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SINS OF OMISSION, by David Stires, SMART MONEY, Sept 2000,
p.166.
Adopting a child should be an occasion for joy. But more and more
agencies are hiding their kids' medical histories, leaving parents with a
huge financial burden - and years of anguish.
So what happens to agencies with shoddy business practices? In too
many cases, it seems, very little. "Enforcement provisions and sanctions
for
noncompliance are largely absent from state statutes", says Marianne
Blair,a professor at the University of Tufts College of Law in Oklahoma,
who's written extensively on state adoption laws.
Refusing to be cowed by a little thing like the legal system, some adoption
professionals have come up with their own strategy. As a hedge against potential
lawsuits, some agencies new require prospective parents to sign a waiver relinguishing
their right to sue no matter what they discover down the road. "We call
them the 'don't let the screen door hit you in the ass as you sign the check'
clause, says Thais Tepper, co-founder of Parent Network for the Post-Institutionalized
Child, a grass roots support group for
adoptive parents, referring to the waivers.
