A Chapter Closes....

As most of you know, we have been involved in adoption drama with our original agency. I have not given a lot of details here for several reasons but now that I feel like we have some answers maybe I can share more with you.

After many months of knowing something wasn't right with our agency, we found out on Jan 11 that our agency was under investigation by the Arkansas Department of Human Services for improper business practices, fraud, and several other charges. Later we were notified by DHS that the agency had failed to respond to the departments attempts at inspection, failed to file a corrective plan of action, and had failed to comply with any of the agency request. At that point, DHS moved forward and scheduled a hearing to revoke the agency license.

We have spent the last couple of months wondering what will happen and trying to regroup and come up with a new plan for adoption.

Yesterday we traveled to Little Rock for the hearing. It was a very emotional day! The agency owner was there along with several other couples as well as birth mothers that have lost contact with their children. Not to mention every news media outlet in Little Rock.

After several hours of testimony the board suggested that the owner of the agency voluntarily relinquish the agency license. If he did that he could still complete adoption because he is an attorney and he could reapply for an agency license in a year. He finally agreed! He did offer an explanation for everything that has happened. He and his wife divorced, he had a $500,000 theft in the agency from an employee (he never filed a police report), he hired his soon to be ex-in laws to work for him and they stole data, clients, and birth mothers from him. During this time rumors on the Internet did even more damage to his business. All of these factors ran his business in the ground.

If all of those things did happen we can certainly understand how the business fell apart. Jeff and I would have been understanding if we had received a letter in mid 2008 explaining the circumstances and been more than patient. Our concerns started from lack of communication from the agency. After we could not get answers we felt like we had no where to go but to DHS.

I can say that the the director apologized yesterday to the families involved. He vowed to spend the next year finding birth mother for the families he had under contracts and to get the agency back on it's feet. He said he has lost everything - his family, his house, his cars, his business. He vowed that he has done the best he could do to make everything right. He has agreed to work with DHS to get them a copy of our records and DHS has agreed to work with him to find a solution. What that will be and when it will happen is still unknown. It is a huge task to try and take on!

I have thought a lot about how I feel and I have come to this conclusion.... If his heart is right and he is telling the truth we will know that in this year he has to pull it together. I will continue to pray for him and everyone involved. If he is being honest about the situation that will be proven by him when he holds true to his promises he made yesterday. Honestly, I feel for the man. He seems to me to be a broken man. I can only pray for him and pray that if his intentions are true he will be successful and we will get a placement through his efforts. That remains to be seen.

So I feel like a chapter has closed and now we can move ahead and spend our time and efforts on finding our baby! Pray with us for a birth mother match!

Thanks so much for all your support!