Chapter Eight
Behind the Rolling Amrex Eight Ball
When Brian and his mother hit American soil, Alysha was already working on
updating documents to appeal Oleg and Elena’s adoption.
She wasn’t losing her children without a fight!
At first BBAS and Amrex appeared helpful. It
was an screwup on their end that Oleg and Elena’s adoption had been denied. If word were to get out that their “safe one-trip region” had
adoptions denied, it would be bad for business.
Once Alysha explained to their families that the only (alleged) thing standing in the way of their adoption of Oleg and Elena was money, the grandparents-to-be came through.
Alysha’s mother and father took out a home equity line of credit on
their home for $40,000. Brian’s parents came up with $10,000 from a loan on their home.
These loans would only be for a bank account to show the “financial equity”
that the Russian prosecutor had been haranguing them on. An accountant friend
they had told them that this would most likely be tax-free.
Alysha’s father told Brian, “Son, all my life I thought that you couldn’t
buy happiness. I was wrong. How else can you buy happiness but to buy grandchildren?”
They had to set up a separate bank account, as they were told, to prove their
financial equity and worth. This $50,000
would prove their “financial liquidity” and highlight their financial
assets.
Alysha asked her doctor how soon could it be, after physical therapy and her
operation, that she could board a plane for Russia.
He told her late August and she was somewhat pleased by that good news.
Elated as they gathered each piece of documentation, Alysha forwarded on
information to BBAS. She wanted them to
know that as soon as August rolled around, they could fly back to Russia and
retrieve Elena and Oleg. No holds barred.
However, BBAS before anything could be done, all information would have to be checked out by “the foreign reps.” Because they had no direct contact with “the reps” in Russia, BBAS itself could only deal with Amrex in Alpharetta.
Once an adoption hits a few snags with BBAS, all of a sudden they claim
“no control” over the process.
At this stage, Alysha and Brian didn’t know that only ones calling the shots
were those in Alpharetta and Moscow and not Medina.
Neither Wendy nor Denise Hubbard bothered to inform them that they were
at the mercy of Amrex themselves.
Denise Hubbard again seemed so nice to Alysha during this time.
She was available on her cell phone, asking Alysha all sorts of questions
about Oleg and Elena and the plans she had for them.
Alysha kept on about Oleg’s bad legs, how he needed an operation on them before he became too old for his legs to heal. His dismal treatment at the orphanage.
How much Alysha wanted to hold him. How
badly he needed a mother and father.
During one conversation on her cell phone, Denise, driving with an SUV-ful of
her own children, said to Alysha above the noisy din: “Are you sure you
want four of these things?” Alysha
laughed and told her that yes, they did indeed want four, and the faster the
better.
But as you should know now, when Russian children are lost to you, they are gone
forever.
Things were going to go from bad to worse for the Towells the rest of April and
May 2001 in their quest to bring Oleg and Elena home.
Amrex offered to send the Towells other referrals, but they held firm.
It would be Oleg and Elena or nothing. This
was SOP at Amrex — if one set of kids doesn’t work out, just give
them another set! They’re all
interchangeable and we have so many of them!
A snag occurred. It appeared that the Amur Prosecutor who had torpedoed their
case in the first place, wasn’t expecting them to return, closed the case and
dumped their entire file. Not a single
copy remained in the courts of Amur.
A new dossier would have to be compiled by June 15.
All notarized, certified and apostilled. None
of the documents could be dated prior to June 1.
If it could be done, Alysha was going to do it. And she did.
Their social worker came through with flying colors.
This was her first Russian adoption homestudy, and she was stunned at how
many things “the judge” was going to want from her and her organization.
Documents that neither she nor Alysha had heard of before, or even knew existed.
She updated the homestudy in a record three days, stating that Alysha’s
knee would not be an impediment to her mothering Olga and Elena.
On their way to Oklahoma City again, Alysha placed Brody in her backpack and
Tiffany, who was three at the time, carried the pile of documents right to the
secretary of state’s office as Alysha hobbled up on her crutches.
They were a sight to see as they made their way once again through a late
spring snow to get the new dossier pile apostilled.
They had
been promised if the second dossier was submitted by June 15, 2001, the court
would grant them a joint hearing in August and they could travel back to Amur
to adopt Oleg and Elena.
Tiffany, overhearing her dad speak of the terrible conditions that Oleg and
Elena were living in, began to show everyone she met photos of her new sister
and brother who would be coming to America in September.
She told them that she would share her toys with Oleg and Elena, and would not
take their toys from them, like their counterparts at the orphanage had done so
Oleg would never have to be bitten again.
That completed second dossier was on its way to Amrex by June 11, four
days before the deadline given.
They were continually asked by BBAS/Amrex if they would drop the appeal and just
take another referral. If they had done so, the pressure would have been off
BBAS/Amrex TO DO THE JOBS they had been PAID for doing.
The Towells believed BBAS/Amrex had their best interests and those of Oleg and
Elena at heart. That in Moscow and Amur, the Amrex reps were working on the
appeal and getting them a travel date for August.
They were about to be flayed alive for that misplaced faith.