Chinese Babies Kidnapped and Sold for Adoption
From today's New York Times:
The abduction of children is a continuing problem in China, where a lingering preference for boys coupled with strict controls on the number of births have helped create a lucrative black market in children. Just last week, the police announced that they had rescued 89 babies from child traffickers, and the deputy director of the Public Security Ministry assailed what he called the practice of “buying and selling children in this country.”
But parents in Longhui say that in their case, it was local government officials who treated ...
Adoption Tax Credit Update
The IRS recently posted new language regarding eligibility for adoption assistance or subsidy agreements. The IRS clarified the documentation required for claiming the Federal Adoption Tax Credit for special needs adoptions. The official language indicates that Adoption Assistance or Subsidy Agreements are acceptable documentation of special needs. Visit the IRS website to learn more.
According to Voice for Adoption, the Federal Adoption Tax Credit is now refundable. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Public Law 111-148) made significant, short term, changes ...
International Adoption Racketeering
Using a strategy pioneered by my law firm in this 2006 lawsuit against JCIS and NCFA-certified World Child International Adoption Agency, five couples recently filed a federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization (RICO) claim against Main Street Adoption Services, based in (where else - the epicenter of bad adoptions) Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
The plaintiffs claim the international adoption agency that promised each a baby from Guatemala scammed them in a "bait and switch" scheme. They accuse the agency and three individuals of conspiring with one another "for the ...
Gay Civil Unionists and Religious Adoption Agencies Clash
The AP reported here that "gay rights groups are urging Illinois lawmakers not to let Catholic adoption agencies turn away gay couples," arguing "agencies that get state money to care for children should not be allowed to reject anyone who would be a good parent." When Illinois' gay civil unions law takes effect next month, Catholic adoption agencies "may face lawsuits or lose state funding" if they turn away gay couples. Groups including The Civil Rights Agenda and Equality Illinois are pushing for a law allowing "them to refuse to place children with gay couples on ...
Adoption, Toilet Seat Covers and Pet Rocks
After his toilet seat cover and pet rock ventures failed, Long Island attorney Kevin Cohen turned to another get rich quick business - adoptions. Cohen is accused of stealing $323,750 from 12 families and trying to take money from another family through a scheme involving non-existent birth mothers, forged documents and the impersonation of a bank employee and a personal reference.
While Cohen was passionate about adoption, as an adoptee himself, "his true passion was money," said Nassau County Assistant District Attorney Andrew Garbarino who filed a 69 count indictment ...
NYTimes: After Haiti Quake, the Chaos of U.S. Adoptions
Excerpts from this article tell it all:
On Jan. 12, a devastating earthquake toppled Haiti’s capital and set off an international adoption bonanza in which some safeguards meant to protect children were ignored.
Leading the way was the Obama administration, which responded to the crisis, and to the pleas of prospective adoptive parents and the lawmakers assisting them, by lifting visa requirements for children in the process of being adopted by Americans.
Although initially planned as a short-term, small-scale evacuation, the rescue effort quickly evolved into a ...
International Adoption Law Update: L.M.B. v. E.R.J.
This unusual international adoption case, which was recently decided by New York's highest court, has far-reaching implications for current and future best-practices as well as important policy implications. In L.M.B. v. E.R.J., 2010 NY Slip Op 1345; 14 N.Y.3d 100 (February 16, 2010), the New York Court of Appeals was called upon to untangle a New York adoption by ERJ (mother) and a Cambodian adoption by LMB (father). Each adoptive parent, who were never married to one another, claimed to be the child's only legal parent.
The child, Doe, was found abandoned in Cambodia ...