Couple Receives $409,000 For Adoption Agency's Negligence

Couple Receives $409,000 For Adoption Agency's Negligence

POSTED: 4:28 pm EDT May 20, 2006
UPDATED: 10:49 pm EDT May 20, 2006

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- A Boston-area couple was awarded $409,000 after a jury found an adoption agency failed to disclose medical records before they adopted their now severely disabled twins.

Robert and Renee Albert said they never would have adopted their sons had they known of the birth mother's medical problems when she delivered the boys in West Palm Beach in 1991.

The couple sought more than $1 million from Massachusetts-based Adoptions With Love; its founder, Elizabeth Quackenbush, and employee Amy Cohen; and Chosen Children, a Florida adoption agency.

The 14-year-old twins suffer a variety of physical and emotional problems. Matt Albert, who suffered a cerebral hemorrhage at birth, has cerebral palsy. His brother Alex has several issues, including obsessive-compulsive disorder, a tic disorder and Tourette's syndrome.

Renee Albert said she has made it clear to the children that the case is not about her love for them.

http://www.local6.com/news/9249475/detail.html

NT, just amazement.

of money.

I went on to read the rest of the article and I'm quite confused. What does it matter that the birth mother was not from a "Fortune 400" family or that she was on Medicaid?? There are poor people on Medicaid. Big deal. How would this contribute to the ill health of the birth mother's children?

As concerns the overweight, overweight does not automatically lead to ill health in offspring. Hepatitis might, however. It could cause the offspring to inherit hepatitis. In any case, I'm still confused about the case and the article.

Here parts of the article I was confused about:

The couple claimed Quackenbush, the late founder of Adoptions With Love, lied about the circumstances of their sons' birth at St. Mary's Medical Center in 1991. They were told the birth mother, while heavyset, was from a "Fortune 400" family and had an uneventful pregnancy and delivery.

Actually, the woman weighed 260 pounds, was on Medicaid and suffered from hepatitis and various other ailments. After giving birth, she spent two weeks in the hospital, including the intensive care unit.

I find it sad that people are adopting children as if they were picking the best fruit from the produce shelf. Nobody wants children with problems. Even people who have their own kids often don't want them when they're disabled or ill.

Which is one of the reason that protecting the rights of gay parents to adopt is so important. GLBT and Single parents often adopt kids from the foster care system. (It would be interesting to see how much the proportion is higher than for other adoptions.) This is because of the bias in favor of straight couples. In opposing adoption by gay couples, the argument is always the need for a man and a woman as parents. Single parents are similarly threatened by this argument.

I am the single mom of a young woman who had been in foster care for more than 4 years when I adopted her at age 9. She is now 18. Things she has said while with me:

"Living with you isn't interesting, living with you is safe."
At age 12--"My childhood wasn't the best years of my life, now is the best years of my life."
"I need to thank you. You helped me realize I could stand up for myself. Thank you for not hitting me when I disagreed with you." (My response to that was, "Well, it would be ok if you disagreed with me a little less."


She had been abused and neglected by her hetrosexual parents and the caretakers with whom they left her. As with most kids who have been subjected to the life she lived, she has had to continue to work to survive what happened to her. While those who adopt kids from foster care do get a medical history, and there are no guarantees. Interestingly, my daughter did not have the problems that she experience in foster care, but developed others. As with birth children, I didn't know what strengths or weaknesses she would have, I just knew I would love her. I say this not to say I'm special, but to support all of those who adopt foster kids -- and to argue to protect their right to do so.

My daughter is a strong and independent young woman. When I adopted her she didn't need a mom and a dad; she didn't need straight parents; she didn't need gay parents; she didn't need a single parent. She needed me. Someone who would love her, care for her, discipline her appropriately, laugh with her, be proud of her, teach her, and once again, most of all, love her. Someone who would be her real mom.

Kids in foster care need loving caring parents. We owe it to them to fight to give them these parents regardless of marital status of gender prefernce.

"Even people who have their own kids often don't want them when they're disabled or ill."

True, but is it socially unacceptable to express such a thing when it is your biological child, yet it is okay to feel this way about an adopted child. I also feel as though some people who are adopting view the child as a comodity, and the child will feel this as they grow up.

cerebral hemorrhage AT BIRTH". This is something the adoptive parents clearly would have been aware of (not part of the mom's "hidden medical history") and it certainly is NOT surprising that he suffers from cerebral palsy as a result. Also, even if the mom was "from a "fortune 400" family, this is certainly no guarantee that she took good care of herself during pregnancy, nor does it eliminate the possibility that she had a drug problem or mental health problems. Jeebus H. Christ. And even "normal, healthy people", who receive good prenatal care, take their prenatal vitamins, abstain from alcohol, caffeeine, nutrasweet and everything else STILL have babies with problems. Sheesh. Shit happens. And BTW, it's a pretty well known fact that adopted children tend to have a significantly higher incidence of problems such as these two kids. (have to run right now, so no time to find a citation for this. will try later)

Also twins are often premature, and that certainly increases the risk for all sorts of physical/developmental/behavioral problems. Cerebral hemorrhage is MUCH more common in premies than in term infants, so I really wonder just how premature these kids were.

The parents sound like crybaby assholes. NO ONE is guaranteed the perfect "Gerber baby", under ANY circumstances. It's pathetic that the jury (or whoever) awarded them so much money.
<edited - typos>

Having children, whether through natural means or by adoption, means taking risks. This reminds me of stories of adoptive parents returning children who have physical, mental, or emotional difficulties. Would they try to return the child if it were their biological child?????

As an adoptee when I hear these stories it reminds me that society views us as different--apparently as do *some adoptive parents*. My parents always treated me as though they were my birth parents, but extended family did not feel the same way. I also cringe when I read a story about someone in the news and for no reason that is relevent to the story that person is identified as "the adopted son or daughter". It breaks my heart & boils my blood all in one shot.

When I had my daughter, despite having every test availble, there was no way of knowing if she'd have any health problems or anything. Some problems don't show up for quite a while after birth.

Why would adoptive parents know?