Chapter Forty-One

The End Approaches  

“ I couldn’t take it any longer, Lord I was crazed

And when the feeling came upon me like a tidal wave

I started swearing to my God…

So now I’m praying for the end of time to hurry up and arrive

‘Cause if I gotta spend another minute with you

I don’t think that I can really survive…

But God only knows what I can do right now

I’m praying for the end of time

SO I CAN END MY TIME WITH YOU”

-Jim Steinman & Meatloaf

    Early in August 2000, we received a packet from Building Blocks in the mail with information for our second trip as well as relevant INS forms etc. 

    While we were glad this was all finally coming together, we still had no exact travel date and had not been informed as to whether Angel had received his new birth certificate (without which he could not begin the process of receiving a new passport). 

    We also were puzzled by the fact that the main letter in the packet, congratulating us on the conclusion of our adoption, was dated June 12, the day after the successful court decree. Either they delayed sending it or it was backdated.

    By Aug. 9,  going by the Bulgarian timeline, Angel’s birth certificate should have been issued. We had not received word about it. 

    The information blackouts were exacting a high emotional price on both of us. We really don’t know how much longer we could live with a wait that always seemed to be just a little longer. 

    We began to discuss giving BBAS an absolute date by which we would no longer be interested in the adoption, court decree or not.

    Then, on Aug. 19, I was lurking over on FRUA, as I am wont to do.  There was a topic begun the day before entitled “Describe Any Horror Problems with Russian Adoptions” by a “Kate.”  

    Boy, could I describe one. However, at that time, we were keeping an ongoing silence about Cyril’s death.  

    We were cautious about sharing Cyril’s story since Anguel’s adoption was coming down the line. So I responded : “Kate, please email me privately if you wish. We are adopting from Bulgaria and not Russia at this time.”  

    I never had a response from “Kate.” But, a poster whose IP address indicated an AOL account going by the name of “Very Anon” posted the following, heart-stopping response:

Sad story – within the last year, there was a family in Perm who had physical custody of their child in the hotel BEFORE the 10 day waiting period was over.  Not sure what happened, but the child DIED while in the hotel.  This has been kept all very hush hush.  I wonder why.

    Immediately, we emailed Ernie Jones, FRUA’s board person, who ran the site.  We told him that it was us whose baby had died in Perm and that if we were to go public, we feared retaliation from our agency. 

    We truly believed that Denise and/or an entity at BBAS had a hand in this “Very Anon” post. Ernie pulled the post and responded in an email two days later, “I have removed the appropriate messages from the discussion. Under the circumstances, no further explanation is necessary.”

    Then we let ’em have it at BBAS. We emailed Wendy Stamper.  We emailed Denise Hubbard.  We emailed and mailed via certified mail Denise Hubbard and Rick Marco the posts on FRUA and Ernie’s response.  We called it an “Unconscionable breach of confidentiality on your client’s part.”

    Daniel said that we were “deeply disturbed” at the “very real possibility that BBAS may be discussing our case with third parties.” We emailed this to Cmarco4140@aol.com, the email address we had been given by Denise on her “carbon copied” correspondence.  

    We didn’t receive a response to that email for another four days:

Mr. & Mrs. Case – This e-mail was sent in error to my home e-mail address – my husband does not have an e-mail address of his own!  Any correspondence needs to go through BBAS.  Denise Hubbard and Rick are in Bulgaria now, and will not be available until September 2, 2000.  Sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused – or delay – but I do not check my home e-mail very often!  Sincerely, Cynthia D. Marco, PhD, John Carroll University, Career Sciences Center.

    What was this garbage? Why had Denise put the email of Cynthia Marco, the agency’s nominal director, as “AttyMarco,” on all the forwarded correspondence? We didn’t believe this for one moment, but the tone must have put the fear of God into her.

    Sue Corrigan would later forward us the itinerary, but by then, it was too late to talk to Denise beforehand:

From:  “bbadoption”bbadoption@msn.com

To:   bbadoption@msn.com

Sent:  Tuesday, August 22, 2000 6:59 PM

Subject:  August 22

Dear Parents:

I am writing this note to advise all of you that I will be out of the country starting August 23 until September 4.  Wendy, Lori, Sandy and Debbie will be here to assist you with your adoption needs.  In my absence, referrals, court dates and adoption processes will still occur.  If you have any questions, please feel free to contact one of the young ladies above.

Please note that Debbie will be in the office to handle all incoming and outgoing mail as well as answering the main office number.  Wendy can be reached at: adopteric@aol.com or by phone 330-725-0414.  Sandi will handle all dossiers coming and going.  Sandi can be reached at sandi@bbas.org or by calling the office.  Lori will assist those of you who are going to Bulgaria.  Debbie can be reached at the main office number.

On another note, when sending donations, make sure you make the donations out to: International Concern For Children Fund, Inc or “ICCF.”  These can be mailed to P.O. Box 1028 Medina, OH 44258.

We appreciate the donations we receive.  Each little bit helps.  The current donations are going to orphanages that are in need of workers, heat, food, clothing and medical supplies.  All donations are tax deductible.

I cannot conclude this note without thanking all of you who attended the Building Blocks Annual Picnic and welcoming our foreign friends from Bulgaria.  It was a delight to see so many old and new faces!  But more of a delight to hold and love the children!

Have a great week!

Denise Hubbard

Executive Director

    (There are some interesting questions regarding ICCF, too, which we cared little about at the time).

    Oh, sniff, sniff!  Holding and loving the kiddies! And seeing Valeri and Vladimir at the picnic we were not invited to!   

    And how nice to find out yet again from a third party that Denise and Rick were skipping across Bulgaria looking for other children to broker.  Again, why weren’t we told?

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