Chapter Fourteen

Denise Arrives Back At the Dark Side

    Tatyana, hardworking, always-informed Amrex facilitator that she was, quickly got word back to Alpharetta that Irina O’Rear was aiding the Towells in an appeal.  Amrex then let Denise know so she could handle these new rogue clients.

    It was after all, her client that was going above everybody’s head. She called the Towells who had long past cared what Denise said or did.

    During the conversation, Denise tossed them a bone: BBAS would be willing to help them with the appeal, but they must work with — you guessed it — Richard J. Marco Jr., BBAS attorney. 

    On or about Oct. 8, the Towells received the following letter, on BBAS stationery, signed by Denise L. Hubbard, Executive Director:

     Dear Mr.& Mrs. Towell:

It has come to our attention that you are pursuing an appeal of the denial of your adoption of Oleg and Elena from Blago, Russia.  It is understood that an individual by the name of Irina O’rear has appeared on your behalf.

Please inform Ms.O’rear that BBAS is willing to assist with the appeal in any possible way.  BBAS would ask that you work through our attorney Richard J. Marco, Jr. of 52 Public Square, Medina, OH 44256.  Phone number (330) 725-0030.  We wish you the best in that appeal.

Please note that the reasons for the denial of your first adoptions, if said reasons become known to the new adoption Court may have a negative impact on the pending adoption.  It is for that reason that as well that we request to be kept informed of the process of the appeal.

   The best to you in these endeavors.

    Was Denise telling them to keep it under wraps that Irina was doing the appeal and to also adopt Alexander from Vladivostok at the same time? Could she have been that kind?

    Unlikely. She was merely feeding Richard J. Marco, Jr. her dissatisfied client to cover her own butt with Amrex.  

    If she were able to place Alex behind Amrex’s back, she would have scored a coup against them. And if Irina O’Rear was successful in her bid of having the denial overturned, nobody would be none the wiser. 

    But we are talking about Russian adoption, where the currents and the sands are always shifting under your feet.

    Although Alysha had contacted us and was going over and over and over Oleg and Elena’s adoption with both the agency and Irina O’Rear, she was still speaking with Denise Hubbard until late October while Denise played her “I Care So Much About Your Babies” role. It is my opinion that Denise really thought she could go above Amrex’s head and help the Towell’s with the children’s adoption. 

    Alysha and Brian endured this until mid-October when Alysha reported having another conversation on the telephone with Denise days after having received the above letter about Oleg and Elena. 

    Denise, sensing that she had indeed lost it, shot back to Alysha, after Alysha had mentioned wanting Oleg home to help him — “All I ever hear about is Oleg and his needs. He has a sister. Don’t you love your little girl?”

    Lord in Heaven Above! Not the words to say to Alysha Towell about Oleg! She slammed back at Denise full force.  

    It was the first time that Alysha lost her temper at Denise. She let Denise have it!  Alysha says she told Denise to never say that again, even called Denise a “nasty term.”

    “If you cared so much about the kids,” Alysha said, “you wouldn’t be charging these fees to help them. And if you had truly wanted to help Oleg, you would have done everything you could to bring him home — and waived the fee for it!”

    We surmise the reason Denise Hubbard’s attitude towards the Towells changed in mid-October was due to some developements on the regulatory front. 

    On Oct. 17, 2001, she was informed by Linda Saridakis, their licensing specialist at the ODJFS, that we had submitted our rebuttal to her original, unfactual and incorrect written statement regarding Cyril’s death in Perm.

    Denise must have been a raging lunatic at the news. We would not have wanted to be a fly on the wall when she read that we had caught her out in gross untruths.

    Coupled with this was our helping the Blevins obtain a qualified escort for Maria from Bulgaria. Thanks to “those Crazy Cases” Denise’s autumn wasn’t so golden.  Two situations going down at her at one time, all caused by her clients uniting against her lies and tyranny.

    Denise’s anger towards us (due to our assisting the Blevinses and digging up her lie-filled response to our ODHS complaint) came to a vicious head, exploding all over the Towells. We never thought Denise’s anger would be directed at a client who had already lost so much (but then again, had she let a dead baby get in her way?).

    Denise must have simmered for a while after this. Two days later, at 10 a.m. on Oct. 19, the Towells received a telephone call from cold Denise L. Harding-Hubbard. Her “dark side” personality had kicked in.  

    Gone was the sweet, I’m-in-it-for-God’s-Orphaned-Children agency director and love Oleg and Elena so much.  She was now in I’m-in-it-only-to-make-my-McMansion-Mortgage-Payment mode.

    This conversation should have been the terminus of their relationship, but it would sputter for a few more weeks, until at least early November ... read on.

    Denise laid it out on the table to them. No more attempts at Oleg and Elena’s appeal or adopting those two children. It was the new referral Alexander from Vladivostok or nothing.  

    And “nothing,” means exactly that. They would get nothing.

    They were to stop all proceedings for Oleg and Elena’s appeal with Irina O’Rear for she was “not a real attorney.” They must “cooperate fully” with Amrex for Alexander’s adoption.

    If they did not stop the appeals process, which Amrex, Sasha in Moscow and Tatyana Dmitriyeva had botched originally, their relationship (and their money) would be over.

    If they were adamant on appealing the Amur judge’s decision, Denise instructed them to directly send BBAS a letter stating that they wished to stop Alexander’s adoption with BBAS/Amrex and then to continue Oleg and Elena’s adoption with Irina.

    And of course, there would be no refunds after all is.

    Why was Denise playing such hardball? Because of a little known clause rumored to exist in the agreement that BBAS may well have signed with Amrex when they became an Amrex agency.

    Member agencies — Building Blocks, Tree of Life, TediBear, Focus on Children, Genesis — sign an agreement with Beacon House to place children under their accreditation. Each child the agency places using Beacon House’s accreditation must pay Beacon House $1,500.

    It says that if a client of the agency adopts a child assigned to them by an Amrex member agency, and if the client later adopt the child using another facilitator/agency, the original agency that placed the child with the parents owes Amrex liquidated damages (or something along those lines) of $20,000.

    We should state clearly that we have not seen this document ourselves, althought we hope to in the future.

    But if it does exist, it’s a very good reason to be so nasty to paying customers and Denise finally was feeling the heat from both the Towells and Amrex.

    Denise twisted her lightsaber even deeper into the Towell’s hearts. She told them that another couple had already petitioned to adopt Oleg and Elena, and made the outrageous claim the family had already visited the children at the orphanage. She stated quite clearly that this couple’s Petition to Adopt had already been approved.

    There may be some truth to this. If you recall, Oleg had been turned down by a single Russian woman prior to his being made available to Amrex for adoption.  

    It turned out that this same Russian woman again inquired about Oleg due to the fact that Oleg resembled her deceased son. She come to find that Oleg’s legs had improved markedly in the months since Brian had left Blagoveshchensk; and he was walking.

    This single lady, probably taking a day off from work from the diamond mines, returned to see Oleg and was also shown Elena. When she witnessed Oleg miraculously walking, she changed her mind and decided to pursue his and Elena’s placement. It was an extra benefit that Americans had turned him down and that his adoption by one of those American families had been denied. 

    This is, of course, clearly speculation, and we are not sure if Denise Hubbard had become privy to this information. Even if she had been, she never should have swung this in the Towells’ faces, rubbing acid in their wounds.

    But here is the twist (and there is always a twist with Denise L. Harding-Hubbard), she then went on to tell the Towells that they had a court date in November for Oleg and Elena.

    Why was the woman talking out both sides of her mouth?

    No matter what demands BBAS/Amrex made on the Towell’s, Oleg and Elena’s appeal was still happening. Yet Denise still concocted stories and outrageous claims to grind them into submission.

    Eventually the Towells were forced into dropping Alexander’s adoption. They signed off any claims they had made towards his placement with them and did learn through contacts they had made that he was successfully placed with another Amrex family

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