Posted on 02/02/2017 4:24:13 PM PST by digger48
INDIANAPOLIS (WTHR) - Couples in Indianapolis and across the country saw their dreams of adopting children crushed in bankruptcy overnight.
Without warning, the Independent Adoption Center closed its doors. Hopeful parents are heartbroken and looking for answers.
Stacy and Mark Green had every reason to be happy. They thought they were close to adopting a newborn child.
That changed overnight.
"At this point, I don't see any chance of us having a child," Stacy said.
Kristin and David Baldock's dream of having a child may also have vanished.
Kristin described the emotions of receiving an email announcing the closing.
"Just ultimate, utter devastation, a sense of loss, kinda. Don't know where to go from here," she said.
The Independent Adoption Center's Indianapolis office closed overnight. Without warning, the agency's California headquarters announced it is bankrupt. In an email to clients, administrators blamed a decrease in prospective birth mothers and an increase couples hoping to adopt.
"We have come to the end of a rope and are declaring bankruptcy," the news release said
"I am numb, pretty much says it," Stacy said. "I'm heartbroken. I don't think I've come to grips to do this all over again."
Hopeful parents endure months of background checks, medical exams and other requirements. Then they market themselves to prospective birth mothers. It is an arduous process that cost the Baldocks about $16,000.
"I'm pretty confident we are not getting that money back," Kristin said. "That leaves our family money depleted."
Restarting the adoption process with another agency will also take precious time - perhaps as many as three years.
"Not only is that time gone, they are now three years older," said adoption attorney Steve Karsh. "As they get older, adoptive parents become less appealing to prospective birth moms."
For hopeful parents who thought any minute they would receive a call from a interested birth mother, the letdown is unnerving.
"My husband is extremely angry," Stacy said. "I am in shock and looking to God, to be honest, to keep me sane."
The agency shut down without giving couples any chance of recovering their valuable records, or even the names and numbers of birth moms wanting to contact them.
If and when the bankruptcy is filed, the court would likely step in and hopefully start making decisions and coming up with answers.
Indiana's attorney general's office is on the sidelines for now, but complaints could launch an investigation.
I was adopted through Lutheran Social Services. Do they not do that anymore?
Supply and demand. Thank Planned Parenthood.
In researching my book ( see my tagline ) it was an eye-opener to see how dramatic the birth parent placement numbers have fallen the past 40 years or so.
hmmmm
stand out side of planned parenthood with a sign that says:
“We will adopt your son or daughter”
Lutheran still does, at least in my area, but many of the older established agencies that were church affiliated have either shut down or remain open in name only.
People have done that.
Why?
I was waiting to see this adoption policy change somehow linked to President Trump. I didn’t see it. Usually, an article this heavy with sentiment will conclude with a clearly named nemesis or foil.
My guess would be with the stigma of an unwed mother all but gone in the U.S. coupled with the unending social services provided them they are keeping the babies and raising them as single mothers. Single mothers are pretty much raised on a pedestal and treated like heroes these days.
Adoption is more a business than a ministry these days.
But taking $16,000 without delivering the product sounds like it should be a viable business model. I’d be hanging out at my state’s AG office at that point.
I think a lot of the religious adoption agencies have shuttered because the Feds started requiring them to adopt out to LGBTQXWZ.
My best friends adopted a baby boy over a year ago. A church helped them. It wasn’t Lutheran.
They went through all the legal hoops, background checks, and everything else.
That kid won the powerball in terms of adoptive parents. I hope he grows up to know that.
This is just my opinion, but I would say that abortion is of course a big factor. Also the lack of stigma to single parenting and welfare benefits.
I can tell you though that the main reason we hear is typically that they (birth parents) simply don’t have time or other non financial resources to properly raise another child alone. There are other situations of course, but that is the most common reason we hear as to why they are placing their child for adoption rather than raising the child themselves.
I believe this was true with Catholic Charities in a lot of areas.
The supply of children available for adoption is diminishing, since many mothers who used to be the type to give up the child now have strong financial incentives to keep it.
Hopefully someone will read their story and will help them.
Yeah, whenever I hear or see some media story where the first thing out of the woman's mouth is, "I'm a single mom and..."
That's the cue where everyone is supposed to go awe, poor abused person, no doubt wronged by some insensitive male...
But whether abortion or the single women keeping kids, or an overall declining birthrate, that's what I'd like to know.
Too bad people like this are so averse to the foster system. The chances are high that you can adopt through the system and the state pays YOU, not the other way around. You can also get an infant.
"During its three-and-a-half decade history, the IAC was one of the only adoption agencies in the country that never had any exclusionary policies for adoptive parents, including age, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, religion, ethnic background, color, or race . As such, it was widely praised and embraced for its inclusive nature."
They were proud to be the adoption agency for gays.
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