A Call for Help After Adoption Corruption in San Antonio
I have never endorsed an Adoption Agency, but I am not above helping a good one especially when they are on the side of right. This is one of the cases.
Earlier this year one of Texas’ largest and most notorious adoption agencies went under. Adoption Services Associates, or ASA as it was “affectingly” abruptly shut its doors and claimed bankruptcy in April. Their websites are all down, but their sad little facebook page still sports their claims to fame:
“Adoption Services Associates of San Antonio, Texas, is a licensed, nonprofit adoption agency offering complete adoption services for domestic adoptions and Home Studies for all types of adoptions.
ASA has been in service since 1984 and has found loving homes for well over 3,500 (1998 figure) children in the Domestic Program and over 1400 children while woking in Russia.
Domestic Adoptions:
ASA is a pioneer in semi-open adoptions, now the most popular choice for both birth parents and adoptive parents. ASA is licensed in Texas, New York, New Jersey, and approved in Connecticut, and has helped families from all over the US and internationally. ASA was founded and is headed by Linda Zuflacht, attorney and a Texas Licensed Child Placing Agency Administrator, and offers full in-house legal services, pre- and post-placement social services, and counseling by professional staff for birthparents and adoptive parents.
Linda Zuflacht is a founding fellow of the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys.”
The attorney general has filed charges against ASA and its owners including Linda Zuflacht is a founding fellow of the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys. ( just had to bold that one to point out that THESE are the PROFESSIONALS that we are suppose to TRUST!!!) According to our friends at PoundPupLegacy, she also has delivered numerous lectures, served as an adoption panel expert, and appeared on national adoption-related TV shows.
She, along with her husband, apparently don’t pay their taxes, can’t handle money, and have previous involvement in shady adoptions. So, we rejoice that they have closed down.
Of course, there was much to do about the closing and the media covered the despair of the adoptive families waiting who have been bilked out of thousands of dollars:
- Couples Outraged With Adoption Agency
- Adoption agency closing stuns prospective parents
- Closed adoption agency under investigation
- Local agency abruptly closes, leaving adoptions across the country in limbo
The attorney general has filed charges against ASA and its owners, but nobody seems concerned about the disenfranchised birthfamilies. ASA has completed over 5,000 relinquishments since they opened. While they did email the adoptive parents of the closing, no one bothered to tell the birth families. As ASA only did “semi” open adoptions, the agency handled all the middle man control- they were the contact and now all these families have no hope of receiving promised updates or mail forwarding services, their only means of contact with the children they placed through ASA. Most know nothing more about their child’s adoptive families than their first names and the state or country in which they lived.
That Was the Bad and the Ugly, Now for the Good
Abrazo Adoption Associates has recognized this problem and is trying to help the birthparents. Yes, you read that right. They are stepping up to the plate and trying to help the birthparents regain some form of contact with the adoptive families so they can have the pictures and updates that they were promised by ASA. Yes, they are serious about this. They even issued a press release: Adoption Services Associates’ Agency Closing Leaves ASA Birthparents in the Lurch: Abrazo To Help
Yes, I KNOW they are still an adoption agency and complete adoptions,. I also know that they are one of the only agencies in the country that use posts from MOTL as required reading for all parties. I also happen to consider the Executive Director of Abrazo a friend. And I trust her, so when I received this message ( In part because I already told you half the story), I wanted to help.
My little agency started by launching a private Facebook group to enable the ASA birthparents to find each other (figuring there’s strength in numbers?!) We put out a press release (http://www.prlog.org/11846287-adoption-services-associates-agency-closing-leaves-asa-birthparents-in-the-lurch-abrazo-to-help.html) and we’ve been overwhelmed by the response.
While ASA emailed its adoptive parents to inform them of the closing, they didn’t bother contacting birthparents, and every week, we get tearful, panicked calls from former ASA birthparents who are just now learning they’ve lost their only channel of communication with their children’s adoptive family.
Thus, what we’ve been trying to do (the three of us who work at Abrazo) is to get whatever info we can from the ASA birthparents about their child’s adoptive parents, then hunt for the families online (again, with little more than first names, location, and sometimes occupational information.) We’ve actually found about a third of the adoptive families for whom we’ve searched…
Do any of you know of any search angels who might be willing to participate in this project? Do you have any insight as to how we could better appeal to the adoptive families we contact?
….These ASA birthparents have been twice victimized, once by the agency which misled them into placing thinking they had open adoptions when they clearly didn’t, and then by abruptly cutting off their only avenue of communication and making no effort to provide alternative sources of post-adoption care; we don’t want to further harm them by failing in our endeavor to help reconnect them with the children they placed.
I have already offered to help build a website that will allow adoptive parents to post updates to the original families in a way that can stay private, yet still maintain contact. Since it sounds like ASA probably lied to many adoptive parents and did the infamous open to birthparents/ closed to adoptive parents, this might be the best we can hope for. The hard part sounds like the searching for the adoptive parents and then re establishing contact. So, if you would like to help with this good deed project and maybe help a parent get a promised picture or update on their child, please get in touch with Abrazo.
Please feel free to spread the word as well. The more people that know.. well..you know the drill.
Thanks!
I’m not surprised about the “shady” dealings. We personally experienced these in 2001 when our daughter’s birthmother was once again pregnant and requested we receive her expected son. ASA contacted us, and, even though we weren’t looking to adopt again, were thrilled at having the two children together. We were caught up in the excitement and began furniture shopping, and imagine our 5-yr.-old daughter’s surprise at expecting a little brother! Soon ASA stopped taking our calls. After a long, arduous attempt to reach the birthmother to no avail, we gave up hope. When we later talked to her, were told that ASA had informed her we didn’t want the baby. We found that they had placed him with a couple in New Jersey who were able to pay a much higher fee. All this after THEY contacted us. We and the birthmother were horrified. I grieve for my lost little son every Mother’s Day. And, as a footnote, we were not notified by ASA when they shut down. Fortunately, our daughter’s birthmother knew how to reach us and called to tell us they’d closed and how to contact her. But, at that time, she had no info on the adoptive family of her son.
Letters being released:
http://www.foxsanantonio.com/news/features/top-stories/stories/adoption-letters-released-6811.shtml#.VCox7PldWSp
With all of this going on, is there anyway for someone who has been adopted through this agency to find their birth parents? Any help is appreciated.
Letters being released:
http://www.foxsanantonio.com/news/features/top-stories/stories/adoption-letters-released-6811.shtml#.VCox7PldWSp
We need your help please to find birth parents any one knows some thing about how to find some body of this agency
Do you mean Adoption Services Associates OR Abrazo Adoption Associates? Because ASA is long gone now. So your best bet is to contact Abrazo (http://abrazo.org/) as they are the ones trying to help in this matter.
Have charges for Kidnap via Fraud been pressed by any of the parents against ASA’s founder and agents? If these charges go to court, the adoption records can be opened from the District courts and the statutes sealing the records challenged for their role in the crime. Because these parents were defrauded, by law, they still are the natural parents with full parental rights. This should not be a civil matter, but a criminal matter for every parent who had their child kidnapped by fraud. Any contract found to be in violation of any law is null and void and the writer of the contract can be held for criminal fraud and any subsequent measurable damages, harm, or deprivation of rights arising therefrom. Any parent that has been a victim of kidnap via fraud should contact local law enforcement and the FBI and report Linda Zuflacht and any agent for ASA who willfully acted in concert to defraud and kidnap. Do not wait for the AG’s office to render any verdict regarding any other case. The case with the AG’s office does not address the crime and measurable damages for each family. The FBI and local law enforcement need to be overwhelmed with criminal reports of Kidnap via Fraud. Birthparents and adoptive parents need to offer testimony/evidence of the fraudulent statements made to them. Birthparents were told they were accepting an open adoption and adoptive parents were told they were accepting closed adoption. You guys all need to pull together and put this woman in jail to set precedent for all the other agencies who are doing this and getting away with it. Gather your evidence and make the criminal reports. Do NOT allow ant official to tell you this is civil or that you do not have grounds to make the criminal chrage and report. The officers have a Duty to Act to enforce criminal statutes. If they refuse, place them on Notice for their role in a Conspiracy to Kidnap. If they still refuse, make criminal report against the non-feasant officer to the FBI and DOJ. If the FBI and DOJ refuse to enforce the law, contact your local Militia and present your evidence.
I woul;d like to qualify my statement above, in the interests of the kids involved. If these kids have been living for years with these adoptive families, it would be traumatic to be removed and returned to the natural parents. I highly encourage biological parents to support these adoptive parents who were also defrauded. You are all victims of this crime and you all have deep connection and love for these kids. Do not give the adoptive parents any reason to suspect that you have any intent of destroying their families. Be friends with them and try to support each other. I grew up with 4 parents. Its OK for kids to have a large family. If you all stick together, you will win and end these crimes being conducted by numerous agencies. You all need each other’s testimonies and evidence. The kids need you all to work together. Every state has statutes regarding Arrests without Warrant (Citizen Arrests) all you need is 2-3 witnesses to a felony, which this is, and you can conduct the arrest yourselves, but you need to have also have your evidence (documents) in hand. The perpetrator would then be either released to a law enforcement officer or to the closest county jail and direct report to the Sheriff, not a deputy, should be made and be ready to cite the statute regarding arrests without warrant. I understand Zuflacht is living in New Mexico and working as an attorney. This needs to be verified. I found her on Facebook. You all need to send these criminal agencies a clear message that they can longer hide behind corporate law to conduct kidnapping and get away with it by declaring bankruptcy and dissolving the company.