This is a question I”ve been puzzling over for a long time.
In most states, the adoption of babies that are Safe Havened, or Baby Boxed are handled by DCS or some other appropriate state agency, The cost,then,is minimal. A few,states, however, such as Florida and Illinois (but there are others) handoff adoptions to private agencies who place them with their own waiting clients.
This procedure bothers me for a lot of reasons, but here’s the question. Do these adoption agencies charge their clients the usual $20,000-$50,000 or do they have a contract or agreement with the state to utilize the cut-rate DCS fee? I have this eccentric idea that most parents who use the SH system didn’t intend for their babies to be sold on the open market by adoption agents. I have this eccentric idea that nobody wants to talk about the $$$ issue.
Now. the Safe Haven organizations that I’m friendly with don’t know the answer They have nothing to do with placement and are out of that loop.
I’ve done oppo work for decades, and I’m good at digging out information. I can’t figure, though, whom to contact to learn what’s going on –pecuniary wise–in states that privatize Safe Haven placements. I doubt adoption agencies would tell me.
I’ve dealt with state agency-types over the years to get simple pieces of information; half the time to no avail. Nobody knows. Nobody cares. Requests are “lost” Requests are ignored. Nobody gets back to me. “No information is available.” If it is available, it can take a year or more to get. I’m passed from phone to phone, office to office, bureaucrat to bureaucrat, and often decide it’s not worth it. Of course, that’s what they want. It’s the nature of the state. This time, though I think it is worth it. What kind of racket is being run?
Can anyone reading this tell me exactly whom to direct my question to in state systems that privatize SH placements? Just not an agency or department name, but at least a title that I could track down to a real person.
(Sidenote; tracking down simple information can get crazy., Example: In Ohio, I recently sent an Open Records Request to a state agency that sent me various data over the years. This year when I asked for an update, I was told that they don’t compile that information and sent me to another agency, which said it doesn’t handle it either. sigh!
Day 18 of 30–
12 to go
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