The Hyres, Chapter Five:
Kelsey and Nathan,
Content at Last.
Just when you think Denise Hubbard cannot outdo herself and sink to new lows, she does. We thought we had heard and seen the last of the “evil” Denise Hubbard incarnate. The Denise Hubbard who would stop at nothing to intentionally hurt people with lies and innuendos. Well, people, she returned in glowing, rare form to attempt to wreak havoc with the Minick family.
Two months after Daniel’s conversation with Sue Minick, I was at home waiting for Anguel’s arrival from school. It was October 3, 2005, and to my surprise, the telephone rang. The phone is usually quiet at that time in our house. I picked it up and a woman’s voice asked “Is Daniel Case there?”
“No,” I said.
“Are you his wife?” the voice asked.
“Yes.”
“Well, this is Sue Minick. I’m calling from Ohio…”
My mind began to click. Sue Minick. Sue Minick – why did that sound familiar? “Yes – how can I help you?” I asked.
“I’m Kelsey’s mom…”
THAT Sue Minick! “Oh my!” I said. “I’m so sorry I didn’t know who you were – but I do now! What is going on? How can I help you?”
Her voice betrayed exasperation. “I have to ask you –Denise Hubbard from Building Blocks called on Friday [September 30, 2005]. We haven’t had any contact with Building Blocks since Kelsey was in the hospital – and I only spoke with Denise Hubbard once. Denise told us that she was going to come over to our house with a photographer to take pictures of Kelsey. She also said she was going to write a report for the Russian government.”
My jaw dropped. I pitied Sue Minick’s eardrums when my mouth opened. “UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES DO YOU LET THAT WOMAN NEAR your daughter!” I exclaimed. “Denise Hubbard, her agency or any employee of her agency has NO RIGHT to see Kelsey, to go to your home, to step foot on your property. Kelsey’s adoption was a domestic adoption – it was NOT brokered by the agency.”
I sensed Sue Minick’s sigh of relief. “You know, I thought that it was strange her asking to come over and see Kelsey. We’ve had Kelsey for a few years now. Before this, Denise has never asked, never called or taken the time to ask how Kelsey was.”
“Let me ask you this.” I said. “Did you sign a contract with Building Blocks Adoption Service for Kelsey’s adoption? Did you travel to Russia to pick her up?”
“No. She was placed with us thru Ohio Foster Care.”
“Did you sign anything called a Post Placement Agreement or pay for a Post Placement Agreement with Building Blocks?”
“No. We never signed anything with Building Blocks – what’s a Post Placement Agreement?”
I gave her an overview on Amrex’s Russian post placement agreements BBAS clients signed before they traveled to Russia. I didn’t inundate her with Amrex details. As far as she was concerned, Amrex was irrelevant.
“The only people to have signed that Post Placement Agreement were the Hyres when they adopted Kelsey and Nathan. They also had to put $800 into an escrow account – money THEY paid, not you. Money the agency and its facilitation service has – good luck in them trying to get any of it refunded. YOU DID NOT sign that agreement. Hence, Denise Hubbard has NO LEGAL RECOURSE seeing your child. None whatsoever.”
She asked about the Russian adoption process. I explained what was involved and what changes had occurred since the Hyres’ adoptions.
Sue Minick’s mind was working. “What should I do?” she asked. “Denise said that if she doesn’t get photos of Kelsey, that no children could be placed from Russia with American families. I don’t want to stop anybody’s adoption. She also said ‘Kelsey wouldn’t want for other kids not to find homes.’ Which made me mad. Who was she to talk for my daughter and what my daughter wanted?”
The blood was now running through my ears in a torrent. Denise Hubbard would use any deceitful trick, any lie, any manouever to get her way. How dare she put words into the mouth of another woman’s child? Denise KNEW the Minicks were ignorant about the Russian adoption process. She knew that they didn’t know BBAS’s Russian program was only as good as Amrex and Beacon House. Heck, to the Minicks, “Amrex and Beacon House” might as well have been an intersection in Moscow.
“WHAT!” I shrieked. “YOU’VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME. Denise is LYING TO YOU. She is LYING TO YOU. The only reason she needs those photos of Kelsey is to keep her hide clear in Russia. There have been 13 Russian children murdered at the hands of their American adoptive parents since 1996. Russia is pissed about it. Kelsey was nearly one of those 13. Now Russia is breathing down the facilitation agency’s neck about Kelsey. It’s them who are breathing down Denise’s neck to get the report, and now that she’s between a rock and a hard place, she’s LYING TO YOU, giving YOU a guilt trip. DO NOT LET DENISE HUBBARD NEAR YOUR HOUSE.”
“You mean if we don’t have the photographs taken and the report written, Russian adoptions will continue?”
“Of course they will! It’s a LIE Denise is telling you to cover her own behind. BBAS doesn’t have that kind of power. They’re not even accredited. Children are being adopted and brought home right now from Russia. That report has nothing to do with Russia, everything to do with Building Blocks Russian program.”
Denise Hubbard’s actions were so transparent. Her intestines must have been placed into a meat grinder by her Amrex overseers. Russian politicians, infuriated by the deaths of 13 children at the hands of their American parents, had been making indications they could strangle the adoption process. And strangling the process was beginning in October 2005 in many regions of Russia.
Kelsey and her brother Nathan had been placed from the Baby Home in Blagoveshchensk, Amur with Amrex facilitators. Two of the killed Russian adoptees had come from that very same region, placed with other children. One, Viktor Matthey, was adopted from another town in Amur. The other, Liam Thompson, had been placed from the same Baby Home as Kelsey and Nathan. To say Amrex had a problem in Amur was an understatement.
It made sense that the Russian authorities were applying pressure on Amrex’s facilitators in Amur to comply with post-placement requirements. It also made sense that the Russian authorities wanted to know what happened to Kelsey and Nathan. Was Kelsey alive and well? Was Nathan alive and well?
Since Amrex couldn’t go directly to the Minicks, they had to have Denise do it. After all, Denise’s agency was the placing agency. Why hadn’t she kept Russia informed of Kelsey and Nathan’s whereabouts? Kelsey and Nathan’s well being only became an issue for Denise when Amrex leaned on her. Only because Amrex leaned on her was the reason Denise contacted the Minicks and Bonnie Hyre. Not because Denise Hubbard cared about Kelsey and Nathan.
“I see. You know, I told her that we’ve been contacted from a reporter for the Akron Beacon Journal. They want to come over in the New Year and write a story about Kelsey. They’re also going to take photos. I told that to Denise and she said that they cannot do that. It would be illegal for them to do that! It would mess things up for the agency.”
“Denise,” Mrs. Minick continued, “sounded frantic. Like she was in a panic.”
The torrent in my head was now a diluge. “Oh My God. What a jerk! That’s NOT TRUE. Do you know why Denise doesn’t want anything written in the newspaper? Because she advertises in the Akron Beacon Journal. If the reporter mentions the name of the agency (she really doesn’t have to – Kelsey’s story has a happy ending), there goes Denise’s credibility down the drain. AND the fact that Building Blocks has a bad reputation as it is. She does not want her name associated with a child who was nearly killed by one of her clients.”
Our conversation flowed as I gave Mrs. Minick more advice. I said if Denise Hubbard or any representative from Building Blocks Adoption Service, Inc. stepped foot on their property they should immediately call the police on them for trespassing. I urged her to hang the telephone up if Denise Hubbard called them again.
It was clear from Sue Minick’s voice that she had reached a resolution. “I do not want Denise to come over to our house to photograph Kelsey.”
I asked her about Bonnie Hyre. She revealed that Bonnie Hyre (who had since changed her name) now had full custody of Nathan. Bonnie was doing well, paying back the monetary debts she owed to the agency and the state (for the foster care) and holding down a job. She said that Bonnie could have easily declared personal bankruptcy and gotten out of most of that debt, but she hadn’t and that spoke in her favor.
Mrs. Minick revealed that Denise had run Bonnie down to her. Saying unkind things about Bonnie. “Bonnie isn’t like that at all – she cares about Nathan and Kelsey. I called her right after Denise called us and told her what Denise said about her. Bonnie was very hurt by it. I was too.”
That same Friday, the agency also contacted Bonnie about Nathan’s post placement report. Unlike the Minicks, Bonnie gave in and a BBAS representative (not Denise or Wendy) came over to her house – unannounced – and took photos and notes for a report. Bonnie felt she had no other option, but was badly burnt by the way things had been handled.
Gerald Hyre, still in prison, was considering talking to the Beacon Journal reporter. Mrs. Minick revealed that he spent a lot of time writing to people, as prisoners are wont to do.
After speaking for about 45 minutes, Mrs. Minick and I said our goodbyes.
Later that same month, I found a post by an Ohio BBAS client who had made their first trip to Amur in July 2005. They had accepted a male referral from a town called Zeya. Could this have been another factor hanging Building Blocks up – another BBAS family, same region as Kelsey and Nathan, same umbrellaing arrangement with Beacon House – and a few more dead Russian children under the bridge? We don’t know if this particular family has made a pick up trip yet or not, but we’re wagering they may still be waiting. More fool them to sign on with an unaccredited Amrex agency for a Russian adoption. And to accept a referral from the Amur region.
To our knowledge, the Minicks did not acquiesce to Denise Hubbard’s demands. And they are moving on in their lives with a fully functioning and healthy family.
We got a wonderful email sent to us from a friend of the Minicks on Oct. 23. She sums it up best:
Hello Dan and Elizabeth
Just wanted to let you know that I have spent the last 3 days reading your story from your site. I was up til 4 am 3 nites in a row reading. What a story! I can't imagine going through the things you have gone through. Thank you for telling your story it is quite amazing.
Sue Minick is the person who shared your story and website with me. She was telling me about how she came to adopt Kelsey and about her first adoptive parents (whom she does not remember thank God).Let me tell you that that sweet child could not have found a more dedicated wonderful mother if she had searched the world over 100 times. Donna loves that child with every ounce of her being. And Kelsey is so adorable and funny. She reminds me of Tinkerbell, so tiny and full of impishness.
Donna was telling me of her story the one day that I was over there and of the visit she had recently had with Bonnie Hyre. Bonnie had told her of the conditions at the orphanage where Kelsey was. She was telling me what Bonnie had told her and Kelsy Playing with one of her princess toys. When Donna finished talking about how awful the conditions were Kelsey says "Mommy when can we go back to Disney World and ride the Dumbo ride? Mommy can we just live there at Disney World with Minnie Mouse and Cinderella? I want to go there everyday and stay with Mickey and ride the Dumbo ride, Ok Mommy?" Donna looked at her and smiled and said "That would be nice wouldn't it Kelsey?" How sureal is that? That's just how Sweet little Kelsey's life is now, She thinks that anything she wants is possible. Her Mom rarely tells her no. Whatever Kelsey wants. And in my opinion, after all this little girl has been through she needs to be spoiled by a wonderful Mommy who loves her.
Donna told me that there were more chapters about the Hyres but I was unable to find them on your site. ..To this date no one but Gerald Hyre knows what really happened to Kelsey. ..
Also wanted to let you know I live very close (about 5 miles away)to the Medina border in Summit county and will not be voting for Medina officials However I found it interesting on my way to Walmart tonight I saw a political sign for Rick Marco. Actually 2 of them . One at A child is Waiting and one at the Catholic church a couple driveways down from them. I thought you would find that interesting. I am spreading the word to all I know who live in Medina. I will email your notice from your site to them.
Have a great Weekend and I would love to hear how your son Anguel is doing.
***
Over the first weekend of April 2006, the Beacon Journal ran a four-part story it had been preparing on Kelsey’s new life. (Since it is available only to registered readers, we are not linking to it, but if you want a copy, please email us). It has helped us fill in a few gaps in this story, much as this site helped Sue Minick fill in the gaps in Kelsey’s story.
The story was all about Kelsey, as it should have been. Her life with the Hyres and the constant abuse Bonnie suspected. Sue’s fight to get her when she heard the story. Kelsey’s recovery, both mentally and physically.
There was no mention of the agency that had placed her. I emailed the reporter and was told “It wasn’t about the adoption agency. That’s another story.”
Which is certainly true. We wish the Beacon Journal had told it as well. But then again, you just got done reading it.