It should be illegal for a representative of an adoption agency to set foot in a high school for business reasons EVER.
[17-year old Stephanie B]ennett signed over permanent custody of her then-4-month-old daughter in September to A Child’s Waiting, a private adoption agency in Copley Township in Summit County.
She did so without her parents’ permission or knowledge, which is legal in Ohio. But now she and her parents, Ranza and Judy Bennett, are fighting to get Evelyn back in a case that raises legal and ethical questions about the adoption process.
Their story includes accusations that a guidance counselor at GlenOak High School arranged a meeting on school grounds between the teenager and the adoption agency, and that the adoption agency urged her to run away from home so it would be easier to sign papers away from her parents.
Ranza and Judy Bennett have obtained temporary custody of Evelyn, but A Child’s Waiting has disregarded the court order and, according to the Bennetts, urged the adoptive family to keep the child hidden and not disclose their location.
–source (emphasis mine)
This is the agency. (Note: They’re also the agency responsible for this, which you may remember airing on 20/20 a couple of years ago.)
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Wow. I can’t believe that. How horrible.
I hope more people will show their support for fairness and decency in adoption here Dawn.
That would be really wonderful.
Where are the voices?
Please come and stand with us on this, we need your support, we need you to come with us and say yes to fairness and decency.
Wow, that is just insane. I really feel for that poor girl. I also wonder what the hell the adoptive parents are thinking – how will they epxlain to their child when she is older that her Mum WANTED HER BACK, and they said NO?
The Adoption website also makes me sick. WHen you click on profiles, you can either look at profiles of children who are in disrupted adoptions (as in, the aparents changed their minds, sometimes years later), or children in foster care. There is a stock happy kid shot for each area – the disrupted adoption kid is white, and the foster kid black. Nice.
OMG, the profiles of disrupted adoptions! Children adopted internationally and then dropped off at a “ranch for kids”! I’m speechless. I’ve never heard of any international adoption disruption in Europe, not in any of the countries I’ve lived in. I wonder whether it’s is kept totally quiet or the years and years of courses, preparation and waiting *do* make a difference …
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