Adoptees, Adoptive Parents, and Birth Parents 1991 to 2011 Come Get your Records!

In an unheard of move, approximately one thousand adoption files are up for grabs.  New Life Adoption Agency closed in 2011 stating;  “Due to the reduction in staff, we no longer have the ability to respond to emails or phone calls in a timely manner as we did in the past,” An email said the board of directors is working on a plan to close the agency and would email families once the plan is finalized. Apparently they did and some people came to pick up their files, but there are still a whole bunch left behind..now sitting in a basement of lawyer Robert Lahm’s office building in Syracuse, New York.

Unwanted Adoption Files in Central New York

Now the article I found about the closing of Central New York’s New Life Adoption Agency stated that the agency was founded in 1991 and worked on adoptions from China, however, in the comments, there was one from a local Syracuse New York birthmother who was quite displeased that SHE was not notified, only the adoptive families, so obviously there are domestic files in there as well.

“As a birth mother from here in Syracuse who utilized the New Life Adoption Agency I have to say that I am extremely disappointed at the way the company went out of business. There were some domestic adoptions with semi open policies, like my situation, and they just left us to fend for ourselves. We were never notified as to the closing of the business, and I wouldn’t have known if my mother hadn’t found the article in the paper. No one has any answers or knows of people to turn to. This has been a nightmare. I only receive pictures and letters once a year, but I look forward to that day for 364 days. The contract I signed keeps no contact between myself and the adoptive family, so we can’t even figure it out ourselves. Does anyone know who I could talk to?”

I don’t know if she’ll get the information, but I did leave a reply to her on the article.

New Life Adoption Agency in Syracuse, New York

Was located at 711 East Genesee Street, Suite 200 in Syracuse, New York 13210 and that’s where the files still live, though the adoption agency is now gone.

The Agency Executive Director  was Margaret Davies of Charles Town, W.Va., I Googled her for kicks and on a 2003 New York Times wedding announcement for her son, it said that Margaret A. Davies of Charles Town, W.Va., retired as the Syracuse commissioner of licensing which I found to be MOST interesting.  I mean, you were the commissioner of licensing and a director of a now defunct adoption agency and you just left the supposedly confidential files?

As I am not sure if the Post-Standard keeps the entirety of their articles available for achieves of not, I shall keep the entire copy of the article text here should someone come along later on and be searching! I find it incredible that there is not one other agency in New York State that will take possession of these files, but it is a boom for anyone in  New York who was adopted and is searching for their free adoption records!

Adoptees Have Homes; Their Files Can’t Find One

SYRACUSE, NY – Forty-eight boxes on wooden pallets take up a space 15 yards long and six yards wide in the basement of lawyer Robert Lahm’s office building in Syracuse.

Inside them are about 1,000 files carrying information about Central New Yorkers who were adopted over the past 20 years – their medical histories, their adoptive parents’ finances, and in some cases the identities of their birth parents.

They’re the remnants of New Life Adoption Agency since it dissolved two years ago. For two years, a lawyer hired by the agency has sought a government agency or private adoption agency to inherit them. No one’s willing.

Hat’s Off to Robert Lahm for Understanding

Lahm had no connection to New Life other than owning the building that housed the agency for its final seven years. He said he wants to make the files available to the people whose lives are detailed in them. ”

All kids who are adopted want to know their background and parents,” Lahm said. “But no officials want to take them, and the people associated with the agency don’t want to take them.”

Anyone who adopted children through New Life and wants their file can call Lahm’s office at 315-472-3434, make an appointment to present proof of identity, and take their files, he said.

“It’s in the public interest,” Lahm said. “If nobody else will take responsibility, parents should.”

But New Life’s former lawyer, Golda Zimmerman, contends it would be a crime for anyone to disclose some of the information in those files, including the names of the birth parents.

“The law forbids anyone from disclosing adoption files – state agency people, lawyers, anybody,” without a court order, she said. She initially cited a section of the state public health law. But that section refers to anyone disclosing HIV-related information. It makes no mention of adoption files or information.

Later, she cited a section of the state domestic relations law that prohibits anyone, including the lawyer for adoptive parents, from disclosing the surname of an adopted child at birth. But that law only says violators would face civil, not criminal, penalties.

Either way, it won’t stop Lahm.

“Then they’ll have to charge me with a crime,” he said. “I will do this to protect these kids and the birth and adoptive parents’ information. I don’t want these files to end up in a landfill.”

The boxes are taking up space that Lahm needs for storage in the basement of his building at 711 E. Genesee St., he said.

Edward Fintel, a lawyer appointed to handle the dissolution of New Life in 2011, has been trying for two years to get the records into the hands of another adoption agency or the state. He wrote and called all 90 authorized adoption agencies across New York state. He wrote a letter in April to Gladys Carrion, the commissioner of the state Office of Children and Family Services, detailing his efforts and asking for help. She has not responded.

Jennifer Givner, a spokeswoman for Children and Family Services, said the agency isn’t authorized to take the records. But it worked with Fintel for a long time trying to find the appropriate repository, she said.

Zimmerman, New Life’s former lawyer, said she also went out of her way to try to find another agency to take the files. And the agency sent out emails to all of its clients two years ago, telling them that portions of the files could be released to them on certain dates. A lot of parents showed up — Zimmerman doesn’t remember how many — but lots of files remained.

Fintel enlisted the help of state Sen. John DeFrancisco, who brought Catholic Charities on board. That agency, along with an authorized adoption agency out of Rochester, were close to agreeing to take the files, he said. But in the end, none of the private agencies were willing to bear the expense of having to maintain the files and deliver them to people when needed, he said.

Fintel, who was hired by New Life’s board of directors to get a court order dissolving the agency, said he attended meetings with state Supreme Court Justice Donald Greenwood, Onondaga County officials, and people from the offices of DeFrancisco and state Assemblyman Bill Magnarelli.

“Everyone either had no room or financially it was a manpower issue,” Fintel said. “I’ve spent a lot of time trying to place these files.”

Neither he nor Lahm have looked to see what’s in the files because they assume they’d include confidential information, they said. Zimmerman said she’s frustrated that no other adoption agency or the Onondaga County Department of Social Services would not take the files.

State laws don’t offer any help, she said, such as a requirement that the government take custody of the files. DSS would be the most logical place for them, she said.

“I have become as creative as I can, using all my years of experience to try to think of someone who might take these,” Zimmerman said.

Lahm said he’s asked Zimmerman to take the files. But she said she can’t because she no longer has legal authority. She blamed the state Office of Children and Family Services for not having the county DSS do more.

Onondaga County Attorney Gordon Cuffy said the law does not allow for either DSS or the county clerk’s office to take the files, as Fintel requested. On top of that, there are no public funds available to store and maintain them, Cuffy said. The government taking over a private agency’s files would amount to a gift, and the county could not do that, he said.

“They totally washed their hands of it, and these are the people who are entrusted by the statute to oversee adoption work in this state,” Zimmerman said.

Greenwood tried to get the problem solved, but didn’t think he had the legal authority to order DSS to take the files, Zimmerman said. “He did really go above and beyond,” she said of the judge.

“Everyone who hears this problem goes above and beyond to accommodate, to try to find the right spot.” State law says the files are supposed to go to another authorized adoption agency, she said.

“But the people who are available under the statute do not want to step forward,” Zimmerman said.

Contact reporter John O’Brien at jobrien@syracuse.com or 315-470-2187.

I wish we could get our hands on them and help them out! PLEASE share this news with ANY adoption groups, search directories and especially New York Adoptees searching!! With New York still a closed records state, this can be a wonderful opportunity for NY adoptees searching for their birth parents!