timmyc2323
Junior Member
What is the name of your state? Colorado
I know this is a little long, but please bear with us, we need help!
We live in Colorado and have worked with an agency in TX since July (we were put in contact with them thru a consulting company here in CO to get a baby boy on Sep. 3 from VA). The parents backed out a week before - a failed adoption. Since that point, we have been discovering mixed messages about our obligation to this TX agency.
First of all, the following statement was on the Q&A section of their web site under the "What if the BM changes her mind" section: "All monies with the exception of living expenses you may have paid for the birth mother are returned to you and at that point you may choose to begin the matching process again". This section of their website is no longer accessible thru link buttons, but we have it date stamped and a few copies of it. Additionally, any person in their office who denied it would be perjuring themself, because the director flew off the handle when she read it. And, it was one of the two documents she faxed to her attorney for review, read on.
Secondly, we discovered that the letter of understanding that they sent us to sign was actually for an adoption they did a number of years ago for a couple who brought a BM to them and asked for help to make sure the process was legal. The director of the agency acknowledges that we should have never received the document and that it was an error. Basically the letter of understanding is what this agency uses as their "catch all" for detailed terms, because the main contract is so vacuous that it is hardly worth the staple that is used to put the 8 pages together. The only detail in the contract is: 1) all payments have to be received before finalization, 2) some fees are non-refundable (no definition however).
After bringing this to the attention of the director, she told me that I was being unreasonable and said she would have her attorney review it, but I should not get my hopes up, because the money was already spent, and it would be impossible to get it back for some time. She has dragged us out for a week with empty promises and under the guise of not hearing from her attorney and finally on Friday afternoon (when I ended up tracking down her personal cell phone #) she told me to leave her alone, let her run her agency and that she did not have time to mess with these types of details, especially a web site. She also informed us that she will be on vacation until 10/17, so we are just going to have to relax for a while.
We are tired of relaxing, being nice and polite and being childless to boot (remember also that we are in the throes of a failed adoption for a child we had bonded with). Additionally, we have zero confidence in this agency, especially if they feel this is all petty. What happens when one of these petty errors literally takes a child out of our arms? We are interested in opinions on what to do. We have tried to be as nice as possible, but we are tired of being strung along. Any help would be appreciated.
I know this is a little long, but please bear with us, we need help!
We live in Colorado and have worked with an agency in TX since July (we were put in contact with them thru a consulting company here in CO to get a baby boy on Sep. 3 from VA). The parents backed out a week before - a failed adoption. Since that point, we have been discovering mixed messages about our obligation to this TX agency.
First of all, the following statement was on the Q&A section of their web site under the "What if the BM changes her mind" section: "All monies with the exception of living expenses you may have paid for the birth mother are returned to you and at that point you may choose to begin the matching process again". This section of their website is no longer accessible thru link buttons, but we have it date stamped and a few copies of it. Additionally, any person in their office who denied it would be perjuring themself, because the director flew off the handle when she read it. And, it was one of the two documents she faxed to her attorney for review, read on.
Secondly, we discovered that the letter of understanding that they sent us to sign was actually for an adoption they did a number of years ago for a couple who brought a BM to them and asked for help to make sure the process was legal. The director of the agency acknowledges that we should have never received the document and that it was an error. Basically the letter of understanding is what this agency uses as their "catch all" for detailed terms, because the main contract is so vacuous that it is hardly worth the staple that is used to put the 8 pages together. The only detail in the contract is: 1) all payments have to be received before finalization, 2) some fees are non-refundable (no definition however).
After bringing this to the attention of the director, she told me that I was being unreasonable and said she would have her attorney review it, but I should not get my hopes up, because the money was already spent, and it would be impossible to get it back for some time. She has dragged us out for a week with empty promises and under the guise of not hearing from her attorney and finally on Friday afternoon (when I ended up tracking down her personal cell phone #) she told me to leave her alone, let her run her agency and that she did not have time to mess with these types of details, especially a web site. She also informed us that she will be on vacation until 10/17, so we are just going to have to relax for a while.
We are tired of relaxing, being nice and polite and being childless to boot (remember also that we are in the throes of a failed adoption for a child we had bonded with). Additionally, we have zero confidence in this agency, especially if they feel this is all petty. What happens when one of these petty errors literally takes a child out of our arms? We are interested in opinions on what to do. We have tried to be as nice as possible, but we are tired of being strung along. Any help would be appreciated.
