New York lawyer Kevin Cohen has been indicted on charges that he stole more than $300,000 from couples who believed he could help them adopt. Vesselin Mitev reported on the case in the Oct. 29 edition of the New York Law Journal:

According to the indictment, which was unsealed [Oct. 28], Cohen had lied about "prospective adoptions which the defendant knew did not exist" and showed clients false documents, including fake sonograms. ...

Authorities have described the scam as an "adoption Ponzi scheme" because Cohen may have used funds from new clients to partially refund the fee of a client who had not obtained a baby.

Thirteen families, some from New York and others from Georgia, Texas and Ohio, gave money -- up to $65,000 in one case -- believing it would be held in escrow to pay for medical costs and expenses of the birth mothers, which in reality did not exist, [Nassau District Attorney Kathleen Rice] said.

Cohen's attorney, Matin Emouna, said in an interview that his client denies the charges. He added that Cohen was an adopted child himself, and had successfully placed five or six children with families through the nonprofit Adoption Annex he founded in 2004.

Labels: adoption fraud

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Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe has reiterated his opposition to a state law that prevents unmarried couples from adopting children, but he stopped short of calling for the law to be overturned. Associated Press writer Andrew DeMillo reported the governors comments in a Nov. 4 article:

Beebe says he's concerned about the impact that an Arkansas law banning unmarried couples from becoming foster or adoptive parents is having on children who need good homes.

Beebe told reporters Wednesday that he's not proposing a repeal of the initiated act voters approved a year ago, but said he's still opposed to the measure. Beebe said he still thinks foster care and adoptions should be handled on a case-by-case basis.

Department of Human Services officials said they haven't studied whether the ban is limiting the number of homes that are available for children. More than a dozen families have sued the state seeking to overturn the ban.

Labels: laws, adoption rights, unmarried couples

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The National Rifle Association has thrown its support behind a Florida bill that would ban adoption agencies in the state from asking potential adoptive parents if they own any firearms.

A Nov. 17 post by Amy Hatch of ParentDish.com provided the following details about the effort:

The bill was prompted by the case of a Brevard County, Fla., couple who, when applying to adopt a child, were asked if they had guns in their home, according to NBC Miami.

The Miami Herald reports that the couple, who was not named, contacted a lawyer who put them in touch with NRA lobbyist Marion Hammer. The lawyer told the couple that it would be easier to change the law than to sue.

The two were applying to adopt through the Children's Home Society of Florida, which asked the question because it is required by the state Department of Children and Families.

"An adoption agency has no right to subvert the privacy rights of gun owners," Hammer told the Herald.

Labels: adoptive parents, adoption_agencies, guns, weapons

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November is National Adoption Month, and Philadelphia celebrated by hosting a Nov. 13 ceremony. Hadas Kunitz of KYW Newsradio 1060 provided the following details:

November is National Adoption Month, and nearly two dozen Philadelphia families celebrated with a special adoption ceremony on Friday.

Anne Marie Ambrose, with Philadelphia's Department of Human Services, says her organization is celebrating adoptive families:

"We had about 22 families that had their final adoption hearing, which means we created permanent, loving, stable families for these children who didn't have a place to go."

But she says it's not an easy process for adoptive parents:

"There's often a lot of barriers and bureaucracy in the way, and so this is really a big event to celebrate."

Labels: awareness

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On Thursday, November 19th, adoptive families are invited to attend a support group at Our Savior Lutheran Church in Newton, Iowa.

The support group meeting will be led by Iowa KidsNets Ames Area Adoption Network. KidsNet is the statewide collaboration of agencies that recruits, trains, licenses and provides support for Iowas foster and adoptive families. (Source: Newton Daily News)

The meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. Childcare and snacks will be provided. For more information visit the KidsNet website at www.iowakidsnet.com.

Labels: adoptive parents, support, iowa

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In honor of Nov. 20 being designated Yuma County (Ariz.) Adoption Day, judges John Nelson and Maria Elena Cruz will approve what is believed to be a record-setting number of adoptions.

Yuma Sun staff writer Chris McDaniel reported on the adoption event in a Nov. 15 article:

Nearly 30 children who have been living under foster care will be getting adopted into new families Friday at the Yuma County Juvenile Justice Center. ...

"We are going to do 20-plus adoptions involving at least 30 children. We estimate there will be 160 family members including family being adopted and their siblings," Nelson said.

The day will bring together judges, attorneys, adoption agencies, adoption professionals and child advocates who are dedicated to creating permanent homes for foster children.

Labels: awareness

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Adoption Rocks, Inc., was formed two years ago by people who shared a concern for decreasing rates of infant adoptions in Alabama and increasing numbers of babies being born to single moms.

"According to [Donna] Ames, 50 percent of babies born in Mobile County are being born to unwed mothers," the the Press-Register newspaper reported. "Often these single mothers cannot adequately care for their children. Because of abuse and neglect, there are roughly 6,000 children who have been removed from their homes and placed in the legal custody of the state of Alabama."

Adoption Rocks seeks to raise awareness of the need for adoptive parents, and help women better understand what can happen during the adoption process. Ames told the Press-Register that she believed that many women, if faced with an unplanned pregnancy, would choose adoption over other alternatives if they had a better understanding of how adoption works.

Labels: adoption_agencies, advocacy

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According to an Oct. 15 article on the The Copenhagen Post Online, a hospital in the famed Danish city recently opened a special unit to serve children who have been adopted from other countries.

The primary reason for the new unit in Copenhagen's Rigshospitalet is to provide a more efficient and effective means of providing medical care to children who may be suffering from conditions with which Danish doctors are not familiar:

Children adopted from overseas often bring with them illnesses rarely seen in Denmark.

DR News reports that the new out-patient department will help centralize all the medical knowledge parents of adopted foreign children need.

Freddy Karup Pedersen is a professor in international childrens illnesses and is one of the three doctors running the department.

"We're offering a coordinated effort so adoptive parents dont have to go to 117 different places to find out whats wrong," Pedersen said.

About 400 children are adopted and brought to Denmark each year.

Labels: medical_records

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In honor of Novembers designation as National Adoption Month in the United States, President Barack Obama issued a proclamation in which he praised parents who have opened their lives to adopted children, and called for continued efforts to improve the lives of children in foster care.

The following excerpts are from the proclamation, the full text of which is available on the White House website:

All children deserve a safe, loving family to protect and care for them. In America, thousands of young people are waiting for that opportunity. During National Adoption Month, we honor those families that have strengthened America through adoption, and we recommit to reducing the number of children awaiting adoption into loving families. &

By continually opening up the doors to adoption, and supporting full equality in adoption laws for all American families, we allow more children to find the permanent homes they yearn for and deserve. &

This month, we also focus on children in foster care. & These young people have specific needs and require unique support. Federal, State, and local governments, communities, and individuals all have a role to play in ensuring that foster children have the resources and encouragement they need to realize their hopes and dreams.

The course of our future will depend on what we do to help the next generation of Americans succeed. This month, we celebrate those families brought together by adoption and renew our commitments to children in the foster care system.

Labels: awareness, foster_care, adoption_month

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Day-to-day life isnt very glamorous for Angela and Roger Wilmoth, as most of their time is devoted to raising the five children they adopted from foster care in Tennessee.

According to an Oct. 30 article by Janiell Ross of The Tennessean, the Shelbyville couple's dedication to their family has earned them a spot in a new campaign designed to encourage the adoption of foster children:

For all the attention that celebrities like Angelina Jolie and Madonna have brought to foreign adoption, child advocates and some government agencies are making an effort to gently remind prospective parents that there remain many orphaned children closer to home.

This week, the Ad Council and AdoptUSKids released a new series of ads depicting average Americans who have become parents of children adopted from foster care. ...

"I don't think there's any way we could have afforded all of the fees if we had tried a private adoption, and I can't imagine looking anywhere else, adopting a child from somewhere around the world when there are thousands of kids right here that need help."

Labels: adoptive parents, foster_care

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The United Kingdom childrens charity Coram has pioneered a unique adoption system designed to help at-risk women and their children. Called concurrent planning, the plan places newborns with a potential adoptive family within days of the birth, while providing the birth mother with the support she needs.

A Nov. 2 article on the British news website TimesOnline provided the following details about the effort:

Concurrent planning runs for up to one year, during which the baby is cared for by the adoptive family while the natural mother is given a chance to turn her life around and show she could look after the child.

Unusually, the prospective adoptive parents agree regularly to bring the baby to see the mother up to five times a week so that the relationship can be maintained.

The charity offers the mother intensive support during this time to give her the best possible chance to sort out her problems. At the end of the year, if social workers judge she still poses a risk to the child, the adoption goes ahead immediately.

Labels: international, UK

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