Birth Mother Matter in Adoption Ep. 90: Adoption Scams, Part One: Birth Mothers

Adoption is an entity where scams are a part of our reality and one where we have had to stay ahead of the scams, change our protocol and make sure that our clients understand that we take our jobs seriously.  Let’s dig deeper into birth mothers by breaking scamming down;

1. Why do birth mothers scam adoption agencies?
2. What types of scams have you seen/witnessed?
3. What do you do as an agency to protect the agency and adoptive families from being scammed?
4. What can adoptive families do if they are scammed?

Why do birth mothers scam adoption agencies?

Some birth mothers may attempt or succeed to some degree to scam adoption agencies because of the following:

1. They are living on the street and are desperate for financial assistance
2. They have a friend who is pregnant and working with an adoption agency and want to receive the same benefits and assistance that their friend is receiving
3. They have done an adoption in the past and want to receive the same assistance and benefits as they had previously
4. They may have a drug addiction and are looking for a way to financially sustain their drug habit.

What types of scams have you seen/witnessed?

1. Women have come into the office to begin to make an adoption plan and tried to avoid taking pregnancy test.
2. Women try to physically change a pregnancy test.
3. Bring an altered ultrasound.
4. Bring altered medical records.
5. Take a pregnancy test  out of the trash can.
6. Continue an adoption plan after a miscarriage or abortion.
7. Women pretend to be vested in an adoption plan, when their plan is to parent or to work with Child Protective Services.