The DNA Way to Valid Adoptions: "DNA technology exists to confirm that a supposed orphan doesn't actually belong to a mother looking for her lost child. The technology is affordable and reliable, and if implemented properly, it could enhance our confidence in international adoptions just as it has in missing-persons cases and criminal prosecutions within our own country."
Couple on Probation in Samoan Adoption [Fraud] Case Adopt a Child:
A judge has granted a couple behind an international adoption scandal involving the placement of Samoan children with U.S. families leave to adopt a 5-year-old girl from China.Transracial Adoption Has Its Challenges:
Scott and Karen Banks are on probation for several misdemeanors. But 1st District Judge Thomas Willmore ruled it is in the girl's best interest to be adopted by the couple, who have cared for her over the past four years, according to court documents.
Jinoo Muther is 19, an age marked for most by the first wobbly steps into adulthood and the search for identity that comes with them.Win a Raffle, Become a Parent: You have to read it to believe it.
But for Muther, who buses tables at a Lebanese restaurant and takes hip-hop dance
lessons, that search is complicated by the fact that he was transracially adopted and, as adolescence comes to an end, he finds himself wanting to reconnect with his Korean roots.
Haiti Judge: New Charge for U.S. Missionary Leader: "Judge Bernard Saint-Vil says Laura Silsby has been charged for a newly discovered, alleged attempt to bus child earthquake survivors to the Dominican Republic on Jan. 26."
3 comments:
Thanks for those links. The articles were interesting, to say the least. I can't believe the story that continues to unfold around that couple involved in the Samoan adoption scandal. It keeps getting weirder and scarier.
Weird and scary, yes, it should not matter how long the poor girl was left in the Banks home, it is the responsibility of the judge to remove her. The hurdles one jumps to even foster a child this couple would fail, let alone adopt a child. It seems that the story and tradgy behind the two adopted children of the Banks who were put in Samoa as preteens and their condition upon arrival would have alerted someone of authority to stop these criminals in the perpetual wake of destruction.
Seems the pain that they caused to adoptive families, and families of Samoa, and their own "adopted children" are events that happened, but are being ignored. Anyone who supports these two faulty adoption agency owners are as corrupt as them.
Adopted children deserve RIGHTS and dignity in treatment as they had no choice in their cirmumstances of "housing".
Join child advocates world wide by signing this petition against Scott and Karen Banks adoopting another child.
Scott and Karen Banks's own adopted daughter sign it!
The petition can be found at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/utahadoption/
Monday, February 22, 2010
Call for Full Investigation into Amelya Frances Kirkpatrick's Adoption in Utah
According to a court document obtained by PEAR, on February 9, 2010, Scott and Karen Banks, former owners of adoption agency Focus on Children, were allowed to adopt another child, originally from China. The Banks were indicted on 135 Federal counts in 2007 for a fraudulent adoption scheme in Samoa. In 2009, they pled guilty to Aiding and Abetting the Improper Entry of an Alien in a plea deal made with the US Attorney's office in Utah. They were given a sentence of five years probation during which time they are forbidden to participate in the adoption business and are required to make payment into a trust for the victims.
The recent adoption occurred after evidence of their illegal activities with their Samoan adoption program were put on record in Utah courts. Also supplied was information regarding the Banks two previously adopted Romanian children.
According to numerous media sources and their now-adult Romanian daughter's own affidavit, this child and her sibling were flown to Samoa by Scott Banks and left without legal documentation in 2000, leaving these adoptees in a legal limbo. In addition, according to an affidavit given by their caregiver in Samoa, the Banks have had no contact with either child since their arrival, nor have they supported the children in any way since abandoning them in Samoa.
Furthermore, a third child of the Banks, suffering from cerebral palsy and also adopted from Romania, has been alleged in various documents to have been severely neglected in their home. This child was placed in a group home in Utah.
PEAR believes that anyone convicted of crimes involving children should be barred from the possibility of adopting any other children. We also believe that any parents convicted of or with a history of legitimate allegations of child abuse and neglect should be barred from adopting children.
PEAR opposes any practice that does not protect the rights of the child to live a life free from abuse and neglect with qualified and loving adoptive parents. To not hold these rights paramount in an adoption proceeding undermines every moral and ethical standard that each child deserves.
We are sponsoring a petition to be sent to the Governor of Utah asking his office to open an investigation into how and why this family was allowed to adopt another child given their dubious history. If you agree with the statements made please take a moment to sign the petition.
The petition can be found at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/utahadoption/
Measure passed by PEAR’s board 2/19/2010
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