Just in case anyone needs it to clarify their thinking, here’s the score as of December 2007.
“Lost” referrals: 7
BBAS clients who terminated contract without traveling overseas: 2
Adoptions by BBAS client denied by a Russian court: 2
BBAS foreign adoptions disrupted: 2
BBAS foreign adoptions dissolved: 3
Total adoptions begun that failed to succeed for various reasons: 8
Complaints filed against BBAS with Ohio Dept. Of Job and Family Services/Dept. of Human Services: 14
Citations issued by ODJFS/ODHS: 5
Number of those citations issued for “failure to follow a corrective action plan” (i.e., failure to correct the violation): 1
Separate instances of Denise trying to put one over on Linda Saridakis at ODJFS during either a recertification or complaint investigation: 6
Blatant falsehoods told to ODHS in response to client complaints: 3
Blatant falsehoods told to Better Business Bureau in response to client complaints: 1
Children adopted through BBAS permanently paralyzed after being beaten by their adoptive parents: 1
Years father in the above case has been sentenced to prison for: 16
Years the mother got for obstructing justice, tampering with evidence and permitting child abuse: 2
Couples divorced as a result of negative adoption outcome: 1
Children placed by BBAS despite strong evidence of physical abuse in sending country: 1
Instances in which Denise conveniently destroyed evidence that would probably have proved she was lying: 1
Cites: 1. Whitwell, Hutchison and three unnamed clients. 2. Hutchison and Bady. 3. Towell. 4. Ourselves and Linda Wright (technically, Cyril’s adoption is to be considered disrupted since he died before it could be legally completed). 5. Ponish and two clients who shall remain nameless. 6. Sum total of previous three lines plus one lost referral in which client traveled to Russia and learned the child was unavailable 7. ODJFS records and situations known to us. This may be updated with time. 8. One resulting from Mary Hutchison’s complaint, two from the Badys and ... 9. ... a fourth from the failure to correct a violation identified during the Bady investigation when records were reviewed during the 2002 recertification. A fifth was issued in 2004 during that recertification. 10. One from the investigation of our complaint (saying it was OK to put pictures up of children even though the adoptions hadn’t been completed because the prospective parents had given permission), one from the original certification (saying someone else had said she could just copy other agencies’ policy statements) and the rest from 2002 (the three things she claimed had been OK from the 2000 recertification plus her claim that Linda had previously told her something would be OK). 11. Saying that the Hutchisons had been offered another referral from Russia and offering an unsigned medical form from Dr. Downing’s site to “prove” that we had been given the contractually required medical contact info; saying that she had told the rep in Russia to get a doctor to evaluate Natasha Ponish when the Ponishes had already talked to the facilitator themselves about this.; Rick Marco’s preposterous claim that his computer’s spellchecker changed “fruitless” to “frivolous". 12. Saying that the agency did not misrepresent its credentialing in Russia during the Ponishes' adoption. 13. Plain Dealer (“Dad Charged Over Adopted Baby’s Spinal Injury”) and Akron Beacon Journal (“Child’s Severed Spine Leads to Arrest”), Oct. 3, 2002. 14. Mr. Hyre pled guilty to one count each of felonious assault and felony endangering children on March 15, 2003. Sentence was pronounced a month later. 15. Bonnie Hyre similarly copped a plea and received her sentence the following March. 16. The Hyres. 17. Name-redacted couple whose complaint was included in the 2006 recertification file. 18. Same complaint where Denise says she deleted a tape of a key phone conversation.