On Oct. 14, the Blevins ecstatically emailed us and others the following great
news:
After
14 months we finally have a date that our daughter will be home!!! On
December 10th the escort with pick up Maria from Buzovgrad!!! On the
12th they have an appointment at the American Embassy!!! On the 13th
they can start making their way back to the States!!! It's a miracle,
she will really be here for Christmas!!! Only a year late but God's
time is always perfect (even though that wasn't the time frame that I
wanted!)[The girls] are very
excited that they actually know an exact date!!! I'll write again as
soon as I know anything else!!!
Daniel and I kept out of the arrangements that Susan and the Blevins family were
making.We let them work things out
on their own, for it really wasn’t our business who did what.
We were so grateful, however, to have connected these two
wonderful people to help bring Maria home.
The powers that be in Bulgaria and Medina were not so enthusiastic about the
escort, for the Blevins (with some help from “a certain family”) had gone
over their heads to make things happen.
Dorothy called and spoke with Debbie Bollinger on Oct. 19 asking about Maria’s
birth certificate and if it had been issued.Debbie told her there was nothing new coming from Bulgaria.
On Oct. 27, Dorothy again called her back, and much to her delight and
surprise, Debbie told her that not only did they have Maria’s birth
certificate, but that the passport had also been applied for — and they
had been given a travel date for Susan to escort Maria!
This was a total shock to Dorothy, for BBAS had been uncommunicative and
unhelpful regarding the escort.
They had done nothing to help the Blevinses with the information
to bring to Bulgaria. Susan and the Blevinses were left to their own devices
figuring out what the INS required, what the U.S. Consulate would require and
what the Kamenovs would require.
As a matter of fact, the Kamenovs, Susan and Dorothy all attempted to arrange
this on their own — without any input from Denise or anyone at BBAS.
Dorothy had sent all of Susan’s approvals to BBAS. “Believe it or not,”
Dorothy wrote us “she has more clearance and approval than we have and we are
the ones adopting!”
They agreed Susan would stay with Maria at the home of one of her Bulgarian
friends that she had met working with the Bulgarian attorney.
Susan had felt it better for all concerned to stay in a home with people
she felt comfortable with in Sofia than she would be if she stayed at the Hotel
Rotasar with Maria.Threats had been
made to the U.S. Embassy in Sofia after 9/11 and safety issues were a concern.
Dec. 13 was rapidly approaching. But don’t think our kind agency director was
going to let the Blevins off so easily for arranging the escort.
Denise was only warming up.There
were some problems to be ironed out with the INS (that the Blevinses were able
to resolve) so the next hurdle was financial.
Susan would leave the USA from JFK on Dec. 6, travel to Buzovgrad on Dec. 10 and
leave for home with Maria on Dec. 13.Gary,
Dorothy and their three daugthers, along with ourselves and Anguel would be
there at the airport to meet Maria and Susan as they came through the gates.We
couldn’t wait.
On Dec. 2, Denise struck after so long having assiduously avoided aiding the
Blevins in any way, shape or form with the escort or the travel arrangements.
Dorothy and Gary had agreed to give Susan a certified check to give
directly to Valeri Kamenov.Then Denise became involved, sending this to Gary and
Dorothy. (Keep in mind that Susan was to leave in four days).
Gary
and Dorthoy
Please refer all your requests and your escorts questions to myself. Valeri
cannot answer these questions. Also Valeri requested that you send to BBAS the
remainder of the fees and we will take care of the processing of the fee. In
addition, if the [the escort] needs assistance please refer them to us.
Thank you
BBAS
This is another curious email.Denise
had not been in any contact whatsoever with Susan and the mention of the fees.The
Blevins had been under the impression that the money was to go directly to
Valeri Kamenov and not to Denise.
Had Valeri really “requested” that the funds be sent to BBAS?From another BBAS client we learned that things had changed and that last
$3,500 fee was indeed sent on to Medina, but why was Denise letting the Blevins
know this so late in the game?
Gary responded:
Denise,
Now your current statement has me very confused.Months ago you requested
that all monies be handled through you and BBAS.
Last week we receive a message that we are to hand carry the money to
Bulgaria. It is very late in the process for you to continue to change
your
position, which way are you wanting this done. It was almost too late
for
this to be an issue since we were going to mail the fees Friday to our
escort!
Your position on the escort situation has been that we were to handle all
escort problems, situations, etc., since you did not understand what would
be
needed and you were not interested in assisting us in this manner.
There has
been conversation between our escort and Vladi (not Valeri as it was signed
from Vladi) that consisted of arranging a meeting prior to the weeks events
and when and where our escort was to arrive andstay during her visit. Any
other conversations between the escort and Vladi has been initiated on the
part of Vladi which in not our business or yours.
I am tired of all of this confusion within your company. Someone needs to
make a decision and stand by it and quit changing the process on a weekly
basis.
Gary
Of course they were not confused about the money issue.They had sent the certified check to Susan.
Suddenly Denise was insistent about the money. Instead
of carping about the adoption loan for the translation fee, she began to throw
at them the$750 “adoption
grant” for their homestudy’s release!
The child ID fee should have gone to BBAS and the $3,500 should have gone
to Bulgaria with Susan.Dorothy had
even sent Susan a blank set of documents and a pen in case the originals
weren’t good enough or somebody made a mistake filling something out!
Dorothy wanted me to clear a few things up about the money issue.
The $3,500 was originally going to Susan. Then it was to go to Bulgaria.
Finally, Susan ended up carrying the certified check with her to Bulgaria.The other money they were sending along was for the medical exam and the
United States Embassy visit. "The
Child ID Fee was not involved here", Dorothy says.
While Susan was in Bulgaria picking Maria up, Valeri Kamenov asked Susan
about the rest of the fees.Susan
told him that they had been sent on to Medina.The “rest of the fees” had not been given to her.
On Nov. 28 I emailed the following to Vladimir Kamenov regarding Anguel’s
second post-placement report that had been due in Bulgaria that October.
I wanted to give him a heads-up that the report would soon be at their
offices in Sofia. The moment they received this email from me, they must have
gone running to Denise Hubbard, which in turn put Denise into psycho agency
director mode:
Daniel
sent you guys out Anguel's next post placement report.
I apologize for this delay - again, but the social worker's husband had
another bad health scare.
Delays, delays, delays.
As an aside, please take good care of Susan when she picks up Maria Blevins!
Everybody is so excited about Maria's homecoming.
Elizabeth Case
Honestly didn’t know that it would cause any problems for the Blevins and
Maria.Whatever it was, they were
sure scared of the Big Bad Cases in NYS.
Denise struck at Gary with the following. Our considerate agency director must
have been seething when she wrote this:
Gary
We offered to assist you with the escort. But you choose a previous
BBAS client to assist you. BBAS has gone up and above for your
adoption concerning fees etc....
As for the changes, they are not requested by BBAS, they are requested by
the representative. All fees are to be sent to BBAS by certified check and
the escort will only be responsible for bringing Maria to you and not the
adoption process.
Also
Debbie has spent countless hours on the phone with Dorothy, happily
so, to assist her with documentation and last minute details.
No one here is confused. Sorry if their is a confusion. I believe
communication broke down with others points of views.
On a good note, I have heard Maria is doing well.She is a beautiful girl and deserves the best which I believe she
will have the best. I hope she gets to enjoy like with horses and love
of a family. My only concern is Maria. She is a special girl
and has been in my prayers and thoughts from the first day I met her.
Please send all funds through BBAS. I appreciate your cooperation.
God Bless and Good luck with your new family. BTW we are here if you need
once Maria gets home.
Denise
Dorothy was enraged at
this.
First, we did try to go
through BBAS for the escort but they said they hadn't done any escorts and
told us basically that we were on our own … Debbie was not on the phone
with me for countless hours!! I did call her several times on Wed or
Thurs last week to make sure that I had everything filled out correctly.
They were questions that we would have had regardless as to whether we were
having Maria escorted or going ourselves! I couldn't have spent more than 30
minutes total on the phone with her and now I can't wait to get the phone
bill to find out for sure!!…It sure was nice to hear that Maria is doing
well. It would have been even nicer had they offered that information
earlier!!
Dorothy categorically denies looking to “any former BBAS clients” to
find an escort.What they were
looking for was the best person, with the best qualifications that they could
trust with their new daughter.“It
just happens” Dorothy says, “that the one that we liked the best happened to
be the one you sent our way.But we
never asked you to provide an escort, to look for an escort or anything else.This was not planned.This
was something that just happened.”
Then Denise sent the following out of the blue to Susan.
Has this woman no couth, concern, or people skills?She knew Susan’s name, yet had to ask “please advise who I am
speaking with” (her and her overuse of “advise.”).
Please
advise who I am speaking with?
Debbie has gone over all documentation with the Blevins family. She
has
assisted them with every document needed for the adoption of Maria.
Please provide our office a copy of your travel schedule. Please
email to800-668-2478.
Also Mr. Kamenov has requested that all funds come through our office so
there is no need for you to hand carry funds.
I wish you well on your trip and I must add, Maria is a very special girl.
God Bless and good luck
Best Regards,
Denise Hubbard
Executive Director
Building Blocks Adoption
P.O. Box 1028
Medina,Ohio 44258
330-725-5521 denise@bbas.org www.bbas.org
Susan
forwarded a copy of this on to Dorothy, who was appropriately disgusted. Dorothy
responded to Susan:
I
don’t think that this is any of their business since this has been
handled with Valeri but this goes back to the control issue!! They
are losing control and they don’t like it. I don’t know what
kind of trouble that they could stir up if you don't respond but I have a
feeling that it could be very ugly!They try to make it sound like they are doing you a favor
here....please!
Things worked out in the end.Gary
received the following from Denise two days before Susan left for Sofia.
Denise had sharpened her ability to play the injured party.Poor, poor, hard-done -by Denise!Don’t
you know she was only in it to find a set of parents for Maria!
I am sorry you feel the way you do and you have been clouded. This
was not our intention. Our only goal is to provide Maria a much needed
home.
I agree no reason to go back and forth. The bottom line is Maria needs to
come home to you.
Yes I was very shocked that you wanted Maria escorted home. I really
though it would benefit her to come home with her parents. She is
very attached to her caretaker as you said.
As for the money I will have Sandi email you with the wiring instructions.
Not a problem at all. Please ensure that the escort has the funds to pay
for the Embassy appt and the medical appt.
Valeri has agreed to escort [Susan], whom I was told by Vladi that
Ms. Case wanted him to communicate with [Susan]. Vladi felt
uncomfortable once he knew the process and referred [Susan] to myself and
[Susan] then emailed our office. Also I was informed that [Susan] …and a
gentlemen was traveling so I was unsure if I was speaking with [Susan] or
whomever in the email. It was not unprofessional I was merely answering
this persons request. I did not leave you out of the loop. I cc you
on all responses.
As for leaving your wife out of the conversations. You requested
that I contact you since Dorothy was ill, was suffering from sickness and
depression. I honored that request. I was not playing
games.
I am hurt and really bothered that our relationship was not
better. I am sad about this. Believe it or not, I am. You
can believe whomever you choose and listen to whatever stories you like.But I do care and I do care about all the children, and the
families.
Sorry that all this occured. I truly am. I do with you all the best.
Gary I wanted you and Dorothy to have Maria, that is why I was helping
with the loan. My goodness I was NOT throwing it in your face, I really
was trying to show you I care. I really am lost as why one would
believe one person over another.
I do care
That is it. Yes I am upset, yes my other email was firm. But I am
truly sad. Truly
Please advise your escort that you and I will communicate.
Also note Sandi - email sandi@bbas.org
Will send you the wiring instructions.
Thank you for letting me know that Maria will have a horse. I have always
dreamed and wished her to have one since Dorothy was so caring about
losing her horse.
Denise
Best Regards, Denise
Hubbard
Executive Director Building
Blocks Adoption
P.O. Box 1028
Medina,Ohio 44258
330-725-5521
denise@bbas.org
www.bbas.org
Denise was upset?Ha!
At no time had Daniel or myself contacted Valeri Kamenov and told
him to communicate directly with Susan.BBAS
had done that and the Blevinses had done so of their own initiative.
Also, it was Denise who had told the Blevinses that Maria was attached to
Annie, her caregiver. It was one of the original excuses she had given
them about not having Maria escorted home.
And truly sad?Her cup for the kids and their families runneth over. Each time she
sends emails like this to clients, does she follow a script or does it come
naturally?
This was similar to the email that she had sent
the Corrigans.How should the
Blevinses have felt after having waited over a year for their daughter and being
LIED to about the timeline?
And then there was the loan. From day one Denise had thrown that loan in
the Blevinses’ faces. If Maria was as ill as everyone feared, why the heck
hadn’t BBAS completed Maria’s adoption gratis like she had for
another BBAS Buzovgrad client?
How could the Blevinses have connected with those evil, crazy and hateful Cases?Why would the Blevinses have “believed one person over another”?(yes — how could they?)
And how could she state Dorothy was “sick and depressed”?Denise Hubbard was the sick one and she depressed all her clients with
this on-going malady of mendaciousness.
Dorothy strongly and adamantly counters this assessment of her
“depression”.“I wasn’t
depressed the way that Denise was saying or ill in the manner that Denise was
saying at all.I was mad that we
had been lied to, I was mad that I had put my faith in a human being and not in
the One and Only person that could ever make this happen, I was mad that Denise
could not find it in her heart to be honest with us.We were willing to do anything in this world and would have even accepted
the wait had we known the truth!”
Dorothy, Gary, their three biological daughters and even their extended
families were beyond stressed out waiting for Maria.Do you know what this stress does to people as they wait and
wait and wait for a sick child?
And as for that horse, yes, Hanna-Maria got a horse named Jet when she
came home.He is a black horse that
she will ride one day, but as for now, she loves to pet this beautiful animal
and tells him what to do.
Yet, why did Denise bring up the horse here?
The
Blevinses were going to remember this email.Denise’s
credibility level with them was at a zero.