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Here is an update on the agency recently in the news for purportedly encouraging 17 year old mother, Stephanie Bennett, to run away from home to sign adoption papers. The agency has been cited by the state for various violations involved in this case. Apparently, this same agency has been found guilty of other infractions several times in the past, but continues to operate.
In this recent case, the situation deviates from the norm because the 17 year-old mother was parenting her baby, with the help of her mother. One day while visiting her school guidance counselor to change a class in her schedule, the subject of adoption came up. The young lady’s baby was 4-5 months old at the time. The guidance counselor whipped out a brochure for the adoption agency which quickly began to produce adoption papers for the young woman to sign. She now alleges that she was then convinced to run away from home to sign final papers and deliver her baby to the agency. It is thought that they advised her to do this knowing full well that her mother (the baby’s grandmother) would not approve.
So many ethical issues have arisen in this adoption that need attention. Why is a guidance counselor handing out brochures for an adoption agency to a young mother? Why would an ethical agency encourage a young mother to run away and surrender her baby in secret? I hope that these issues are addressed and that the agency has severe consequences for any breaches in ethical behavior that they may have made.
In “Couple sues after son is returned”, a Utah couple is losing custody of the little boy they adopted. The two-year old was adopted by the couple when he was a baby. This story is one of those “truth is stranger than fiction” type scenarios.
A West Jordan couple is suing an adoption agency, a lawyer and a notary public for what the couple says was a bungled adoption with incorrectly handled paperwork that will result in the couple having to give up their 2-year-old adoptive son, Anthony.
The father of little Anthony had hired a surrogate to have a baby for him. Although he took custody shortly after the baby was born, he was imprisoned when the baby was a few months old. The surrogate mother then took custody and at some point in time relinquished the baby to adoption. Then, the mother changed her mind and the father in prison objected to the adoption as well.
In both these cases, it appears that adoption agencies may have acted improperly. More horror stores like these two will come to light as people refuse to let agencies get away with all the injustices they did in the past. Agencies with shoddy practices should take note. In the past, few consequences were brought to bear when agencies skirted the law, or committed ethical lapses. I hope people will continue to hold agencies accountable and require that they meet ethical standards in place to protect children and their parents.
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