Punishment for Adoption Agencies is Virtually Non-Existent

By on 3-24-2011 in Abuse in adoption, Adoption Fraud, Domestic Adoption, International Adoption, Unethical behavior, Valley of Hope Adoption Agency

Punishment for Adoption Agencies is Virtually Non-Existent

One thing that our readers need to continue to remember as they read the stories that we present on REFORM Talk is this ugly truth: adoption agencies have a Teflon-coating when it comes to punishment. There seems to be this bizarre notion that if a certain percentage of an adoption agency’s placements go well, then somehow closing down or fining or otherwise punishing an agency will somehow “hurt the children.” The placements that don’t go well are swept under the rug.

Both adoption agencies and regulatory bodies love to use the excuse of adoption being so confidential and personal that they can’t ever comment on anything bad. Regulating agencies are not quick to investigate, if they investigate at all. If the case involves people out of their jurisdiction (like all international cases), they avoid investigations like the plague. Justice is nowhere to be found. Additionally, this makes it extremely difficult for prospective parents to do the much-needed due diligence on their agency.

REFORM Talk will continue to stand up for those people that have been swept under the rug, whether they are adoptees, original or adoptive families or prospective parents.

With that, we would like to direct readers to read the following article from last year. This article discusses  how a domestic adoption agency, Valley of Hope, wiggled out of punishment in addition to providing poor services.

Adoption agencies break rules, escape punishment
[The Atlanta Journal Constitution 4/25/10 by Alan Judd]

REFORM Puzzle Piece

Education Resources2

The specific case in the article “sheds light on the state’s weak oversight of the 336 private agencies that arrange adoptions and foster care and operate group homes in Georgia, an investigation by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution shows.

Just three times since 2008, the Journal-Constitution found, has the state imposed penalties against agencies that exclusively handle adoptions: two fines and one license revocation.
The newspaper’s review of more than 1,500 reports of inspections and investigations found that regulators repeatedly forgave violations of rules fundamental to safe adoptions: failing to check parents’ criminal records, for instance, or not documenting safe environments in adoptive homes.
Several agencies received citations for failing to show that payments to birth mothers covered only legitimate medical or living expenses. At least one agency — Valley of Hope Adoption Inc. of Woodstock, with which the Arduzes worked — was cited for having money for a birth mother’s expenses deposited into its executive director’s personal bank account.
None of those violations resulted in penalties.”
“State law allows fines as high as $25,000. But officials say they prefer to persuade agencies to comply with the rules than impose harsh penalties.”

Persuading criminals to comply is how it works. Even when children die or are found to have been trafficked. That is the sad commentary on how the adoption world works today.

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