had bought the young mother's baby.
"The family [who had adopted the baby] claimed that they had no clue as to where the baby had come from. According to them, they collected the baby from the chamber of a lawyer..."The infant was taken into protective custody.
Police subsequently returned to the placement agency. By day's end, they had arrested and/or taken in for questioning, the placement agency director and some agency personnel, the young mother, and the adoptive family. The lawyer who supposedly effected the transfer of the infant from agency to adoptive family was also located, but denied all knowledge of the situation.
The racket and similar ones involving other placement agencies, are being investigated by Delhi police. According to press reports, since the original arrest, several other young women who were being similarly exploited as baby producers have been taken into protective custody.
At last press report, according to North-West Delhi DCP (Deputy Commissioner of Police--the ranking police chief of the area), the crimes that were to be booked in the case included kidnapping, rape, confinement, abduction (of the baby), intimidation, and the intention to commit all the above crimes.
The discovery of this racket has created special concern among those on the Delhi Child Welfare Committee. They have "asked for strong action against the culprits."
The racket has also created serious public concern in India, bringing into sharp public focus at least three related areas of concern--areas of concern that have helped make possible the exploitation of these minors as baby-producers for the adoption market:
- the activities of placement agencies who routinely comb villages to recruit older children
- the plight of domestic servants within India
- the adoption climate--the market for and supply of adoptable children within India
- and finally, the state of Indian laws that govern these activities
According to news reports, an abundant number of placement agencies recruit children, mostly from rural areas, to work in larger nearby cities, most often as domestic help. Many of these placement agencies are not registered businesses, but rather transient entrepreneurial "mom and pop" operations run by a husband and wife team. Most placement agencies are not registered businesses; most do not keep records of their own activities. Many hire young tribals as agents to go from village to village to find the child workers and are paid according to the numbers of children they find.
"Supplying child laborers as domestic workers is big business for agencies in Delhi.Once taken from their villages, the working children and their families are frequently, purposefully cut-off from communication with each other. A placement agency calling care is the only way parents have to trace their child and check on his or her whereabouts and safety. However, when an anxious parent concerned by the lack of subsequent to work placement communication from his or her child calls to check on the child, the parent is shocked to discover that either the calling cared phone numbers do not work at all or else the person on the other end of the line has no information on the child--in fact, he/she has never heard of the child. Concerned parents who continue to trouble agencies about missing children often meet not only with non-cooperation, but also threats.
One press report tells of a man named Ghusari who is missing both a son and a daughter:
The agent took my daughter later he threatened me that if I register a complaint with the police, I will not be able to see my daughter ever again.In spite of nasty threats like these and a police force that is not always kindly nor responsive to the concerns of impoverished rural folk, rural parents DO file police reports asking for help in finding missing children taken by recruiters.
"The list [of missing children taken by recruiters] available with CNN-IBN shows that over 700 children are missing from Sarguja district in Chattisgarh. And this village, Cheerapara, is missing no less than 64 of its children....What are the chances that these parents will see never see their children again? Father Theodore Lakda, director of an NGO which rescues children trafficked from Chattisgarh reports that 20-30 percent of the children taken by recruiters will never be seen again.
Some who manage to come home again, tell of long work hours, abuse, and all too often of failing to get paid for the work they have done. As for justice for these children and their families, it is rare.
In the last two years, reports of crimes committed against domestic help, many of them young people, have increased by forty percent, but during the same period, conviction rates for the same have stayed steady at ten percent of the total.
"Many activists feel believe that there's a predominant feeling within the civil society that because it's a domestic help--perceived to be a helpless creature--anyone can get away with anything. 'Yes, they sometimes feel that they are feeding and clothing a young person and there is no control or no standards imposed. They don't pay the salaries of these people; it's a total question of bonded labor.'It is in this climate of exploitation, injustice, and disregard for basic human rights that the racket of exploiting young domestic servants to involuntarily produce adoptable babies for the black market takes place.
--Leila Baig of the domestic arm of CARA.
But what of the adoption climate in India?
According to Western popular knowledge and press reports, India is fairly overflowing with adoptable young infants--so many infants that Western adoption agencies beg for parents for these children. In such a climate, why would there be an adoption black market? Why, if there is an overabundance of adoptable infants, would anyone bother to gestate yet more adoptable babies and in a way that was clearly criminal--and so put themselves in danger of criminal prosecution?
With some thought we could imagine many possible answers to this question--perhaps Indians don't like the formal process for one reason or another, perhaps some people are shut-out of the process for one reason, perhaps the cost of a formal adoption is too high, or perhaps some people want to adopt in such a way that their adoption is secret or hidden, etc. etc. etc.
Rather than speculate as to the reasons why someone would go to the trouble of hatching such a scheme if the country were overflowing with adoptable babies, let's let an expert on Indian adoption--an official spokesperson of the Indian government's agency charged with overseeing and regulating the adoption of Indian children both domestically and abroad, answer the question herself.
Leila Baig, Secretary of CEVARA (the Central Voluntary Adoption and Resource Agency), a domestic arm of CARA (Central Adoption Resource Agency), was a guest on a segment of CNN-IBN's Sunday Special, an in-depth TV show that examines critical issues in India. The show's host posed this question:
'Just why do such cases [of exploiting minor domestic help to gestate babies for the adoption trade] happen? Are laws--or the lack of them--to blame? Is that the reason why trafficking of children is now becoming a part of adoption practice in the country [of India]?'
And Leila Baig of CARA answered thus:
"It's not entirely adoption laws which are at fault over here but there is a huge demand for children now. There aren't enough children coming into the regulated system."A "huge demand for children now?"
"There aren't enough children..."??
Hmm....how interesting.
And it comes straight from the lips of a CARA official. You can watch the video yourself by clicking on one of the links below.
Demand for legally adoptable infants exceeds supply.
Something that we who have been watching the adoption climate in India--both domestic and international--have suspected for some time.
It could make sense of a good many things.
More on this later in another post.
Desiree
Initial Video Which Broke the Story:
Exposed! Delhi's Baby Sellers Exploit Minors, IBNLive.com, 2 Sept 2007
Corresponding Text:
Exposed! Delhi's Baby Sellers Exploit Minors, IBNLive.com, 2 Sept 2007
A Series of Four Videos which comprise CNN-IBN's Sunday Special "Babies for Sale" (a longer investigative TV format looks at the issue in more depth and with expert guests):
Video Part I--Babies for Sale, CNN-IBN's TV show Sunday Special, IBNLive.com, 2 Sept 2007
Video Part II--Babies for Sale, CNN-IBN's TV show Sunday Special, IBNLive.com, 2 Sept 2007
Video Part III--Babies for Sale, CNN-IBN's TV show Sunday Special, IBNLive.com, 2 Sept 2007
Video Part IV--Babies for Sale, CNN-IBN's TV show Sunday Special, IBNLive.com, 2 Sept 2007
Corresponding texts for four part video report:
Text--Minor Mothers: Ill-Fated Girls Pawns for Sex-Racket, IBNLive.com, 3 Sept 2007
Domestic Help: How Trafficking Takes Place?">Domestic Help: How Trafficking Takes Place?, IBNLive.com, 2 Sept 2007
Follow up report:Welfare Board Takes Abused Minors into Protection, IBNLive.com, 2 Sept 2007
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Two Countries, One Plea: Follow Our Laws
Only a handful of U.S. immigrant orphan visas have been granted to children from Kenya and Zambia. Both countries have relatively stringent adoption requirements, including lengthy residence requirements (3 months minimum in Kenya, generally 3-12 months in Zambia).
Both countries are relatively untapped markets for U.S. adoption agencies. It’s almost instinctive to think that in countries where so few children are sent abroad for adoption and where child welfare needs presumably are great, only true orphans will be processed. But it is also a truism that where international adoption and high fees are at the ready, trafficking proliferates.
In Zambia, recent reports announce a scam in which children were flown out of Zambia without following proper adoption procedures. According to Community and Social Welfare Minister, Catherin Namugala, several children have been withdrawn from American nationals because their adoptions were not legally binding; over 17 children have already been adopted and taken out of the country without the consent of the government.
According to one report, Namugala
Reports are also coming out of Kenya of a child trafficking ring busted in Bomet. Approximately eleven children who were destined for “ready markets” were rescued from traffickers. The children were allegedly sold for between Sh20,000 (approximately $300 USD) and Sh30,000 (approximately $450 USD) depending on their age. At least seven have been arrested in connection with the investigation.
An administrator in the area is reported to have said,
Simply relying on agencies alone to be familiar with a country’s laws AND TO FOLLOW THEM is not enough. Regardless of shelling out thousands of dollars for "full service," prospective adopters must independently research a country’s adoption laws and be wary of being offered shortcuts. Blind trust risks breaking many hearts.
Usha
U.S. Statement Department Intercountry Adoption Summary for Zambia, U.S. Department of State website, last visited August 23, 2007
U.S. State Department Intercountry Adoption Summary for Kenya, U.S. Department of State website, last visited August 23, 2007
Namibia: Zambia Smashes Adoption Scam, The Namibian (reported on allafrica.com), August 13, 2007
Zambia smashes scam illegally adopting children, People's Daily Online, August 12, 2007
Kenya: Police Rescue 11 Minors From Traffickers in Bomet, East African Standard (reported on allafrica.com), August 17, 2007
Kenya: Child Trade Ring Couple Held, The Nation (reported on allafrica.com), August 2, 2007
Both countries are relatively untapped markets for U.S. adoption agencies. It’s almost instinctive to think that in countries where so few children are sent abroad for adoption and where child welfare needs presumably are great, only true orphans will be processed. But it is also a truism that where international adoption and high fees are at the ready, trafficking proliferates.
In Zambia, recent reports announce a scam in which children were flown out of Zambia without following proper adoption procedures. According to Community and Social Welfare Minister, Catherin Namugala, several children have been withdrawn from American nationals because their adoptions were not legally binding; over 17 children have already been adopted and taken out of the country without the consent of the government.
According to one report, Namugala
emphasized that her ministry was not against the adoption of children but the manner in which it was done and appealed to those wishing to adopt children to follow the right procedure. The minister said it was shocking that some orphanages were busy arranging the adoption of children at a fee disregarding the laws of the land.Profit at the expense of the welfare of children and their families.
Reports are also coming out of Kenya of a child trafficking ring busted in Bomet. Approximately eleven children who were destined for “ready markets” were rescued from traffickers. The children were allegedly sold for between Sh20,000 (approximately $300 USD) and Sh30,000 (approximately $450 USD) depending on their age. At least seven have been arrested in connection with the investigation.
An administrator in the area is reported to have said,
“The law is clear on adoption. People should follow right channels of looking for children instead of fueling the illegal trade.”Two different countries, two common themes: Despite clear adoption laws, the laws are not followed, resulting in a trade in children for profit.
Simply relying on agencies alone to be familiar with a country’s laws AND TO FOLLOW THEM is not enough. Regardless of shelling out thousands of dollars for "full service," prospective adopters must independently research a country’s adoption laws and be wary of being offered shortcuts. Blind trust risks breaking many hearts.
Usha
U.S. Statement Department Intercountry Adoption Summary for Zambia, U.S. Department of State website, last visited August 23, 2007
U.S. State Department Intercountry Adoption Summary for Kenya, U.S. Department of State website, last visited August 23, 2007
Namibia: Zambia Smashes Adoption Scam, The Namibian (reported on allafrica.com), August 13, 2007
Zambia smashes scam illegally adopting children, People's Daily Online, August 12, 2007
Kenya: Police Rescue 11 Minors From Traffickers in Bomet, East African Standard (reported on allafrica.com), August 17, 2007
Kenya: Child Trade Ring Couple Held, The Nation (reported on allafrica.com), August 2, 2007
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Mozambique: International Adoption a Cover-up for Sex/Labor Traffickers
According to Lurdes Mabunda, head of the Department of Women and Children in the Ministry of the Interior in Mozambique, international adoption is being used by human traffickers as a false cover to legally smuggle children out of Mozambique for use in the slavery and sex trades. This is possible both because Mozambique has "weak adoption laws" and also because Mozambique has itself, per se, no laws against human trafficking, whether for sex, labor, or adoption.
Mozambique acts both as a source of women and children for sex/labor traffickers and also a transit stop for women and children that have been trafficked from across the African continent.
As far as Mozambique as a source of trafficked person, it is estimated that at least 1000 Mozambican women and children are trafficked to South Africa alone each year for sexual exploitation. Even more women and children fall victim to sexual and slavery each year within Mozambique itself.
Mozambique's children, especially those from rural areas, are easy prey for traffickers because many Mozambican families are extremely poor. With little in the way of opportunities for education and jobs, families are eager to provide a better life for their children. They are also far too trusting of those who appear to "help" them.
Several cases involving the abuse and exploitation of adopted Mozambican children have come to light in the last few years including at least two cases in which Mozambican children who were adopted into the US were allegedly abused and then abandoned, and a case in which a Mozambican girl was adopted into Germany and then apparently, subsequently "disappeared."
Additionally Mozambican officials recently scuttled the international adoption of a Mozambican child by a Spanish based organization after "'suspicious behavior' was observed."
Mozambican officials are nervous about international adoption, which has been on the rise in Mozambique for the past several years, based both on these cases and the reports of its use by human traffickers.
Human traffickers thrive in Mozambique, Citizen.co.za, 03/27/07
,Trafficking thriving in Moz, Sunday Times, 03/28/07
Desiree
Mozambique acts both as a source of women and children for sex/labor traffickers and also a transit stop for women and children that have been trafficked from across the African continent.
As far as Mozambique as a source of trafficked person, it is estimated that at least 1000 Mozambican women and children are trafficked to South Africa alone each year for sexual exploitation. Even more women and children fall victim to sexual and slavery each year within Mozambique itself.
Mozambique's children, especially those from rural areas, are easy prey for traffickers because many Mozambican families are extremely poor. With little in the way of opportunities for education and jobs, families are eager to provide a better life for their children. They are also far too trusting of those who appear to "help" them.
"They are easily deceived because of their poverty and they think their children will be given jobs and then take them out of poverty" said Nelly Simbine Chimedza, Counter Trafficking Programme Assistant of Mozambique's International Organization on Migration
Several cases involving the abuse and exploitation of adopted Mozambican children have come to light in the last few years including at least two cases in which Mozambican children who were adopted into the US were allegedly abused and then abandoned, and a case in which a Mozambican girl was adopted into Germany and then apparently, subsequently "disappeared."
Additionally Mozambican officials recently scuttled the international adoption of a Mozambican child by a Spanish based organization after "'suspicious behavior' was observed."
Mozambican officials are nervous about international adoption, which has been on the rise in Mozambique for the past several years, based both on these cases and the reports of its use by human traffickers.
"We do not have the capacity to monitor the welfare of Mozambican children who have been adopted by foreign nationals living outside of the country, and this is a cause for concern"
--Lurdes Mabunda, head of the Department of Women and Children in the Ministry of the Interior in Mozambique
Human traffickers thrive in Mozambique, Citizen.co.za, 03/27/07
,Trafficking thriving in Moz, Sunday Times, 03/28/07
Desiree
Friday, March 09, 2007
New Article on Child Laundering
My husband David's latest adoption-related law review
article is out!
Child Laundering As Exploitation: Applying Anti-Trafficking Norms to
Intercountry Adoption Under the Coming Hague Regime
The abstract follows:
Child laundering occurs when children are illicitly obtained by
fraud, force, or funds, and then processed through false paperwork
into "orphans" and then adoptees. Child laundering thus involves
illegally obtaining children by abduction or purchase for purposes of
adoption. My prior work has documented and analyzed the widespread
existence of child laundering in the intercountry adoption system.
This article argues that child laundering is a form of exploitation,
and hence qualifies as a form of human trafficking. Once child
laundering is understood as an exploitative form of child
trafficking, legal and ethical norms currently applied to human
trafficking become applicable. Thus, the Hague Convention on
Intercountry Adoption should be implemented according to its intent
as an anti-trafficking Convention.
This latest article is a follow-up to another article from last year
entitled:
Child Laundering: How the Intercountry Adoption System Legitimizes
and Incentivizes the Practices of Buying, Trafficking, Kidnapping,
and Stealing Children
After this article, which established the reality and the common methods of child laundering for international adoption, was published, as he engaged in conversations about the topic, the consistent and irksome questions that my husband was asked again and again, were these:
Is child laundering--obtaining children for intercountry adoption by
abduction or purchase--really exploitative or harmful to anyone?
Aren't the children better off anyway?
My husband's current article represents the answer to these questions. It uses analysis and narrative explore the impact of child laundering on first families and children and to establish that trafficking for adoption IS harmful to and exploitative of these families and their children.
This doubt about whether any real harm is caused by stealing children from parents in the developing world is reflected in the law's ambivalence and frequent failure to categorize child laundering--purchasing or stealing children for adoption--as a form of human trafficking. My husband's article argues that human trafficking for the purposes of adoption--child laundering--should be recognized as a form of human trafficking.
Desiree
article is out!
Child Laundering As Exploitation: Applying Anti-Trafficking Norms to
Intercountry Adoption Under the Coming Hague Regime
The abstract follows:
Child laundering occurs when children are illicitly obtained by
fraud, force, or funds, and then processed through false paperwork
into "orphans" and then adoptees. Child laundering thus involves
illegally obtaining children by abduction or purchase for purposes of
adoption. My prior work has documented and analyzed the widespread
existence of child laundering in the intercountry adoption system.
This article argues that child laundering is a form of exploitation,
and hence qualifies as a form of human trafficking. Once child
laundering is understood as an exploitative form of child
trafficking, legal and ethical norms currently applied to human
trafficking become applicable. Thus, the Hague Convention on
Intercountry Adoption should be implemented according to its intent
as an anti-trafficking Convention.
This latest article is a follow-up to another article from last year
entitled:
Child Laundering: How the Intercountry Adoption System Legitimizes
and Incentivizes the Practices of Buying, Trafficking, Kidnapping,
and Stealing Children
After this article, which established the reality and the common methods of child laundering for international adoption, was published, as he engaged in conversations about the topic, the consistent and irksome questions that my husband was asked again and again, were these:
Is child laundering--obtaining children for intercountry adoption by
abduction or purchase--really exploitative or harmful to anyone?
Aren't the children better off anyway?
My husband's current article represents the answer to these questions. It uses analysis and narrative explore the impact of child laundering on first families and children and to establish that trafficking for adoption IS harmful to and exploitative of these families and their children.
This doubt about whether any real harm is caused by stealing children from parents in the developing world is reflected in the law's ambivalence and frequent failure to categorize child laundering--purchasing or stealing children for adoption--as a form of human trafficking. My husband's article argues that human trafficking for the purposes of adoption--child laundering--should be recognized as a form of human trafficking.
Desiree
Thursday, March 01, 2007
News: Fed Charges in Samoan Adopt Cases
This week a private US adoption agency and seven of its employees were charged in a Federal court indictment with 135 separate counts of adoption corruption related crimes.
The charges included 2 counts of conspiracy; 37 counts of bringing illegal aliens into the US; 37 counts of encouraging or inducing illegal aliens to come to, enter into, or reside in the US; 34 counts of visa fraud and misuse; 19 counts of money laundering; and 6 counts involving "monetary transactions [for] property derived from unlawful activity."
Four people have already been arrested and three more suspects are being sought.
The crimes of which the defendants, Focus on Children (FOC) of Wellsville, Utah and its employees, are accused, involve the fraudulent and illegal transfer of at least 80 children, aged from infancy to 12 years old, from their Samoan parents to US adoptive parents. These children came from 45 Samoan families and were adopted into 60 US families.
FOC allegedly charged $13,000 to facilitate each of the 80 adoptions and immigrations. (In case you don't feel like doing the math, 80 x $13,000 = $1,040,000 or, in other words, over a million $$$$)
According to the indictment, it seems that FOC allegedly lied to both the Samoan and the US adoptive parents to make these lucrative transfers of children--"international adoptions"--possible.
FOC allegedly preyed upon the Samoan parents and exploited their financially precarious situations by allegedly promising parents exactly what they wanted most for themselves and their children--a better life.
According to the Federal indictment, recruiters employed by FOC, used the following to induce parents to give up their children:
Meanwhile...on the other side of the ocean...
According to the indictment, when dealing with prospective adoptive parents, FOC:
According to press reports from a news conference held on Thursday, March 1, 2007 in Salt Lake City, Utah, both Samoan parents and US adoptive parents had no idea what was really going on and so "acted in good faith."
The legal status of the children involved is uncertain. Several children have already been returned to their Samoan parents. Authorities hope that Samoan parents and adoptive parents can work out solutions on a case by case basis as they are put in touch with each other. If that is not possible, courts in one or the other or both countries will have to become involved in determining the status of these children.
What is certain is that both Samoan and US adoptive parents are experiencing much pain.
According to a quotes in a story in The Salt Lake Tribune:
There is also pain for the children themselves. Several of the older children tried to run away as they were being transferred from their homes in Samoa to the US.
The indictment alleges that the supposed conspiracy began no later than March 2002 and continued through June 2005.
The ongoing investigation is being done by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Diplomatic Security; the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Interestingly, the US State Department had issued this advisory about adoptions from Samoa back in 2005:
Considering that the indictments state that the alleged abuses occurred between 2002 and 2005, it would seem that the investigations which resulted in charges on March 1, 2007 probably began sometime in 2005.
Desiree
Links to primary sources on-line:
Feds: UT Company Orchestrated Fraudulent Adoptions: KUTV.com Salt Lake City, 3/01/07 (includes a video)
Utah agency indicted in Samoa adoption scam, The Salt Lake Tribune, 3/01/07
Wellsville couple accused of operating baby-selling ring, ABC4.com (includes a video)
The charges included 2 counts of conspiracy; 37 counts of bringing illegal aliens into the US; 37 counts of encouraging or inducing illegal aliens to come to, enter into, or reside in the US; 34 counts of visa fraud and misuse; 19 counts of money laundering; and 6 counts involving "monetary transactions [for] property derived from unlawful activity."
Four people have already been arrested and three more suspects are being sought.
The crimes of which the defendants, Focus on Children (FOC) of Wellsville, Utah and its employees, are accused, involve the fraudulent and illegal transfer of at least 80 children, aged from infancy to 12 years old, from their Samoan parents to US adoptive parents. These children came from 45 Samoan families and were adopted into 60 US families.
FOC allegedly charged $13,000 to facilitate each of the 80 adoptions and immigrations. (In case you don't feel like doing the math, 80 x $13,000 = $1,040,000 or, in other words, over a million $$$$)
According to the indictment, it seems that FOC allegedly lied to both the Samoan and the US adoptive parents to make these lucrative transfers of children--"international adoptions"--possible.
FOC allegedly preyed upon the Samoan parents and exploited their financially precarious situations by allegedly promising parents exactly what they wanted most for themselves and their children--a better life.
According to the Federal indictment, recruiters employed by FOC, used the following to induce parents to give up their children:
- Samoan parents were told that they would only "temporarily" give up their children.
In fact, if they signed relinquishment papers, parents were signing away their parental rights for always and forever. - Somoan parents were told that these temporary arrangements were a part of programs sponsored by the US Government and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (the Mormon Church) to "assist families in Samoa who were struggling financially" or who wanted their children to have an opportunity to have an education in the US.
- Samoan parents were told that their children would be "adopted" by a family in the US with whom the children would stay until they turned 18--after which the children would return to live in Samoa. During their time in the US, these children would stay in touch with their Samoan parents by letters and phone calls. Adoptive parents would also occasionally bring children to see their Samoan families.
In fact, these children were legally adopted in the normal way by US adoptive parents. These adoptive parents, like ALL legal adoptive parents, have absolutely no ongoing legal obligations to their adoptive children's' first parents--for contact or otherwise--and certainly no obligation to return their legally adopted children to their first parents when those children become adults. - Samoan parents were told that if they placed children in this program that they might get financial assistance from either FOC or their children's adoptive parents.
In fact in a normal adoption, adoptive parents certainly don't send money to first parents. This would raise extreme ethical issues if first parents' relinquishments were predicated on adoptive parents making ongoing financial payments to them.
According to the indictment, in fact, Samoan parents were given "humanitarian assistance"--minimal amounts of money and some bags of rice--during the time period before children were placed with "adoptive parents." However, this humanitarian assistance allegedly ceased once children were actually placed with "adoptive parents."
In fact, the US Government has no such program, nor does the the Mormon Church.
Meanwhile...on the other side of the ocean...
According to the indictment, when dealing with prospective adoptive parents, FOC:
- Often allegedly secured adoptive referrals for new families for "orphans" when those "orphans" were in fact still living with their first families.
These were first families who were quite capable of keeping their children and who were only giving them up because they believed they were part of a temporary program. Culturally speaking, a scheme of this sort is believable to Samoan parents because in Samoan culture, children sometimes live parts of their childhood with extended family members and then return to their immediate family. - Often allegedly fabricated facts about the Samoan families from which these "orphans" came, and the dire situations in which these "orphans" were living.
According to press reports from a news conference held on Thursday, March 1, 2007 in Salt Lake City, Utah, both Samoan parents and US adoptive parents had no idea what was really going on and so "acted in good faith."
The legal status of the children involved is uncertain. Several children have already been returned to their Samoan parents. Authorities hope that Samoan parents and adoptive parents can work out solutions on a case by case basis as they are put in touch with each other. If that is not possible, courts in one or the other or both countries will have to become involved in determining the status of these children.
What is certain is that both Samoan and US adoptive parents are experiencing much pain.
According to a quotes in a story in The Salt Lake Tribune:
"For the birth parents in Samoa, who believed they were only temporarily releasing their children, the pain in palpable," Thomas Depenbrock, of the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security, said at a Thursday news conference in Salt Lake City. "For the adoptive parents accepting children they were told were uncared for and in need of good homes, the deceit is shocking."
"It is impossible to articulate how deep the pain is," Tolman said of families on both sides.
There is also pain for the children themselves. Several of the older children tried to run away as they were being transferred from their homes in Samoa to the US.
The indictment alleges that the supposed conspiracy began no later than March 2002 and continued through June 2005.
The ongoing investigation is being done by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Diplomatic Security; the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Interestingly, the US State Department had issued this advisory about adoptions from Samoa back in 2005:
Samoa Adoption Notice
Recently, a number of concerns about the international adoption process in Samoa have been brought to the attention of the U.S. government. U.S. citizens contemplating adoption in Samoa are strongly advised to exercise caution before proceeding with proposed adoptions.
Considering that the indictments state that the alleged abuses occurred between 2002 and 2005, it would seem that the investigations which resulted in charges on March 1, 2007 probably began sometime in 2005.
Desiree
Links to primary sources on-line:
Feds: UT Company Orchestrated Fraudulent Adoptions: KUTV.com Salt Lake City, 3/01/07 (includes a video)
Utah agency indicted in Samoa adoption scam, The Salt Lake Tribune, 3/01/07
Wellsville couple accused of operating baby-selling ring, ABC4.com (includes a video)
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Masha Allen Congressional Transcripts Available
The transcripts of the congressional testimony in the Masha Allen case are now available in the public record.
For those who don't know, Masha Allen is a teenager who was adopted at the age of 5 from Russia into the US by a single male pedophile. Masha was sexually abused for five years and also became the subject of child pornography.
For many years law enforcement officers saw her photos circulate on the internet (they watched her grow up in these photos but were unable to locate her to rescue her).
At one point they removed her from one of the photos (where she appeared
to be in a hotel room ) and posted the photo on the internet hoping that someone could identity the place. The place was identified as Disney World and from then on the little girl became known as the "Disney World Girl."
The break in the case came when a law enforcement officer, posing as a pornographer, engaged a child pornographer on the internet. Through this contact, law enforcement officers were able to trace a location for what they thought was just another pornographer. However, when FBI agents arrived to arrest him, they were astonished to find not just the pornographer, but also the child they had sought for so long--Disney World Girl--Masha. They were also astonished to find that Masha had been internationally adopted by this pedophile through normal, legal adoption channels.
Masha, who was subsequently readopted by another family and who is now a teenager, has been bravely speaking out for several years now.
Masha's case has been before US Congressal committess on at least two separate ocassions. The first time, Masha herself testified against child pornography as a child victim. In the process of these hearings, the part that the negligent adoption industry played in her victimization was revealed. The committee was so disturbed about the way that Masha fell into the hands of a pedophile--through the normal international process--that they determined to hold a separate hearing on just that issue.
Subsequently, the US Congressional committee brought everyone involved in Masha's adoption to a committee hearing--a hearing to specifically determine just how this little girl could have been placed with a single male pedophile, to determine why the post placement visits (and reports) that Russia requires for all adoptions, never happened (well, OK, someone called Mancuso on the telephone and based on that phone call a report was filed assuring theRussian government that Masha was in a "warm and loving" home...ugh...), and finally to determine if Masha's adoption placement with a pedophile was simply a freak accident or whether something was lacking (and could be fixed) in the adoption process and procedures themselves.
The transcripts of the hearing represent the testimony, the questioning and the answers of those in the adoption industry that were involved in Masha's adoption, as well as the testimony of those who could shed light on what went wrong and what could be done to change the system to safeguard adoptive children.
They make for pretty damning reading in regard to the way the adoption industry works. (Or should I say fails to work...to protect children).
You can access the transcripts of the Congressional testimony on these sites:
1) The first site takes a LONG time to load as it is a pdf of 191pages. It includes a LOT of supplementary documents:
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=109_house_hearings&docid=f:31471.pdf
2)The second site loads much quicker. It isn't as well formatted, however, and doesn't contain any supplementary material:
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=109_house_hearings&docid=f:31471.wais
Read and be disturbed.
But most of all read and be educated as to the "quality" and "safeguards" of current adoption practice.
And think about the awful, five year long nightmare that one little girl lived as a direct consequence of poor, sloppy adoption practice.
Oh, and BTW, because there is really no effective way to completely remove any particular child porn image from distribution once it has multiplied on the internet, Masha's child porn photos are still out there, circulating in the internet underworld of pedophiles. According to one law enforcement officer, they find at least one photo of Masha among the child porn photos in about half of the child porn arrests.
The legacy of poor adoption practice is something that will haunt Masha one way or another for the rest of her life.
Desiree
For those who don't know, Masha Allen is a teenager who was adopted at the age of 5 from Russia into the US by a single male pedophile. Masha was sexually abused for five years and also became the subject of child pornography.
For many years law enforcement officers saw her photos circulate on the internet (they watched her grow up in these photos but were unable to locate her to rescue her).
At one point they removed her from one of the photos (where she appeared
to be in a hotel room ) and posted the photo on the internet hoping that someone could identity the place. The place was identified as Disney World and from then on the little girl became known as the "Disney World Girl."
The break in the case came when a law enforcement officer, posing as a pornographer, engaged a child pornographer on the internet. Through this contact, law enforcement officers were able to trace a location for what they thought was just another pornographer. However, when FBI agents arrived to arrest him, they were astonished to find not just the pornographer, but also the child they had sought for so long--Disney World Girl--Masha. They were also astonished to find that Masha had been internationally adopted by this pedophile through normal, legal adoption channels.
Masha, who was subsequently readopted by another family and who is now a teenager, has been bravely speaking out for several years now.
Masha's case has been before US Congressal committess on at least two separate ocassions. The first time, Masha herself testified against child pornography as a child victim. In the process of these hearings, the part that the negligent adoption industry played in her victimization was revealed. The committee was so disturbed about the way that Masha fell into the hands of a pedophile--through the normal international process--that they determined to hold a separate hearing on just that issue.
Subsequently, the US Congressional committee brought everyone involved in Masha's adoption to a committee hearing--a hearing to specifically determine just how this little girl could have been placed with a single male pedophile, to determine why the post placement visits (and reports) that Russia requires for all adoptions, never happened (well, OK, someone called Mancuso on the telephone and based on that phone call a report was filed assuring theRussian government that Masha was in a "warm and loving" home...ugh...), and finally to determine if Masha's adoption placement with a pedophile was simply a freak accident or whether something was lacking (and could be fixed) in the adoption process and procedures themselves.
The transcripts of the hearing represent the testimony, the questioning and the answers of those in the adoption industry that were involved in Masha's adoption, as well as the testimony of those who could shed light on what went wrong and what could be done to change the system to safeguard adoptive children.
They make for pretty damning reading in regard to the way the adoption industry works. (Or should I say fails to work...to protect children).
You can access the transcripts of the Congressional testimony on these sites:
1) The first site takes a LONG time to load as it is a pdf of 191pages. It includes a LOT of supplementary documents:
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=109_house_hearings&docid=f:31471.pdf
2)The second site loads much quicker. It isn't as well formatted, however, and doesn't contain any supplementary material:
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=109_house_hearings&docid=f:31471.wais
Read and be disturbed.
But most of all read and be educated as to the "quality" and "safeguards" of current adoption practice.
And think about the awful, five year long nightmare that one little girl lived as a direct consequence of poor, sloppy adoption practice.
Oh, and BTW, because there is really no effective way to completely remove any particular child porn image from distribution once it has multiplied on the internet, Masha's child porn photos are still out there, circulating in the internet underworld of pedophiles. According to one law enforcement officer, they find at least one photo of Masha among the child porn photos in about half of the child porn arrests.
The legacy of poor adoption practice is something that will haunt Masha one way or another for the rest of her life.
Desiree
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