Case Review: Tamia, A Cherished Child, Illinois Adoption Law

The Illinois Adoption Reform Act was signed into law on August 2005 after Tamia’s case. This required adoption agencies to be licensed and tax-exempt. Although for-profit agencies like the defunct A Cherished Child of Utah are not supposed to work in Illinois, “the Internet has opened up troubling new loopholes, say child welfare advocates.”

The Illinois “attorney general has “serious concerns” about the issue and has started looking into unlicensed services, said Maura Possley, a spokeswoman.”

Tamia’s Story

In December 2004, Tamia’s mother Carmen McDonald “while in the grip of bipolar disorder and post-partum depression, put the 3-month-old up for adoption.

Carmen McDonald, then 20, traveled alone to Utah, returning without the baby but with a $600 check from an agency she found in a newspaper advertisement. ”

“[H]er ticket [to Utah was] paid for by A Cherished Child, a for-profit agency in Utah that advertised in Illinois. McDonald found herself in a motel room, relinquishment agreement in hand. When she tried to back out, she said, she was threatened, including being stranded without airfare home, according to court records.

When McDonald returned, she said Tamia was in Ohio with her father. When the real story tumbled out, the Dordens hired attorneys and sought to reverse the adoption in a lawsuit experts said they had little chance of winning.

McDonald was free to place her baby anywhere, the experts said. In fact, Tamia was already in the home of Lenna Habbeshaw and Steven Kusaba, then 45 and 50, respectively.

The prospective parents passed all the background checks, reports the Utah Department of Human Services. But in the midst of the explosive custody battle, they were arrested for drug possession, which derailed the adoption. They pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges.

On March 23, 2005, Cook County Judge Michael J. Murphy ruled the Utah agency mishandled the necessary paperwork for adoption in Illinois. One day later, McDonald picked up her daughter at O’Hare, calling it “the best moment in my life.”

A Cherished Child is now closed. The agency’s former director could not be reached, but she no longer works in child welfare, Utah authorities said.”

Carmen

She is currently in mental health and susbstance abuse rehab clinic in Pennsylvania. “McDonald, now 27, has had several psychiatric hospitalizations, has blown off court-ordered therapy and had frequent contact with police, records show.”

Tamia is being raised by her grandmother, Maria Dorden and stepgrandfather John Dorden, who fought to get Tamia back from Utah.

After Baby Tamia case, Illinois Adoption Reform Act shut down shady operators
[Chicago Tribune 4/3/11 by Bonnie Miller Rubin]

Catching up with ‘Baby Tamia’
[The Daily News Online 4/9/11 by Bonnie Miller Rubin]

For more about the coercion of Carmen McDonald see PoundPup Legacy Files

REFORM Puzzle Piece