At 11:45am on 2/27/2007, my wife received a call from our adoption agent. She was calling to check on our daughter and to see how things were going. She informed us that she required a post-placement document in order to close out our adoption case. My wife told her that she would discuss it with me and that we would follow-up. Our adoption agent mentioned that this could be done by DSS.
That evening, we discussed the call and neither of us seemed to recall any mention of a “post-placement” document. My wife and I discussed the issue and reviewed all of our contracts and paperwork to see if we agreed to post-placement document. We hadn’t. We also searched the internet, and didn’t find any mention of a post placement document either.
After some further discussion, we came to realize this request for what it was, a way to try invalidate our adoption. Due to my charges, and the fact that everyone assumes guilty until proven innocent, this was a way for our adoption agent to make us non-compliant. She knew nobody in their right mind would write a post placement document without mentioning my charges, that I was under DSS investigation and not allowed to live in the home. That document would be exactly what she needed to proceed with legal action and take our daughter.
Given we found nothing in the contract about us having to provide this document, we responded as follows:
<<Adoption Agents Name>>, I spoke with my wife regarding your conversation with her earlier today. We don’t recall seeing anything in our contract with you that mentions a post-placement report nor discussing one in our past conversations. In any case, we were not aware of this requirement.
Would you please show us where we are required to provide you with a post-placement report? Once I receive that information, I will have my attorney review it, and if he agrees we will provide what you need. I will also need some detail about what information is required in the post-placement report.
I would request that you reply via email or via a written and signed letter.
Thank you.
The email reply we received was that a post-placement document was indeed required, and while not specifically mentioned, it was a document she required of all her clients. She stated she had never had an issue with obtaining this in the past. I’ll bet, as I am sure she’s never had a client in a situation like mine before either! We informed our attorney, and he sent her a letter indicating that unless should could provide documentation or proof showing our agreement to provide a post-placement letter, that due to my legal circumstances we would be unable to comply. We never heard anything from her about it again.
Not only was I facing felony charges of indecent liberties with a child, being investigated by DSS, and not being able to spend more than 3 hours a day at my home, I also have to fight with our adoption agent who is doing everything in her power to take our daughter back! I wondered if it could get any worse, knowing full and well that it could.
