“No one taught them etiquette

It will wash all over me

Today I don’t need a replacement

I’ll tell them what the smile on my face meant…”

-Peter Gabriel

Teri and Mark Atkinson, Denise’s elite character assassins

    This chapter is devoted entirely to a fellow BBAS client by the name of Atkinson.

    It is an example of how misplaced loyalty can screw your brain up. We don’t like punks and we don’t like being attacked by Denise Hubbard using her clients as her rats. This woman and her husband are both punks and rats. Put on your raincoat and boots!

    I had previously mentioned this family in conjunction with the Corrigans. They had posted to the EEAC list about their travel delays in February 2001 as they waited for their son from Buzovgrad.  

    They had identified him on the Rainbow Kids photolisting in January 2000 and had made their first trip to Buzovgrad in February 2000. Their first rounds of documents hit the first Ministry in May 2000.   

    Unlike us, however, they were to receive a video and photos of their child in May 2000.  They were hoping at that time to have their son home by the end of that summer.  

    It didn’t work out that way, as you know. 

    Mrs. Atkinson had first contacted me in January 2000, having seen our names on the FaCaB website’s “Guest Book” as using BBAS for our Bulgarian adoption.  

    Even then I smelled a rat, but played along. January 2000 was right around the time we were going underground, so we did not want to come across as anti-BBAS. Even then we knew Denise Hubbard had her trolls out there. 

    Later on, she was at appear again on the EEAC Bulgaria list and on another list (originally on egroups and Yahoo!Groups, now it’s on Topica), originally set up by a Wasatch client for her fellow clients but later opened to all, with much overlap between it and the EEAC list. 

    During the summer of 2000, things got strange with the Atkinsons. We think that the wait for their son was weighing on their mind. After all, he should have been home by then, but he wasn’t.  

    Unlike us, they continued to believe the lies. As good, trusting parents-in-waiting, they didn’t blame Denise at all for this wait — or its toll. Denise was their friend, the purveyor of their son. They never thought ill of her, and we think they believed everything Denise was told them.

    We are convinced that Denise told them everything and anything that portrayed Daniel and Elizabeth Case in a negative light (“They’re mean, angry, hateful, sick people who are out there to put me out of business!”)

    A few things convinced us that summer that they were not nice people. A person posting to the EEAC list had asked about Bulgarian adoption agencies. We responded privately, telling them not to use Building Blocks. 

    Teri Atkinson also responded to the family. After reading our response, the family wrote back to the Atkinsons that they could not go with BBAS because of the fact its Bulgarian program was untested and of the unusual nature of the complaints that they had heard about BBAS from its current clients.

    The family forwarded on this exchange to us due to the singular nature of Mrs. Atkinson’s response.  Daniel and I were to keep this one firmly in the backs of our minds about how devious Denise Hubbard really was. 

    Mrs. Atkinson’s response was one of curiosity at the outset.  Was she trolling for Denise even then?  Probably.  

    On July 17, 2000 she sent the following email to the family:

I was wondering if you could tell me a little bit more about the complaints you received from BBAS clients, no names, of course.  I feel that as my husband and I are clients, we need to know what we might run into in the future.

    “Run into in the future” ... a train wreck, perhaps? Unfortunately, we the family didn’t forward on what they wrote the Atkinsons (God only knows what they said — we had asked them to keep our names out of it), but this is what Mrs. Atkinson sent on to them on July 19:

This is quite a surprise!  If you’ve ever looked at the Building Blocks Adoption website, there is a group site that encourages discussion and gives email addresses of other members so that you can contact them.  Also, Denise told me of the Bulgarian List where people from all over the world are adopting from Bulgaria and you can post questions, offer advice, etc.

I’ll bet I can tell you who the client is who had a bad experience with Russia … Dan Case.  He posts regularly to the Bulgarian List and has posted many sarcastic, condescending remarks to others on the list.  He flames others for what they post, even ridiculing a woman [read: the Robbins family, Denise’s FIRST successful Bulgarian adoption] for posting a picture of her newly adopted daughter.  My question is, if they had such a bad experience with Building Blocks, why are they continuing to use them for an adoption from Bulgaria?

Please don’t think I am berating you for your decision.  You should go with an agency that you feel comfortable with and I wish you the very best of luck.

    Uh-huh. Now, where exactly was this information gleamed from? Daniel Case? Elizabeth Case? We didn’t appreciate this from an ignorant person, and kept a hard copy of it.

    And what she was referring to was a mild complaint that Dan had posted ... Katie had posted a picture of her daughter to the list in memory-intensive .BMP form, requiring everyone subscribing to wait while their modems downloaded nearly a megabyte.

    Mind you, Dan didn’t object to the picture per se, just the format. EEAC soon rendered the issue moot by banning all attachments from the list (a good idea anyway to prevent the spread of viruses and worms) and a Yahoo photo gallery was set up by some other parents ... a much more sensible idea.

    Perhaps the Atkinsons were allowed to post on that “group site” that encouraged discussion, but we ourselves had been excluded from that same BBAS group by Denise Hubbard herself. Had Denise somehow failed to mention that to the Atkinsons? 

    Then things got even weirder. A woman who had adopted a little boy using Wasatch posted to the EEAC list talking about a gay couple she knew who had run into all sorts of setbacks with their attempts to adopt domestically.

  We had been in contact with this woman privately, and had shared with her Cyril’s sad story. We also shared her views on things and had contacted her as a source of information on Bulgarian adoption. We are still in contact with her.  

    Well, homosexuals adopting apparently didn’t set too well with Mrs. Atkinson. All day long, she and our fellow EEAC Bulgaria list member got into it in email.

    We found out about this a few hours later when Dan queried her as to whether she’d received any hate mail over it. She kindly forwarded along what she’d gotten.

    Unfortunately, the MTX.A virus ATE these e-mail exchanges. They were fairly heated, with Mrs. Atkinson sounding ready to take up a “GOD HATES FAGS” banner at the next gay-bashing meeting.  

    From reading them, there was no doubt where she stood about homosexuals. Better a child lay languishing in an orphanage than to be adopted by a faggot or a dyke.

    Mrs. Atkinson didn’t win any friends over that exchange. And then in January 2001, roughly a month before they were set to travel to Bulgaria, Mrs. Atkinson went at it again with folks ... only this time, it was on the Topica Bulgaria list.

    The Topica Bulgaria list is not a list to start nasty flame wars on. It is more intimate than the EEAC list, less heavily moderated, with much extraneous chatter.

    This time, Mrs. Atkinson took umbrage at the fact that one of the people on the list, an employee of Wasatch who was adopting a child with many special needs, was getting a very nice and quick adoption.  

    Wasatch’s Bulgarian attorney was the get-things-done Milena Kuzeva. Mrs. Atkinson accused the woman of getting special treatment since she was an agency employee. 

    She had never taken into account the fact that the child had so many special needs, he would need many, many therapies once he was home to get him to any place called “normal.” (Even today, we hear, doctors haven’t fully diagnosed his problems).

    It got ugly. Mrs. Atkinson was making nasty public postings in addition to nasty private emails to fellow list members who gently and politely rebuked her for mentioning this woman’s name and insinuating that she was somehow receiving preferential treatment due to her employment. Even people who sympathized with the anxiety she was feeling about the ever-lengthening wait were not immune from this treatment

    There was no need for this at all. You don’t go and flame people privately just because you are aggravated that your adoption is taking forever because your agency lied to you. You don’t belittle others with emails like that.  

    It all ended up with Mrs. Atkinson removing herself from the list (but not, of course, without posting a Nixonesque final message making herself seem like the poor, hard-done-by innocent victim).

    And then she was to troll us again in November 2000, under the same guise as the first time — seeing our name on the FaCaB guestbook. Only this time, I had placed “We Cannot recommend our agency BBAS out of Medina, OH for this or any other adoption.”

    We had begun fighting back, and now it was Denise Hubbard’s turn to cravenly send in her punks. 

    Sue Corrigan also received a similar email from the Atkinsons. But this time they screwed up; they told Sue that they had met at the BBAS picnic that July. 

    The Corrigans had never attended that picnic, so we told Sue we definitely smelled a Denise troll in that and to proceed with caution.

    We, however, were under no such obligation. We figured to let Denise Hubbard have it through the Atkinsons. We knew that they wouldn’t believe us but would blindly believe everything that Denise told them.  

    At that time, we didn’t care. So, we sent them a lengthy email describing Cyril’s demise and our treatment by BBAS while waiting for Anguel. We never heard from them after that, but we had expected that it would clear the air. But fundamental ignorance and blindness can’t be cleared with such disinfectant.

    I contacted them in February with the URL to the Hotel Rotasar when they posted to the Bulgaria list asking for hotel information in Sofia (hey, wasn’t that supposed to have gone to all the Bulgarian clients?). And I also hooked them up with another BBAS Buzovgrad client whom you shall presently meet.

    Things were quiet with our favorite fellow BBAS clients until July 2001. It all began innocently enough.

    Sue Corrigan, now a fully-fledged mother through adoption of two active toddlers, posted the following to the EEAC Bulgaria list in response to a thread about waiting and timelines. 

    It all seemed so innocuous enough, but as soon as she mentioned Building Blocks, Denise’s elite fighting force the Atkinsons were let out of their cave.

Sent: Friday, June 29, 2001 9:25 PM

Subject: Re: [EEAC-BL] Timeline Bulgaria

We were with Building Blocks Adoption Service out of Ohio.  They told us we could adopt a 16 month old child because it would only take 4 months to
complete the adoption after the child turned 1.  Instead, it took 16 months:
 
December 1999 - accepted referral on little girl turning 1 on 12/26/99
January 11, 2000 - visited daughter in Bulgaria at orphanage in Bourgas and signed papers to start adoption and hand carried complete set of documents
February 2000 - translated documents filed with Ministry of Health (MOH)
July 2000 - received MOH approval.  Found out later we were denied but Building Blocks never told us, instead deciding it was better for us to wait
in ignorance
August 2000 - documents filed with Ministry of Justice (MOJ)
September 2000 - MOJ finally schedules court date after taking August off for holiday
October 2000 - 1st court date re-scheduled because judge was ill
November 11, 2000 - receive court approval of adoption
December 2000 - final court decree received
February 2001 - birth certificate and passport received
March 2001 - document confiscated by MOJ as part of investigation into possible baby selling at several orphanages, including Bourgas (so far we don't know if the charges are true)
April 2001 - documents released by MOJ after calls from US Embassy and we traveled to Bulgaria to bring our daughter home.

Our daughter is relatively healthy, well developed and happy. Hope this helps anyone considering adopting from Bulgaria.
 
The Corrigan Family

    OUCH! Publicly!  Right across Denise Hubbard’s bow!  And we hadn’t said a darned thing — for once.

    But, that didn’t set too well with Mr. Atkinson. On July 1, he posted the message below to the list, quite obviously we believe, at the behest of Denise Hubbard herself.  

    Do you really think she would have had the courage to do this for herself in her own company’s defense naming names? Heck no! Let your punk clients to it for you! 

    But this did have “Denise-speak” written all over it. Evil, hateful unhappy clients! They didn’t get it! They were just troublemakers hurting the babies and the children in Bulgaria!

Sent: Sunday, July 01, 2001 6:43 PM
Subject: [EEAC-BL] Waiting for Child/Feeling After the Wait

I'd like to offer some observations regarding the comments made about the length of time it takes for an adoption to be completed and about the rather vindictive comments occasionally made about specific adoption agencies or specific people:

Our adoption took thirteen months from the time we made our first visit to our son in Buzovgrad, Bulgaria. For a variety of reasons, all beyond the control of our agency, things dragged out. Paperwork took longer than expected in this ministry or that ministry. The summer shutdown occurred.  We had to resubmit some paperwork.  The judge went on
vacation after approving the adoption but before writing the order. Finally, a couple of days before we were to leave to pick up our son, we were told our paperwork had been seized by the Bulgarian government as part of the baby-selling investigation.

Within three weeks, thanks to the efforts of the adoption agency and the American Embassy (and the wonderful people working on adoptions in the
Embassy), our paperwork had been released and we were preparing to travel.

Through all the delay, we consciously decided not to become bitter or to lash out at someone looking to place blame.  We viewed our adoption as a joint labor of love with the agency.  We were committed to our future son.

We tried to stay in constant communication with the agency and its Director. We chose to assume the best in people, instead of the worst. We tried to keep in mind that Bulgaria is a separate nation, with its own people, culture and laws.  We tried to remember that the people of Bulgaria want adopted kids to go to good homes. We tried to remember that bureaucracy is
bureaucracy, regardless of country. We tried to help the orphanage by gathering donations of medical supplies and money that would be taken over by the adoption agency at Christmas time. We focused on the joyous day we would bring our son home.

To prospective adoptive parents, I offer some advice:

--Gather information, select an agency, make the best of it.  Don't get obsessive about why it takes this long or why someone else got their
paperwork through more quickly or why you didn't get a phone call this week from an overworked agency director who is giving up her family time making  phone calls to foreign countries trying to get your packet through the  system.

--Don't believe everything you read on the internet lists (yes, even this one). People aren't always objective and do not always tell the whole
story.

--Assume the best in people, help them do their job, focus on your adoptive child.  Be proactive but understanding when an agency cannot get an answer immediately.  Realize that agencies deal with lots of people, not just you.

--Work to help others by offering constructive advice, emotional support and love. They will return the favor.

Mr. Atkinson

    OH BOY! What a load! WHAT A LOAD! My, my my. 

    Mr. Atkinson had no clue what his goodly wife had been up to that summer, had he? How many times had Denise Hubbard done the drill about the bureaucracy! The Foreign Government! The Internet!  

    Had they forgotten how they had gone sniveling to the Corrigans when their travel date was canceled? I detest back stabbing snivelers.

    Daniel and I went ballistic over “--Don't believe everything you read on the internet lists (yes, even this one).  People aren't always objective and do not always tell the whole story.”

    It was hypocritical of Mark Atkinson to give the advice he gave in his first paragraph of advice, given what this man’s wife had done on the other mailing list at the beginning of the year.

    And thus began a day-long adventure in email exchanges for Mr. & Mrs. Atkinson with not only Daniel and Elizabeth Case, but also Sue Corrigan and the other EEAC Bulgaria client list member.  

    Didn’t the Atkinsons know it was unwise to mess with the angriest BBAS clients on the face of the earth? Sadly for Mrs. Atkinson, she chose to carry on this while at work for an agency of the United States Department of Defense. It’s one thing to do this on your personal time; it’s quite another to be on the job.

    Read these for a good look at how whacked out we all were and how demented we had all become — over an adoption agency! I warn you, the following exchanges are heated and aren’t exactly us at our best. 

    But these punks deserved it what they got tossed at them. Denise Hubbard’s elite forces met their Waterloo. And even then they hadn’t had enough of St. Helena.  

    Daniel has been on the Internet since 1992. The Internet in 1992 is not the place it is now. He had perfected his emailing and flaming skills over on various forums on Usenet. He knew how to do a good and seemingly logical email fight.  Read on:

    Daniel, as angry as I was by this little attack by Denise’s craven soldiers, sent the first email directly to Mr. Atkinson at their AOL account, hitting him point by point:

Mr. Atkinson,

You know, if you are going to make such potentially derogatory comments about persons like ourselves, at least have the guts to name us. Some of what you said in this post that I presume refers to posts by ourselves and the Corrigans deserves specific reply.

I'd like to offer some observations regarding the comments made about the length of time it takes for an adoption to be completed and about the rather vindictive comments occasionally made about specific adoption agencies or specific people:

What "specific people" are you referring to? Neither we nor the Corrigans ever used Denise Hubbard's name if that's who you have in mind (probably because we and others who don't post here have to try typing it several times to avoid inadvertently using swear words).

Our adoption took thirteen months from the time we made our first visit to our son in Buzovgrad, Bulgaria. For a variety of reasons, all beyond the
control of our agency, things dragged out.

I'm not so sure, based on what I know now, that they were so out of BBAS's control. 

Paperwork took longer than expected in this ministry or that ministry. The summer shutdown occurred. We had to resubmit some paperwork. The judge went on vacation after approving the adoption but before writing the order. Finally, a couple of days before we were to leave to pick up our son, we were told our paperwork had been seized by the Bulgarian government as part of the baby-selling investigation.

There's a lot more to what's happened here than Denise has been telling people. This has serious implications for the future of BBAS's Bulgarian
program. You probably don't know the whole story. Do you want to? Do you really really want to?

Through all the delay, we consciously decided not to become bitter or to lash out at someone looking to place blame.

Well, maybe if what had happened to us had happened to you, and you kept catching Denise in lies she had no reason to tell other than being afraid to deliver unpleasant news, you might have felt differently. There is turning the other cheek, and then there is letting someone who should be held accountable off the hook.

We viewed our adoption as a joint labor of love with the agency.

I'll agree with you about the "labor" part. Love most definitely had nothing to do with it.

We were committed to our future son.  We tried to stay in constant communication with the agency and its Director.

I like that you used "tried." You obviously know what dealing with Denise Hubbard is like.

We chose to assume the best in people, instead of the worst.

So do I, unless and until, of course, the worst assumptions are graphically demonstrated to you.

We tried to keep in mind that Bulgaria is a separate nation, with its own people, culture and laws. We tried to remember that the people of Bulgaria want adopted kids to go to good homes. We tried to remember that bureaucracy is bureaucracy, regardless of country. We tried to help the orphanage by gathering donations of medical supplies and money that would be taken over by the adoption agency at Christmastime. We focused on the joyous day we would bring our son home.

Well, at least you knew it was coming. There were many times a year ago when we weren't sure it would.

To prospective adoptive parents, I offer some advice:

--Gather information, select an agency, make the best of it. Don't get obsessive about why it takes this long or why someone else got their paperwork through more quickly or why you didn't get a phone call this
week from an overworked agency director who is giving up her family time making phone calls to foreign countries trying to get your packet through the
system.

But you should keep on the director! You're the one who just handed her a couple of thousand dollars. You're a customer and she's the one who should
be gracious about taking your calls, instead of using her call screening to duck them.

--Don't believe everything you read on the internet lists (yes, even this one).  People aren't always objective and do not always tell the whole story.

We have not told anything here and in other forums about BBAS but the unvarnished truth about our experience. If this is meant as a specific reference to our posts, I consider myself insulted.

--Assume the best in people, help them do their job, focus on your adoptive child. Be proactive but understanding when an agency cannot get an answer
immediately.  Realize that agencies deal with lots of people, not just you.

And hope that the agency in return sees you as a person and not just an open checkbook.

--Focus on your child. Create loving memories you can relate to him or her later years.

In that much, again, I have no reason to disagree.

It's late. I might say more but I have some work to accomplish. I hope you understand.

Daniel Case
Dad to Anguel, b. 3/4/98, a. 6/11/00, h. 10/4/00

    Then it got nuts.  Really really nuts for the rest of the day.  

    I was at work. Daniel was home with Anguel who was not feeling well. It was a languid day in the summer, right before the 4^th of July.  

    Due to the fact that Anguel was lethargic and spent most of the day napping on a nearby bed,  Daniel had plenty of time to carry this exchange with both Mr. and (later) Mrs. Atkinson.

    Mr. Atkinson responded — again with the arguments and slander that could only have been supplied by Denise Hubbard:

Mr. Case--

I wrote the post because I was tired of the one-sided tirades directed by you against BBAS, which you and others have freely and repeatedly named.
I don't think you've presented a balanced portrait of BBAS, which we've found to be caring and dedicated.  For that reason I sought to offer constructive
advice rather than a stream of negatives.

You, of course, responded to me in in the fashion I expected.  A stream of invective and condescension.  If you feel so strongly about naming names, why didn't you post your response to the list?  Can't you countenance an opinion divergent from your own?  Can't you believe that others may not have had the experience you had or created?

I feel sorry that you have chosen to carry on some sort of campaign against BBAS.  Your actions have caused problems for everyone else trying to adopt in that country.

Please don't bother us at our personal e-mail address again.  We're trying to move ahead with our lives, with our children, making the best of things and thinking the best of people.  It makes life a lot easier.

Mark Atkinson

    Mr. Atkinson had a point about bothering them at their personal email, but if they wanted to act as Denise and BBAS’s soldiers, they had better be ready to take it like men.  

    But by this time, Daniel was more amused than anything else. He wasn’t letting the punk duo of the Atkinsons off.

Mr. Case--

I wrote the post because I was tired of the one-sided tirades directed by you against BBAS, which you and others have freely and repeatedly named.
I don't think you've presented a balanced portrait of BBAS, which we've found to be caring and dedicated. 

For that reason I sought to offer constructive advice rather than a stream of negatives. It is not my obligation here, nor is it yours, to present a balanced portrait of BBAS. I am merely sharing my experiences, as you did yours.

You, of course, responded to me in in the fashion I expected.  A stream of invective and condescension.

If you call that a stream of invective, you must have lived a very sheltered life.

If you feel so strongly about naming names, why didn't you post your response to the list?

Because, unlike you, I don't believe the list is a place to be jammed up with flame wars, however justified they might be. There is an old Internet expression "take it to email." I did, and now you whipsaw me for doing so.

Can't you countenance an opinion divergent from your own?

Not when that opinion suggests that I am a liar. That is an opinion I most definitely do not countenance. Nor would I expect you to if the same were suggested about you.

Can't you believe that others may not have had the experience you had or created?

Yes. But please explain what you are saying by “created.”

We are certainly aware that others have had pleasant experiences adopting through BBAS. However, they are increasingly in the minority. Just this weekend we were contacted by more than one person we had never heard of before who thought that they were the only ones having problems with that woman (And you can tell her that!)

I feel sorry that you have chosen to carry on some sort of campaign against BBAS.

Question: If someone known to you steals from you, and from others of your acquaintance, and you report that person to the police and they are investigated, are you "carrying on a campaign" against that person? No, you are doing your civic duty and trying to enforce the law before someone else gets hurt.

Your actions have caused problems for everyone else trying to adopt in that country.

OUR actions? OUR actions?

All we did was report the lies and unethical practices of Denise Hubbard to both the Ohio Department of Human Services and the Bulgarian Ministry of Justice. We did not commit the crimes. We did not arrange for falsified medicals for the children to be given to Bulgarian couples so they would turn down apparently healthy children (yes, likely including our own son) making them available for the lucrative foreign adoption market. We did not charge way more than the actual costs and fees of a Bulgarian adoption. We are not the ones with charges pending against us in Bulgarian courts ... as the directors (oh, sorry, former directors) of the Burgas, Buzovgrad and Kurjali orphanages are. We are not the ones found to have a half a million dollars in levs and furniture and five vehicles parked outside our luxury Sofia apartment, as Valeri Kamenov was (and I must say that, whatever the nature of the crimes he is charged with, he is a kind and polite man who apologized to us more than once for all the delays we'd experienced, which was more than Denise ever did, and never treated us with anything less than the utmost respect).

Please don't bother us at our personal e-mail address again.

OK, although if you don't want to receive email at your AOL address then don't use it to post to the mailing lists. I have chosen to use your old military address instead. OK?

We're trying to move ahead with our lives, with our children, making the best of things and thinking the best of people.  It makes life a lot easier.

Yeah, I have to agree. It's nice and quiet with your head in the sand.

Dan Case

    Then it was time for Mrs. Atkinson at work to jump in, not only with Daniel, but with Sue Corrigan as well. She channeled the Denise Hubbard we had all grown to know and love so well much, much better than her husband. 

Mr. Case -

This is Teri Atkinson.  You sent the below post to my work email address.

We know that you reported things to the MOJ.  And quite possibly caused us a delay in picking up our son. It was very easy for you to make these accusations after you had safely brought your son home, not caring about the other families who were waiting to bring theirs home. And, quite obviously, not caring about the families who are waiting now.

You charge that Building Blocks charges way more for a Bulgarian adoption. My research indicates that this is not true.  I'm sorry that you're not happy with your son . . . . you wonder how I can possibly know this?  If you were happy, truly happy, you would be grateful that he is home and healthy and happy.  Maybe you should redirect your anger into something more productive?

Teri Atkinson

    Only idiots use the argument ad hominem. To hit us with not loving our son is an old Christian tactic, I am sure. Another thing Denise had inveighed upon?

    And this back-and-forth was to continue! Had we all lost our minds? You betcha.

Mr. Case -

This is Teri Atkinson.  You sent the below post to my work email address.

Yes, your DH seems to think there's some problem with sending this to the email he actually uses to post to the list with. So he won't file some bogus harassment complaint against me, I used your work address. If you would prefer I use [Americal Online Account], take it up with him.

We know that you reported things to the MOJ.  And quite possibly caused us a delay in picking up our son.

Again, we did not commit the illegalities that resulted in your delay ...you should blame one person, and one person only, who is so desperate to be a big player in Bulgarian adoption that she can't be bothered to do things like work with people who follow the law. We experienced many unwarranted delays in picking up Anguel that had nothing to do with any complaints to the ODHS and everything to do with what I just said.

And, to be blunt, as Dr. Jerri Jenista would have put it, Nicholas waited months for you. He was able to wait a couple of months more.

It was very easy for you to make these accusations after you had safely brought your son home, not caring about the other families who were waiting to bring theirs home. And, quite obviously, not caring about the families who are waiting now.

So your family is more important than upholding the law? I'm glad I don't live anywhere near you (I think). BTW, some of those currently-waiting families are as disgusted as we were with that woman, are in contact with us regularly and fully supported what we and the Corrigans said.

If it didn't strike me as pathetic to the point of being amusing, I'd really resent your attempt to lay an unbridled and utterly unjustified guilt trip on us. But that's what I'd expect from Denise's Little Helper.

I seem to recall that you queried us back in September, asking about our Russian experience (which we told you about) and expressing some concern over the way things were going, that Denise was telling you and other people different things about what was going on in Bulgaria and that timelines were going on longer than they had been told. Do you have multiple personality disorder or something? (I would post the email to refresh your memory, but due to the untimely intervention of a virus we no longer have access to it). I also recall that in January you really ticked people off on the Topica list with a mean, childish swipe at someone using another agency whose process was going more smoothly than BBAS's at the time ... you figured she had to be working for that agency to get that kind of timeline.

Our highest obligation was to our son, always, and to the integrity of the process we used to bring him home (as much as it disgusted us). As far as owing any other adoptive parent anything, in the long term, we think that sharing the truth about our experiences and the way we were emotionally and financially mistreated with competent authorities in relevant countries does more overall good for adoption than remaining silent so that some people's adoptions will go just a bit smoother. We refuse to be intimidated and bullied that way, and anyone who would do that is beneath contempt.

You also should consider that what we provided the MoJ with was but a small part of their case against Valeri and the orphanage directors - it served mainly to establish how much was being charged to adoptive parents in the US, money that was far over and above the legal fees and costs in Bulgaria and any reasonable compensation for those providing services and assistance.  The bulk of the case came from whistleblowers in Bulgaria. I presume you're going to sue them for doing their legally mandated duty?

IOW, it was not a question of if but when. You should be angry at Denise for her recklessness which nearly endangered your adoption (Consider that during the entire investigation when documents were being looked at, the only agency telling their clients not to go over to Bulgaria was BBAS. Not even Adopt an Angel, whose photolisting began this whole thing, held its clients up. It was only Building Blocks. What does that tell you? What were they trying to hide? Who didn't they want you and the Corrigans and the Wahls to talk to?)

You charge that Building Blocks charges way more for a Bulgarian adoption. My research indicates that this is not true.

Well, I never actually said that, but since you impute it to me ... No, they don't. But they're higher on the scale than you'd expect for such a small agency. During Anguel's adoption, we were so fed up with BBAS that we explored using some other agencies that worked out of Burgas as well. AIAA at least, I remember, charged a couple of thousand dollars less and delivered its clients more. We ultimately could not change because we were told that children at that orphanage are earmarked for particular agencies, and we would have to start over with a new referral (This also after Denise strongly implied in one of her emails that she could just tell them we weren't interested anymore, whether that was the case or not).

What you confused my statement with was the reports in the Bulgarian press that BBAS's fees to foreigners were far out of line with the roughly $750 or so it officially costs. Perhaps they're not the only agency doing that ... I certainly think so.

I'm sorry that you're not happy with your son . . . . you wonder how I can possibly know this?  If you were happy, truly happy, you would be grateful that he is home and healthy and happy. Maybe you should redirect your anger into something more productive?

Oh, really now ... would you like to be adopted by us? You and your husband seem to be at about the emotional level of three-year-olds yourselves. You could use some good parenting.

(And although I really don't feel like dignifying that with a straight answer, we couldn't be happier with Anguel. He has a few delays from being in the orphanage, and he's getting early intervention, but otherwise he's a healthy, happy, very active toddler. It's better than being dead like Cyril is).

Dan Case

    Daniel must have gotten her hopping mad. I would have hated to have been at work and been emailing things like this. Better these two than me right then. 

    It got uglier. Mrs. Atkinson continued to make personal attacks instead of addressing the TRUE issues put forth by Daniel:

I seem to recall that you queried us back in September, asking about our Russian experience (which we told you about) and expressing some concern over the way things were going, that Denise was telling you and other people different things about what was going on in Bulgaria and that timelines were going on longer than they had been told. Do you have multiple personality disorder or something? (I would post the email to refresh your memory, but due to the untimely intervention of a virus we no longer have access to it).

How convenient that this virus destroyed it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So he won't file some bogus harassment complaint against me, I used your work address.

You had stated you were using his old  military address.  You didn't even know it was my work address.

I also recall that in January you really ticked people off on the Topica list with a mean, childish swipe at someone using another agency whose process was going more smoothly than BBAS's at the time ... you figured she had to be working for that agency to get that kind of timeline.

What does that have to do with anything??????????????? And, by the way, she does work for that agency.  Get the facts straight, Mr. Case.

As far as owing any other adoptive parent anything, in the long term, we think that sharing the truth about our experiences and the way we were emotionally and financially mistreated with competent authorities in relevant countries does more overall good for adoption than remaining silent so that some people's adoptions will go just a bit smoother. We refuse to be intimidated and bullied that way, and anyone who would do that is beneath contempt.

So I was correct in stating that you did not care about other waiting families.  You had your child home and that was all that was important to you.

It's better than being dead like Cyril is).

And whose fault is that?  Seems to me like you and your wife should have sought medical attention for that poor little boy before it became so serious as to result in his death!!!!!!! Did you even consider taking him to a hospital?

Guilt is a terrible thing, isn't it Mr. Case.

Mrs. Atkinson

    At 3:20 p.m. Elizabeth Case got home. 

    She got undressed from her work clothes. By this time, Daniel had taken Anguel out after he appeared to be feeling better. Elizabeth did the dishes and then went upstairs to the computer room to check email. 

    When Elizabeth saw the above post from Mrs. Atkinson, insinuating that we had KILLED CYRIL she went through the roof. Literally through the roof.  

    So, now it was me getting into it!  I was restrained in my reply and left off the “A”, “B”, “C” and “F” words which wanted to go flying (plus a few sexual innuendo sentences)

MRS. ATKINSON:

DON'T YOU EVER EVER EVER BLAME CYRIL'S DEATH ON MY HUSBAND OR I.

THIS IS SLANDER PURELY AND SIMPLY. GO BACK INTO YOUR HOLE.  YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT IN THE HELL YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT.

AS FAR AS I AM CONCERNED, WE ARE HAPPY WE DID WHAT WE DID.

NEXT TIME, HAVE DENISE HUBBARD HERSELF POST THIS TO US PERSONALLY.  Let her take the heat instead of you.  Talk about spineless agency directors.

I FEEL A NASTY LAWSUIT BREWING ON THIS. 

AND NEVER, EVER EVER EVER SAY WE DO NOT LOVE ANGUEL.  WHO THE HELL ARE YOU TO SAY THAT?

YOU ARE NOBODY.

Elizabeth Case

    Okay, I’ll say it here. She’s an ignorant person. There. I said it and I feel much better.  

    This was her next response:

Like I said, guilt is a terrible thing, isn't it?

    Oh, I was off the wall right then. Out of control and off the wall. I don’t think I’d been that mad in a long time.  

    I was sitting at the computer chair shaking and clenching my teeth.  I hate punks.

We feel no guilt.  Please read our story of Cyril's death on www.theadoptionguide.com and get your facts straight about why he died. You weren't there and you have no idea what we lived through.  Please do NOT
cast stones.  You as a good Christian family ought to know that.

If allegations that we delayed your adoption in any way shape or form, please provide hard copy evidence.

It cost us quite a bit to get that translated.  We would do it again in a heartbeat.  To blame one family for these delays is absurd.  Do we really
have that much power?  Hardly.

We will continue to speak out about us, Denise Hubbard's lies which are continuing to propagate even as I type.

Are we finished yet?

Elizabeth Case

And, while you're at it, forward it on to good old Denise.

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