Dear Adoption Scammer, you apparently forgot that you’d met us before, when you came to talk with us this month about giving up a baby you’re not really going to deliver in March?
You didn’t seem to recognize us, even though we already knew it was you. Yet the moment you walked in the restaurant you asked us to meet you at, all our suspicions were confirmed. Because your act really hasn’t changed much over the years. (By the way: adoption fraud is still against the law, no matter what the motive behind it might be.)
We first met you in 2018, when you introduced yourself as Nadine G, age 18. You claimed your baby’s father was your dad, who worked in law enforcement. You seemed to need attention, and you surely got it, because that sort of heartbreaking outcry requires anyone in Texas to contact authorities. (Which we did in our effort to get you help. That turned out to be more help than you really wanted.)
This was how we found out you weren’t really pregnant and your dad wasn’t your baby’s father. When we asked you for the truth, you doubled down, rather than coming clean. You claimed to be in a hospital delivering a baby you still wanted to place for adoption, also untrue. There was no baby, thus there could be no adoption.
Two years later, you contacted us again. This time, you said you were sixteen. We recognized your name and your story and called you out, and that time, you apologized and hung up.
This has to stop, Dear Adoption Scammer
You weren’t done, though. Since then, you’ve reportedly gone by many more names: Dominique. Amelia. Bethany. Emily. Tiffany. Jade. Adrian. Nadia. Jasmine. Amanda. Maria. Olivia. Selena. Beth. Stella. Nicole.
That list of names goes on, even though the age and story changes. You typically claim to be a teen, although you’re actually in your twenties, according to your actual ID. You usually claim to be between 5 and 8 months pregnant, but sometimes, you say you’re in labor or just had a baby.
Most tragically, you typically tell a sordid tale of having become pregnant as a result of rape or sex trafficking or incest. That may be the worst part of it all, that you play on people’s sympathies by using the real-life nightmares of other female victims?
You must have a sizeable collection of alterable prenatal confirmations, since you know each agency, attorney, facilitator and adoptive couple usually requests proof of pregnancy upfront. You rarely ask for financial assistance, perhaps because that’s not what you want out of this. (Or maybe you’ve learned that monetary fraud is much more likely to get you in serious trouble than emotional cons will.)
Enough is enough
See, here’s the thing, Dear Adoption Scammer: your adoption scams hurt people. Not just hopeful adoptive couples, although you’ve broken plenty of hearts across the US over the years. Your own relatives suffer, too, because they keep trying to help you, to no avail.
And these cons of yours also waste the time of adoption professionals, medical staff, and law enforcement. You’ve been investigated in multiple states. Misled agencies from coast to coast. People are onto you, girl, and it won’t end well. Ultimately, these games you play hurt you, too– whether you realize it or not.
Anyone who lies as easily as you do obviously has a brilliant imagination– just think what you could do, if you applied your talents to something like sales or theater or poker, instead? You must get tired of having to constantly cover your tracks. Just think how much less work being your own age and using your real name might be? People go to prison for adoption fraud; surely that isn’t what you want for your future?
Adoption fraud is always wrong
What you do, when you pretend to be an expectant mother in need of adoption help is every bit as twisted (and nearly as wrong) as what dishonest adopters do, when they pretend to want open adoption and make promises they’ll never keep once an adoption is done. It’s just as bad as unethical adoption brokers who sign up more adoptive families than they ever can realistically place children with, just for the money.
You see, adoption scams in any form are evil. Adoption fraud abuses the good faith of others, under the guise of seeking help for vulnerable children, and justice ultimately awaits anyone that does this.
Most recently, Nadine, you contacted an out-of-state agency claiming to be a pregnant 15-year-old named Mia, and it was at their request that you met with us. Frankly, we enjoyed our hour-long visit with you; you’re oddly likable, however dishonest. We can’t help but suspect you must have suffered some trauma, somewhere in your lifetime, to be so driven to perpetuate the same lies over and over again. Be forewarned, though: your false claims made another report to law enforcement necessary, once again. (So you haven’t fooled anyone this time. And you won’t the next time, either. It serves no purpose, not for you nor for anyone else.)
Please get the help you need, Dear Adoption Scammer, and stop spreading your special brand of hurt upon those who truly just want to help the children who need loving homes the most.
