The Department of Human Services placed the license of Heart and Soul Adoptions, Inc. on conditional status October 6, according to a Notice of Agency Action from the department.
“The Department of Human Services Office of Licensing issued a Notice of Agency Action and conditional penalty on the Heart and Soul Adoptions license following a lengthy investigation into their practices over the past several months,” stated Heather Barnum, a spokeswoman for Utah DHS. “The conditions we have issued are verified, fair and are intended to protect health and safety of children and clients while allowing Heart and Soul to come back into compliance and offer a desired service to families and birth parents.”
The Notice of Agency Action lists several violations, which include incomplete fee disclosures as well as payments that exceeded fee statement totals but lacked receipts and supporting documentation for how those fees were calculated.
There was also “no evidence of any refunds issued to the adoptive families except in instances where the adoptive family sought legal action.”
Other issues involved insufficient receipts and itemization for birth mother expenses, which the agency said means that the actual and reasonable costs involved “cannot be determined.”
File audits also revealed times when, “adoptive families were charged for the travel of persons other than the birth parent or directly affected persons.”
In addition to other issues with itemization and receipts, the notice stated that some of the birth mothers were receiving Medicaid at the time they applied with the agency, however “adoptive parents were charged medical expenses in excess of $4,000 for the birth mothers, with no itemization disclosures or refunds offered.”
The agency also noted that in multiple files there was no evidence the agency had checked the putative father registries to determine whether an adoptive child’s birth father had registered.
In order to have the license removed from conditional status the agency would need to meet several conditions, which are outlined in the notice embedded below. Those conditions include notifying all existing and potential birth mothers and adoptive parents dating back to 2014 of the action as well as posting the notice on their website and social media pages.
As of November 12, there was no mention of the notice on Heart and Soul’s website.
The agency would also need to make “good faith efforts to come into compliance with all rules and statutes.”
In the meantime the agency cannot do any new recruitment and all new referrals must be declined.
Any work for existing or remaining clients would need to be carried out in compliance with the rules the agency has previously been violating.
Barnum said while they are grateful for adoption opportunities for children, adoption must be carried out in a transparent and ethical way.
“It is important to note that adoption is a wonderful thing for the child, the adoptive parents and the birth parents; however, adoption must be transparent and comply with ethical laws of the state in order to protect all parties and the integrity of their rights,” she stated.
Heart and Soul NAA Issued by kstumarkgreen on Scribd.”
http://fox13now.com/2017/11/12/utah-adoption-agencys-license-on-conditional-status-after-investigation-finds-violations/
[Fox 13 11/12/17 by Mark Green]
REFORM Puzzle Piece
Update:“An embattled Centerville adoption agency will lose its license after a Department of Human Services investigation found the agency took on a new client and altered files in the days after the agency put them on notice for alleged violations of their billing and record keeping practices.
DHS officials notified Heart and Soul Adoptions on Wednesday that they were revoking the agency’s license after finding multiple violations of the Utah Administrative Code, according to the Notice of Agency Action.
The agency is slated to lose its license Feb. 10, barring an appeal. When asked for comment, the agency’s owner Denise Garza declined.
DHS spokeswoman Heather Barnum said the department decided to revoke Heart and Soul’s license after concluding agency officials weren’t working toward compliance after the department issued its previous notice of action.
Without a license, the agency can’t provide any adoption services, must transfer clients to a new program and notify current and past clients of their license revocation, according to the notice.
The agency received a notice Oct. 6 that their license had been put on conditional status because of a “lack of transparency in billing practices and insufficient record keeping practices” that could “allow for harm or fraud.”
The conditional status — which indicates a license could be revoked if alleged violations aren’t remedied — prevented the agency from working with new clients, though they could continue to work with their current clients.
They were also required to “demonstrate good faith efforts” to comply with the applicable rules and statutes, and other terms of the notice, such as notifying clients of their new licensing statues and creating new policies to address the alleged violations.
Since that notice, the investigation reportedly found the agency had accepted at least one new client and had altered multiple forms “to reflect dates pre-dating” the last notice of agency action.
The investigation also concluded that the agency didn’t post their new licensing status on the homepage of their website within five days of the notice and failed to notify at least two adoptive families, among other alleged violations.
The notice of conditional licensing status was on the agency’s website Friday, but there was no indication of DHS’s most recent action on the website. According to the notice, the agency must immediately post the new action on the homepage of their website and social media pages.
The agency was first put on notice for 14 violations, including charging adoptive parents for a birth mothers’ medical bills, despite the birth mother receiving Medicaid for those expenses; failing to itemize fees and charges of adoptive parents; and in some cases failing to search to see whether a baby’s biological father — or someone without legal ties to a child who claims to be the biological father — was registered in the putative father registry, which gives fathers certain rights, such as petition for adoption.
Once an agency’s license is revoked, they cannot apply for another license for five years, Barnum said.”
[Salt Lake Tribune 2/2/18 by Paighten Harkins ]
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