Adoption is a beautiful way to grow a family and a loving choice for an unexpected baby. Unfortunately, there are miscreants who use adoption dishonestly to defraud people. This process is called adoption deception. Both adoptive parents and birth parents can be targeted by these crimes. The best way to avoid becoming a victim is to make certain that you have an experienced adoption lawyer in your corner throughout your adoption journey.
What is adoption deception?
Arkansas law defines it in this way:
“A person commits the offense of defrauding a prospective adoptive parent if he or she:
- (1) Knowingly obtains a financial benefit from a prospective adoptive parent or from an agent of a prospective adoptive parent with a purpose to defraud the prospective adoptive parent or the agent of the prospective adoptive parent of the financial benefit; and
- (2) Does not:
- (A) Consent to the adoption; or
- (B) Complete the adoption process.”
Note that the definition depends on the intention of the person committing the fraud. This is very important.
The financial benefit in Section 1 above is defined in this way:
“‘Financial benefit’ means any cost for prenatal, delivery, or postnatal care, including without limitation reasonable costs for:
- (A) Housing;
- (B) Food;
- (C) Clothing;
- (D) Medical expenses; or
- (E) General maintenance;”
Arkansas law allows prospective adoptive parents to help an expectant mother out financially. This is not deceptive or fraudulent on anybody’s part — even if the mom decides not to consent to the adoption.
Adoption deception involves a pretense of planning to consent to an adoption. In some cases, there may not be a baby at all. In other cases, there may be a baby expected, but the person committing fraud may be stringing along multiple prospective adoptive parents with no intention of completing the adoption process with any of them. In many cases, there is no baby and no expectant mother, either — just a con artist pretending to facilitate an adoption.
How are prospective adoptive parents targeted?
The law specifically mentions defrauding of prospective adoptive parents. The criminals in these cases pretend that they plan to place their baby with the prospective adoptive parents but actually have no intention of doing so.
Social media and online forums are common places for adoption fraud cases to begin. Couples may be seeking a child to adopt, and the fraudsters may pose as expectant moms. Often there will be weeks or months of communications, with photos and fraudulent medical records as well as highly emotional emails or texts. These may be accompanied by increasing financial demands.
Some scammers pose as adoption facilitators. While unlicensed adoption facilitators are not legal in some states, in Arkansas they are allowed and not regulated. Con artists pretending to be adoption facilitators may prey on couples who have been waiting for a long time to adopt a child. If they grow desperate, they may fall for claims that the process can go more quickly with a high fee to the facilitator, who may then pretend to have matched the victims with an expectant mom.
How are birth moms targeted?
While the law does not mention defrauding expectant moms, scammers may tell birth mothers that the law applies to them. An “adoption facilitator” may tell them that if they choose to parent their baby instead of consenting to the adoption, they will have to pay back the money they received for medical bills. That is not what the laws says.
An expectant mother or a birth mother always has the freedom to change her mind until she signs the consent forms, and she cannot be pressured by threats of this kind.
Adoption deception is a crime in Arkansas. Your best defense agains these scams is to work with a qualified Arkansas adoption lawyer. Heimer Law specializes in adoption. contact us for support in your adoption journey.
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