713-333-4430How Adoptive Families Can Protect Against Fraud
You and your family have made the decision to try and adopt a child. You believe that you will not only be able to give a child a warm and loving home, but also that adoption will be meaningful and fulfilling for you as well. While you want to jump right in, you need to be aware that adoptive scams, unfortunately, exist. By learning about the adoption process, you can discover how adoptive families can protect against fraud and ensure that everything goes as smoothly as possible.
Boudreaux Hunter & Associates, LLC in Houston, Texas can help with your adoption, and we take a collaborative approach with their clients to ensure that their clients reach solutions that work for their families, and are devoted entirely to the practice of family law. We are fierce advocates for our clients and we’d be happy to assist you with your adoption.
What Are Adoption Scams?
Adoption scams happen when a person takes advantage of someone who is adopting a child by doing something illegal or intentionally misrepresenting a situation during the adoption process for financial or personal gain. Birth mothers, adoption agencies, facilitators, and potential adoptive parents could all be involved in adoption scams.
For instance, an adoption agency might tell an adoptive couple about a child, but fail to disclose the child’s full medical background or family history. The adoptive couple might then bring home the child and discover that they have issues that were not disclosed. In another scenario, a birth mother may ask for a prospective adoptive family for money for pregnancy expenses and travel costs, but never intend to follow through with the adoption.
In one local case in 2022, a family traveled from Ohio to Houston to adopt a baby, but when they arrived, they found out they had been victims of an adoption scam. The “birth mother” was allegedly not pregnant, and she scammed the couple out of more than $10,000 to pay for her “pregnancy costs.” Since that story came out, several other women in Texas came out to talk about their adoption scam stories.
Before starting the adoption process, it’s critical that you learn about what mistakes to avoid as well as best practices so that you can ensure you don’t fall victim to an adoption scam.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Adopting
The first mistake you’ll want to avoid is not doing an adoption the proper legal way. If you don’t retain the help of a family law lawyer in Texas who is well-versed in adoption and you don’t have a legal agreement in place, that can lead to a lot of heartache and trouble. You’ll need to find an experienced lawyer who can assist you with every step of the process. If you try to go about doing it on your own, that could result in a slew of legal issues.
Another mistake is paying the birth mother instead of paying the medical bills directly to her doctor. She may never put that money toward her medical bills. If she’s not pregnant, those bills won’t exist in the first place. If you give her money for “medical bills,” she may then ask you for more money for other “costs” too.
While an independent adoption may be less costly, it can also pose more problems for adoptive families because there is a lot more risk involved. Instead, it’s a better idea to go through a legitimate adoption agency or family law attorney that has successfully placed children with other families.
It’s crucial to thoroughly research the adoption agency, especially if you’re doing an overseas adoption and aren’t going to be able to go in person until you meet your child. Adoption costs range from around $20,000 for a domestic adoption and $30,000 for an international one, so you want to make sure you’re doing everything in the proper way.
Another thing you’ll want to avoid is posting anything about the adoption publicly until it’s finalized and the parental rights of the birth parents have been terminated. If you are doing an open adoption, it’s best to talk to the birth parents about their preferences for posting about the child on social media. Otherwise, you could cause unnecessary issues.
Keep in mind that during the adoption process, a birth parent may change their mind and want to keep their child. This happens, and it is not considered fraud unless they intended to defraud the adoptive family all along.
While adopting is an emotional process – and you may just want to get started with it as soon as possible – you need to do your due diligence before making any decisions. Sadly, there are criminals out there who are looking to scam vulnerable people, and you don’t want to fall victim to one of them.
Information about Adoption in Texas
If you want to adopt in Texas, you’ll need to be at least 21 years of age, have a good home for the child, and be financially stable. It’s required to complete an application for adoption, provide information on your lifestyle, background, and finances, offer references, and be a responsible and mature person.
You will need to go through a home study and allow the staff to do a complete criminal background check on you as well as any other adults living in your house. They will evaluate any children in your home as well to ensure they are not victims of abuse.
If you reside in the state of Texas but you are adopting a child who is out-of-state, then you will still need to undergo a criminal background check in Texas. You’ll need to follow the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children protocol, too. This means you may have to stay in your child’s state until the ICPC has gone through. It can take anywhere from seven to 30 days to complete.
Contact Boudreaux Hunter & Associates, LLC
If you need help with adopting a child, you can reach out to Boudreaux Hunter & Associates, LLC for help. We’ll work hard on your adoption and be a source of support in your time of need. Make sure you get in touch online or by calling us at (713) 333-4430. We look forward to assisting you with your adoption process.
Attorney Kevin Hunter at Boudreaux Hunter & Associates, LLC has experience with child custody, spousal support, high conflict divorce, and is fully equipped to guide you through the process. Learn more about Kevin on his profile here.
