Miguel And The Adoption Scam

I won't lie. This has been a discouraging week. It's amazing how cynical adoption can make you. I can hardly blame my adoptive families for being nervous about every situation. I got a call today from "Miguel Coppola". He described a situation in which he and his girlfriend "Ana Llerena" had been living in a van with their 11 month old daughter, "Paula". I explained what we do and Miguel stated that they wanted to make an adoption plan. He stated that he had a job waiting a few states away in Indianapolis (now there is some irony). It was a matter of finding a way to Indianapolis and then he would work and support Ana and with Paula in an adoptive home, they could try to get back on their feet. Because there was no way to contact him back, he was instructed to call back in a couple of hours.

Upon contacting Elizabeth, our social worker in Missouri, I was informed that she had heard from Miguel the evening before. The story he told was a bit different. "Ana" had left for Argentina and he and the baby were fending for themselves and living in a truck. He wanted to get to Kansas, where he had work.

A fair amount of internet searching later, we found four other agencies who had been contacted and apparently Miguel had been using the same story for the past year (with a few deviations each time). I guess it's hard to remember the lies. I'm not sure how many have fallen for it and sent money.

I set out to put a stop to this particular scam. I called the police in the city where Miguel stated he could "pick up money at Western Union for the trip". I was ready to set up a sting in which he could be arrested while picking up money...or at the very least it could be determined that there was no danger to the baby who was being marketed to as many agencies as they could find on the web. Oh yes, they even told me they found us on the internet. There was an elaborate story about how they go to the library to do the research, because it is important to them. I bet it is! I spoke with two detectives. I was told that "these scams are a dime a dozen" and "there are thousands of these petty thieves around and we can't do anything about it unless it's murder or a major crime". There are no resources to track down criminals who are stealing merely hundreds at a time. Great. So, people who know the system can scam without fear of any retribution. Until we get a system in place to stop it, it will continue to happen.

I was disgusted at the time I had spent on a scam. I was frustrated with my lack of options. So, when Miguel called back I let him know that adoption agencies compare notes and talk and that everyone knew what they were up to. I explained that they were "wanted' in a number of states and that what they were doing was illegal. I confronted him about his name, which is the name of an actor (and probably where he got it). He had lots of excuses and I found it quite amazing that he continued the charade and tried to win me over to believing that it must be some other "Miguel". This is the dark side of adoption. In their case, I'm not even sure there is a baby. If there is, she is not in a good, safe place. She is being marketed to the highest bidder. I don't think they are placing a baby. If they are, it's a better option than growing up with parents who would scam vulnerable people and use their child to do it. They are giving birth parents a bad name and adoptive parents more to worry about. I wish I could believe they would grow a conscience, but I'm afraid if they did, there would be hundreds more who would follow in their footsteps. This is one of those days when working in the field of adoption is not what it's cracked up to be.