ANOTHER CORRUPT AGENCY

It is an agency that specializes in Guatemalan adoptions. People People what is so hard to understand here? We must investigate the entire adoption industry. They must be held accountable for their actions. I am not talking just to adoptive parents but also the adoptees and the natural parents. I can scream this from the rooftops across this country. Adoption has become a very corrupt business.

Here is the link. Here is the story.

In the international adoption business, there are few guarantees. A lot can go wrong.But dozens of families across the country who dealt with Adoption Partners of Simpsonville, which specializes in Guatemalan adoptions, say the owner, Joanne Mitchell, failed to deliver."It's horrible. It's horrible," said Stacy Bernstein of Beacon, New York, holding a picture of Ingrid. "I look at this and I see her as the 13-year-old American New Yorker that I envisioned her that I know she's never going to be."

Bernstein said Ingrid's adoption through Adoption Partners hit a snag. Ingrid's birth mother, she was told, was discovered to have two identification cards, one of which could be fraudulent.Bernstein, who paid Adoption Partners $11,250, said she was told Ingrid's adoption was being delayed."Then I was told, well, it'll be fixed any day now, any day now, and any day now. And any day now became months and months. Any day now still hasn't come," Bernstein told News 4's Tim Waller.Bernstein is not the only person whose Guatemalan adoption fell through using Adoption Partners of Simpsonville. Families in New Hampshire, Kentucky, Illinois, Ohio, Missouri, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Washington State have filed complaints with the Better Business Bureau for adoptions that never went through.Each family claims to have paid Adoption Partners tens of thousands of dollars, according to Better Business Bureau records."I just don't think the business part of it mattered to her. I think if it works out, great, if not, well, these things happen, oh well. But you can't do that. This is people's lives that she's dealing with," Bernstein said.Brian and Jennifer Stuckert of Platte City, Missouri paid Adoption Partners $12,000 to adopt "Manuel." When the adoption fell through, the Stuckerts filed a lawsuit claiming "fraud, deception, false pretense, and misrepresentation."The lawsuit was recently dismissed so the Stuckerts could bring legal action in a different form."I have never been shown a cancelled check, a receipt or anything else that a reasonable person would expect to have on hand that would lead me to believe she was even attempting to perform the services for which we hired her," Brian Stuckert told News 4 in a telephone interview.News 4 learned through the Freedom of Information Act that the South Carolina Department of Social Services has received numerous complaints against Adoption Partners, and its owner Joanne Mitchell.Most complaints allege that Mitchell used an adoption facilitator in Guatemala who has been banned by the U.S. government for so-called "shady dealings."In fact, Thanassis Kollias (a.k.a. "Teo") was the focus of a recent Dateline NBC report entitled, "To Catch a Baby Broker."Stacy Bernstein said it was not until she hired her own attorney in Guatemala that she was told Adoption Partners was using this banned facilitator."I said I don't want to work with him," Bernstein said. "I want a new referral, as much as I thought this child to be my daughter, I was uncomfortable working with a facilitator that the United States Embassy said they would not approve."News 4 tried to contact the Simpsonville woman, who is the target of so many complaints. But Joanne Mitchell was not at the home she lists as her primary business address.In an e-mailed statement, Mitchell told News 4, "Adoption Partners (has carried out) hundreds of successful international adoptions. Adoption is not a guaranteed process. The current changes with the Guatemalan government has made thousands of American families suffer from delays and sometimes cancellation of their adoptions."Experts agree that Guatemalan adoptions are risky. The U.S. State Department has issued many warnings.But Spartanburg adoption lawyer Jim Thompson, one of two attorneys in the country accredited by the Hague Convention, said the problems in Guatemala are often downplayed by child-placing agencies."The problem is when expectations are not met, or if a person purporting to be an adoption professional sets those expectations so high that no one can fulfill them," Thompson said.Stacy Bernstein said she now believes Ingrid was never legally eligible for adoption. She said she blames Adoption Partners of Simpsonville for her failed adoption and more."I lost faith in people. I don't trust people the way I did before. I don't approach people in my personal life the way I used to. (Mitchell) has taken away the innocence I used to have," Bernstein said.

ANOTHER COUNTRY REVAMPING ITS ADOPTION PROGRAM

Nepal is passing new rules on their international program. Their program has been shut down for a year. One comment that bothers me is the adoptive parents must deposit money into the government coffers. Excuse me that is still a little corrupt. It looks like now the government will be getting the money. I don't know if this is better or worse.

Here is the link.

IN LOVING MEMORY OF DENNY GLAD

Denny Glad was one of the adoption movers and shakers in Tennessee. She help shape the law in Tennessee. She got the records opened up for adoptees out there. She has also helped in many searches and reunions along her road. She leaves behind two sons.

I did not know this woman but I am grateful for her strength and courage through the years. I hope to continue to carry the torch in order to light the way for adoptees and their families. She helped many an adoptee who were adopted out of Georgia Tann's Children's Home Society. Barbara Bisantz Raymond wrote about her in her book, The Baby Thief. I want her sons to have this forever memorialized on my blog so that they can refer to it. May she always guide us in the adoptee rights movement. My prayers are with her family at this time.

Here is the story in the Commercial Appeal:

Mrs. Glad reunited adoptees, families

By Shirley Downing

Thursday, May 15, 2008

In the 1940s, Marianne "Denny" Glad wondered what became of three young cousins who were placed for adoption.

Years later, the oldest cousin found his way back to biological relatives in Mississippi.

He'd grown up in Oregon. A brother died in Vietnam. The sister's whereabouts were unknown.

But Mrs. Glad was hooked. She would turn her passion for history and research into helping reunite families separated by adoption and time.

In the process, Mrs. Glad helped reshape Tennessee's adoption laws and became an expert on the Tennessee Children's Home Society, a Memphis adoption agency that closed in scandal in 1950.

Mrs. Glad died at her Raleigh home Monday after a long illness. She was 70.

"She was an angel," said Nashville adoption lawyer Robert Tuke, who worked with Mrs. Glad a decade ago on adoption law reform.

In more than two decades, Mrs. Glad and her colleagues with Tennessee The Right to Know helped hundreds of adoptees and birth families find each other by using legally accessible records, charging only for expenses.

Many of those adult adoptees had been placed by Georgia Tann through the old TCHS on Poplar, scandalized for selling babies. Facts blended with fiction, and Mrs. Glad always tried to separate the two.

"She would never bow to some of the outlandish myths there were about TCHS and she absolutely insisted on documenting all the facts as she well as she could," said colleague Debbie Norton.

"It lent to her credibility. I think everybody who came out of that home owes her a debt of gratitude."

A graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi with a degree in history, she married Gerald Glad in 1963. The family lived in California until they moved here when Glad took a job as a civilian financial planner for the Navy. He died in 1988.

"She was a fascinating woman, the most well-read and educated person who had a sense of right and wrong," said son Keith Glad of Nashville.

He said his mother felt adoptees had a right to know "who they are" and the circumstances of their birth.

"She would do anything in the world for you," said son Tony Glad of Boston.

"Now, she was strongly opinionated but she was not flashy and did not want to make a big public scene, but she definitely had a sense of right and wrong.''

Mrs. Glad, a homemaker who worked for a time in the office at Craigmont High School, became involved in adoption searches in the early 1980s, along with neighbor Nancy Kvapil and later Norton and Jalena Bowling.

Mrs. Glad "loved the historical aspect" of the adoption searches, Bowling said.

Mrs. Glad, Bowling and Norton were honored in 2001 with the Women of Achievement award for determination.

Caprice East of Nashville, who worked with Mrs. Glad in the adoption reform effort in the mid- to late 1990s, said Mrs. Glad "was so well-versed on everything. She never missed a detail. She was precise ...

"I've never seen anybody that so many people revered and that nobody vilified. She was just absolutely incredible."

Mrs. Glad also leaves a sister, Nellie Ruth Griffis of Memphis, and a brother, Bob Denman of Texas.

Services will be at 11:30 a.m. Friday at Memorial Park Funeral Home with burial in the cemetery. Memorial Park Funeral Home has charge.

NEGLECT

I am sorry that I have neglected this blog. I have been busy homeschooling my children. I have also been busy keeping active updates on my other blog. Even the email list has been slow. It seems that everything is falling apart with international adoption. I wish so badly that we could help this woman. Record slumps should not be the reason why a woman gives a child up for adoption. Adoption is an unnatural act.

I found this story coming out of New Zealand. Here is the story.

Choosing adoption a `lonely and hard decision'

A record slump in adoption statistics is no surprise to a Christchurch woman who intends to give her unborn child away at birth.

Hei Hei's Tracey Hill is one of the small number of pregnant women nationwide who will choose to place their baby up for adoption by strangers this year. Since 1968, the annual number of children adopted outside their families has fallen from 2617 to 60.

Child, Youth and Family (CYFS) estimates that 300 couples are waiting to adopt. Prospective parents can wait indefinitely to be chosen by a birthmother.

Hill, a 34-year-old married woman with two children, said choosing adoption was a lonely and hard decision. "I was such a mess. It was the lowest I'd ever been in my whole life. I didn't know what to do, I didn't know who to turn to," she said. Her husband was supportive but she did not want him to become attached to the unborn baby.

The couple had intended to have only two children. Despite this, Hill was "paranoid" about what people thought of her and the choice she had made for the baby's future. "I don't hate the baby inside. I don't smoke, I don't drink alcohol, I don't do drugs, I don't drink Coke. I'm giving it the best start," she said. "With everything growing, the costs of everything - we have two children - another baby on board would be harder."

Hill said abortion, which she had already had with an earlier pregnancy, was easier than what she was now going through. "I wouldn't have morning sickness, I wouldn't have people looking at me, it would be all over now, I would get back to life."

But the plight of relatives who could not have a child made her reconsider her options. She rang CYFS and has met staff, but cannot move on her decision until later in her pregnancy. Her next appointment, when she will start considering birth parents, is during the 36th week.

Choosing adoption has raised many issues for Hill, such as how to tell family and friends. Her daughters do not yet know of the decision.

"As soon you say you're pregnant, (friends) say congratulations and you say actually I'm adopting. The only thing that keeps me going is helping somebody out."

She has not looked at scans or found out the baby's gender, and was uncertain how she would feel handing the child over. But the adoption would be open, allowing the family to maintain contact with the child in its new home.

THE ADOPTION PEDIPHILE PLAY BOOK IN INDIANA

Everyone knows about Masha Allen. Here is another case of adoption pedophilia. Its enough to sicken just about anyone.

Here is the link. Here is the story.

JEFFERSONVILLE, Ind. (WAVE) -- Detectives describe him as a monster who has gotten away with years of child sex abuse. 60 year old Charles Sparks was in a Clark County, Indiana courtroom Friday facing nearly 60 counts of child sex abuse involving his own family members. WAVE 3's Maira Ansari was in the courtroom and reports on the hearing.

Sparks plead not guilty to 58 counts of child sex abuse. According to a probable cause affidavit, the abuse involved three adopted family members and started twelve years ago when they were as young as 5.

"We had to do a lot of research. This case was something that we really had to look at due to the time frame going back to 1996," said Clark County deputy prosecutor Shelley Marble.

Det. Charlie Thompson of the Jeffersonville Police Department says the alleged abuse happened almost every day. According to court documents, Sparks sexually abused one of the girls as recently as five months ago.

Thompson says the victims tried to get help back in 2001. But the case was dismissed by Clark Superior Court even after Sparks failed a polygraph test. Thompson says the system failed the young girls.

"These three young girls left an abused childhood from their natural parents. They were put with a monster. Somehow or another. How they ended up back with this monster, I have no idea," said Thompson.

Detectives say Sparks wife Linda knew about the alleged abuse and could also face charges.

Sparks is a janitor at Parkview Middle School. Officials with the Greater Clark County School Corporation said they knew nothing of the allegations until his arrest. On Friday, they sent a letter notifying parents in the district, and tried to calm their fears.

"There is no indication that any of the allegations involving this situation occurred on school property or involved any students" said Superintendent Dr. Tony Bennett.

Bennett says there were no red flags in Sparks' background check because he was never convicted of a crime. Sparks has now been suspended from working at the school without pay.

He is being held at the Clark County Jail on a $100,000 dollar bond and is due back in court June 24th.

Online Reporter: Maira Ansari

Online Producer: Charles Gazaway

SAMPLE LETTER FOR THE LEGGIES

My name is **********. I am an adoptee. I along with thousands of adoptees, natural parents, and adoptive parents will be attending the National Conference of State Legislators in New Orleans. We are demanding equal treatment under the law. We will no longer tolerate being ignored. It is our original birth certificate. It records OUR births; therefore, we should have the same unfettered access as the non-adopted.

Here is some points for you to remember:

*90% at least of natural mothers want contact.
*In states that have adoptee access, abortions have decreased; adoptions have increased.
*Sealing the OBC discriminates against adoptees by violating our fourth amendment rights and our right to privacy. The state is holding our OBC's in seizure on the presumption of harm. The state is violating my right to privacy by being in the business of reunion and relationships.

Adoptees are needing their OBC's to prove their American citizenship these days. Many are unable to get into the military or even to get their social security cards. Its time to make adoptees equal. We are all looking forward to educating you on this issue. See you at the National Conference of State Legislators.

Sincerely,
An Angrate from Indiana.

OHIO ACTION ALLERT

BUCKEYES FOR EQUAL ACCESS:

OPEN RECORDS FOR ALL OHIO ADOPTEES

PLEASE DISTRIBUTE FREELY

OHIO ACTION ALERT

BUCKEYES FOR EQUAL ACCESS SAYS:

OHIO ADOPTEES NEED YOUR HELP NOW!

SUB BILL ERASES BIRTH CERTIFICATE ACCESS

BeaOhio: beaohio@gmail.com http://www.myspace.com/beaohio

On April 16, 2008 a substitute bill for HB 7, an adoption/fostercare reform bill, which included original birth certificate access for all post-1963 adopted adults without restriction, was introduced in the Ohio House Health The sub bill, (also called LSC 127 0671-4), deletes all reference to obc access found in the original bill; thus, maintaining the current 3-tiered yes-no-maybe system that divides obc access by date of adoption/date of birth and first parent permission.*

BILL INFORMATION

Original HB 7: http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/bills.cfm?ID=127_HB_7 (click on link at left)

Sub HB 7: http://www.adoptionnetwork.org/filegallery.asp?f=270&linkId=1346 (2n square on right—pdf.)

HEARING

A hearing on Sub Bill 7 bill is scheduled for 4:00 PM, Wednesday, April 23 in Room 017 (basement) of the Statehouse Testimony requesting the reinstatement of unrestricted obc access can be given. Bring 20 copies of your testimony for the committee. If you can’t testify, then come to support.

If you plan to testify please call Kara Joseph in Rep. Tom Brinkman’s office at 614-644-6886.

We have been told that another hearing on Sub Bill 7 will probably be held on Wednesday, April 30 so save that date, too. Please check with our MySpace page for updates. http://www.myspace.com/beaohio

FULL ACCESS MUST BE RETURNED!

CONTACT

If you are an Ohio adoptee, birthparent, adoptive parent or currently live in Ohio or have an Ohio connection, please contact the Health Committee today and urge them to:

• Support HB 7 as written. Reject Sub Bill 7 unless the exact unrestricted access language from the original HB 7 is restored.
• Support the addition of a contact preference form, if presented.
• Reject all attempts to restrict obc access to any adopted adult for any reason through disclosure vetoes or other methods.

TALKING POINTS—HB 7 as written

• is inclusive. It acknowledges a legally, morally, and ethically correct one-size-fits all standard of identity and records rights for all adopted persons. It treats the adopted the same as the non-adopted.

• treats all Ohio adoptees equally. It abolishes the discriminatory 3-tiered access system based on date of birth, date of adoption availability, or birth parent permission.

• does not open original birth certificates and other records to the public.

• does not change adoption procedures

• is pro-adoption. It is not controversial. It reflects best practice adoption standards. Unrestricted access to the original birth certificate is a priority of every adoption reform organization in the US. Unrestricted access is supported by the majority adoption professionals.

• is about rights not reunions. It is about the relation of adoptees to the state.

• is non-partisan. In states where access has been restored, Republicans and Democrats sponsored the legislation and voted YES.

If you are a birthparent tell the committee:

• You were never promised anonymity nor did you ask for it.

• You do not expect or need “special rights”

If you are an adoptive parent tell the committee:

• Your son or daughter is not a second class citizen; he or she deserves the same right of identity and public records access as the not-adopted.

• Adoption is a strong institution and can only be strengthened in Ohio by openness and truth.

*Current Ohio law:

• Persons adopted before January 1, 1964: unrestricted access
• Persons adopted January 1, 1964-September 18, 1996: access by court order
• Persons adopted September 19, 1996-present: unrestricted access at age of majority unless a birthparent has filed a disclosure veto with the state; then the adoptee is barred from receiving a copy of their original birth certificate—the public record of their own birth.

PLEASE E-MAIL, WRITE, CALL, or FAX THE MEMBERS OF OHIO HOUSE HEALTH COMMITTEE IMMEDIATELY. TELL THEM TO SUPPORT HB 7 AS WRITTEN AND THAT ANY RESTRICTION TO ACCESS IS UNACCEPTABLE TO OHIO ADOPTEES. TELL THEM YOUR LIFE AND RIGHTS COUNT.

The most important members to contact, by phone even if you talk to their aides, are Representatives Matt Huffman (R-Lima), Robert Mecklenborg (R-Cincinnati), and Speaker of the House Jon Husted.

*Speaker Jon Husted

77 S. High St.

Columbus, OH 43215-6111

Telephone: (614) 466-5316

Fax: (614) 719-3591

Email Address: district37@odr.state.oh.us

HEALTH COMMITTEE:

Chair:
*Lynn Wachtmann (R)
District 75
77 S. High St
11th Floor
Columbus, OH 43215-6111
Telephone: (614) 466-3760
Fax : (614) 719-3975
Email Address: district75@ohr.state.oh.us

Ranking Minority Member:
Brian G. Williams (D)
District 41
77 S. High St
10th Floor
Columbus, OH 43215-6111
Telephone: (614) 644-5085
Fax : (614) 719-6941
Email Address: district41@ohr.state.oh.us

Members:
Barbara Boyd (D)
District 09
77 S. High St
10th Floor
Columbus, OH 43215-6111
Telephone: (614) 644-5079
Fax : (614) 719-0009
Email Address: district09@ohr.state.oh.us

Edna Brown (D)
District 48
77 S. High St
10th Floor
Columbus, OH 43215-6111
Telephone: (614) 466-1401
Fax : (614) 719-6948
Email Address: district48@ohr.state.oh.us

Michael DeBose (D)
District 12
77 S. High St
10th Floor
Columbus, OH 43215-6111
Telephone: (614) 466-1408
Fax : (614) 719-3912
Email Address: district12@ohr.state.oh.us

Lorraine M. Fende (D)
District 62
77 S. High St
11th Floor
Columbus, OH 43215-6111
Telephone: (614) 466-7251
Fax : (614) 719-3962
Email Address: district62@ohr.state.oh.us

Bruce W. Goodwin (R)
District 74
77 S. High St
13th Floor
Columbus, OH 43215-6111
Telephone: (614) 644-5091
Fax : (614) 719-3974
Email Address: district74@ohr.state.oh.us

Jay Hottinger (R)
District 71
77 S. High St
13th Floor
Columbus, OH 43215-6111
Telephone: (614) 466-1482
Fax : (614) 719-3971
Email Address: district71@ohr.state.oh.us

Matt Huffman (R)
District 04
77 S. High St
11th Floor
Columbus, OH 43215-6111
Telephone: (614) 466-9624
Fax : (614) 719-0004
Email Address: district04@ohr.state.oh.us

Shannon Jones (R)
District 67
Assistant Majority Whip
77 S. High St
11th Floor
Columbus, OH 43215-6111
Telephone: (614) 644-6027
Fax : (614) 719-3967
Email Address: district67@ohr.state.oh.us

Tom Letson (D)
District 64
77 S. High St
11th Floor
Columbus, OH 43215-6111
Telephone: (614) 466-5358
Fax : (614) 719-3964
Email Address: district64@ohr.state.oh.us

*Robert Mecklenborg (R)
District 30
77 S. High St
14th Floor
Columbus, OH 43215-6111
Telephone: (614) 466-8258, or in district
Fax : (614) 719-3584
Email Address: district30@ohr.state.oh.us

Robert J. Otterman (D)
District 45
77 S. High St
10th Floor
Columbus, OH 43215-6111
Telephone: (614) 644-6037
Fax : (614) 719-6945
Email Address: district45@ohr.state.oh.us

W. Scott Oelslager (R)
District 51
77 S. High St
13th Floor
Columbus, OH 43215-6111
Telephone: (614) 752-2438
Fax : (614) 719-6951
Email Address: district51@ohr.state.oh.us

Robert F. Hagan (D)
District 60
77 S. High St
11th Floor
Columbus, OH 43215-6111
Telephone: (614) 466-9435
Fax : (614) 719-3960
Email Address: district60@ohr.state.oh.us

James T. Raussen (R)
District 28
77 S. High St
13th Floor
Columbus, OH 43215-6111
Telephone: (614) 466-8120
Fax : (614) 719-3582
Email Address: district28@ohr.state.oh.us

Chris Redfern (D)
District 80
77 S. High St
10th Floor
Columbus, OH 43215-6111
Telephone: (614) 644-6011
Fax : (614) 719-6980
Email Address: district80@ohr.state.oh.us

Carol-Ann Schindel (R)
District 63
77 S. High St
11th Floor
Columbus, OH 43215-6111
Telephone: (614) 644-6074
Fax : (614) 719-3963
Email Address: district63@ohr.state.oh.us

Fred Strahorn (D)
District 40
Assistant Minority Whip
77 S. High St
14th Floor
Columbus, OH 43215-6111
Telephone: (614) 466-2960
Fax : (614) 719-6940
Email Address: district40@ohr.state.oh.us

Joseph W. Uecker (R)
District 66
77 S. High St
11th Floor
Columbus, OH 43215-6111
Telephone: (614) 466-8134
Fax : (614) 719-3966
Email Address: district66@ohr.state.oh.us

Shawn N. Webster (R)
District 53
77 S. High St
13th Floor
Columbus, OH 43215-6111
Telephone: (614) 644-5094
Fax : (614) 719-6953
Email Address: district53@ohr.state.oh.us

Kenny Yuko (D)
District 07
77 S. High St
11th Floor
Columbus, OH 43215-6111
Telephone: (614) 466-8012
Fax : (614) 719-0007
Email Address: district07@ohr.state.oh.us

Cut and Paste NOTE: addys have no names):

district41@ohr.state.oh.us, district09@ohr.state.oh.us
district48@ohr.state.oh.us, district12@ohr.state.oh.us
district62@ohr.state.oh.us, district74@ohr.state.oh.us
district71@ohr.state.oh.us, district04@ohr.state.oh.us
district67@ohr.state.oh.us, district64@ohr.state.oh.us
district30@ohr.state.oh.us, district45@ohr.state.oh.us
district51@ohr.state.oh.us, district60@ohr.state.oh.us
district28@ohr.state.oh.us, district80@ohr.state.oh.us
district63@ohr.state.oh.us, district40@ohr.state.oh.us
district66@ohr.state.oh.us, district53@ohr.state.oh.us
district07@ohr.state.oh.us, district37@odr.state.oh.us,

district75@ohr.state.oh.us