Looking for legal options and precedents

During my second adoption I had problems with my agency--caseworker quit and took all her files "hostage" until she got paid, lawyer in child's birth country told we had not paid his fees when the money was sitting in agency's account, etc. Finally had to basically "redo" the adoption with all new paperwork, notarized, certified, authenticated, translated and overnighted to a new lawyer. After my daughter was safely at home I reported the agency to both the Better Business Bureau and the state licensing board. I got a letter of apology and a small refund. The agency shut down and moved to another state.

Did you have to hire an attorney to fight the agency, or did you do that on your own? I've been trying to locate the state licensing board (whoever does licensing in that state), but I have been unable to locate them. I have found the BBB and the Attorney General has given me a link to an online consumer complaint form, but I'm not sure which is the appropriate starting place. At this point, we would like both fees and damages, but haven't been able to find a recommendation for the right attorney. Does anyone know if it's legal for an agency to put a baby up for adoption if they have reason to believe the birthparent wants the baby? We thought the attorney general's office would tell us that when we first contacted them, but they deflected all our questions to the online complaint form...which of course goes to the agency. We're willing to get legal action taken against the agency if that is what is needed to prevent them from harming birthfamilies, adoptive families, and innocent babies.

The Department of Children and Families (or whatever it's called in your state) is the agency you want to contact about adoption agency licensing. That is, provided you used a licensed agency and not an unregulated/unlicensed facilitator or an attorney who is not required to be a licensed Child Placing Agency. If it was a facilitator – you’re only avenue of recourse is the BBB – provided 1) they are a member and 2) they even care. Remember that the BBB survives of fee’s paid b members – they are not in business to make sure customers are treated fairly.If it was an attorney that you dealt with, then contacting your states (or the practicing states) Bar Association and filling an official complaint against the attorney is your only recourse. As for your question – Adoption is a decision that can not be made legally until the child is born and the ‘waiting period’ has passed (with regards to the mother, in most states, fathers can legally terminate their parental rights pre-birth). There are a few things to consider when keeping that in mind:1) Any monies paid for services/expenses up to the revocation period should be considered ‘donations’ – unless your contract specifically addresses how funds would be rolled over into a new match. Should a parent make the decision to invoke his or her right to revoke their consent to the adoption and/or never even give their consent, adopting parents are usually ‘out’ the money they’ve spent or are ‘locked in’ to continuing their client/agency relationship with a new match. In very rare occasions, monies are refunded out of agency coffers – in one state I am aware of (Illinois) parents who invoke their right to revoke their consent are expected to reimburse families for the expenses they paid. I’m not sure how this works; I’ve never dealt with it. 2) There is no such thing as a ‘guaranteed adoption’ – unless the waiting period for termination of parental rights has been reached, the parents have signed and the revocation period has passed. Approach each match knowing that it’s very possible that you may or may not complete a successful adoption. Never spend more money than you can afford to lose on expense. Other things to remember when matching with agencies, facilitators and attorneys:1) You retain complete control over the amount of money you want to spend at any given time for any given match. Not ever expectant parent making an adoption plan is interested in receiving expenses and/or even needs help.2) There are agencies, facilitators and attorneys who do not charge exorbitant fee’s up front – most often, these agencies operate as Non-Profits and utilize donations to help women who are facing an unplanned pregnancy, rather than passing the unrecoverable expenses on to hopeful adoptive parents. 3) Adoption professionals are in the business of finding adoptable children for their clients (hopeful adoptive families) and may or may not ignore blatant warning signs of an impending failed match/placement.There are a lot of stories out there from fathers and mothers alike who have attempted to stop an adoption within their legally allowable timeframe – yet the adoption has gone on. Professionals rely in the largely unknown “Putative Fathers Registry” to terminate the rights of fathers who have refused to sign away their rights and requested to parent the child the agency is placing, but because of the lousy job done by states that have Putative Fathers Registries, these men are stripped of their legal right to parent their child. I don’t attempt to devalue you minimize your situation – but consider, if you were taken for this emotional ride, lied to and treated poorly – imagine how the parents of the child you had hoped to parent were treated!Unethical treatment goes both ways and the only avenue of recourse afforded to those who are mistreated are usually substandard at best. Things you can do to protect others from going through what you’ve gone through:Google, Adoption Agency Reviews and Adoption Agency Ratings – there are a few sites that allow clients to leave reviews and experiences for professionals – this isn’t a service available here on this site – but know there are sites out there who do provide this service and they are a great tool!Make sure, when writing about and/or talking about your experience – you stick to the facts of the situation – leaving emotion out of it. Omitting your emotional perceptions is important and hard at the same time, because emotion is a huge factor in adoption. Don’t speak about unspoken perceptions – stick to the facts at hand as you know them. Good luck with your quest!

In our case, all parties were treated wrongly...which is why they are now all willing to help us out against the agency. I am avoiding the details on this forum intentionally, but suffice it to say we can prove in writing we were lied to ahead of time by the agency (they inadvertently provided us the information needed to prove they were aware of key facts they did not tell us which would have clearly led to us not signing up for the adoption). We have all the facts, nicely and unemotionally tabulated (realize that emotions won't help...hard to keep them under control). Our contract has clear clauses for what happens under a failed adoption...substantial credits toward another adoption with them. However, we have no desire to work with them based on their unethical behavior throughout our interactions with them (with respect to how they treated both the birthmom and birthdad),their repeated lies to us leading up to the adoption, and their verbal abuse of all three families as the adoption was failing. Although we know there are obvious risks with adoptions since birthparents can change their mind, we do not believe that an adoption contract is any different than any other type of contract...if the person offering the contract provides you false or misleading information that leads you to sign the contract, that generally makes the contract null and void. This is why we believe we should be able to get out of the contract and our money back at a minimum. However, we need to find the right attorney willing to take our case.