Failed Adoption
I want to preface this page by making the following statements:
Danielle and I have been through a lot of heartache and pain throughout these years since we were scammed. We do not believe all attorneys and adoption agencies are crooked or dishonest. We just chose to fight back and get what was taken from us under fraudulent and deceptive pretenses. What happened to us was, literally, a crime, and we do not want any other adoptive couple to go through what we have experienced. As well, it was a crime what happened to Gem, a former birthmother of Steven Dubin (Gem is an alias I'm using to protect this birthmother). You will find reference to Gem's heartbreaking story below listed under Amelia Kittredge's email of April 4, 2008. There is a lot of information available now to us that was not available when all of this happened in May of 2007.
For example: The man claiming to be the birth father on May 22, 2007, "supposedly" stated to Steven Dubin he would fight the adoption in court if the adoption went through. A paternity test was done on him in June 2007 and he was not the birthfather of Danielle Gatlin's baby. It seems that he and Danielle Gatlin hooked up when she was seven months pregnant, shortly after she was released from prison and just shortly before we signed the adoption contract with Steven Dubin. To this day, the identification of the father of Danielle Gatlin's baby is unknown. According to our adoption contract with Steven Dubin, Danielle Gatlin was to have received $15,000.00. When Danielle Gatlin was interviewed by FOX 29 News, and asked if she was angry with Steven Dubin because he had only given her about $6,000.00 instead of $15,000.00, she stated, "Absolutely not. I'm very grateful to Steve Dubin. It wasn't that I didn't want to keep my baby, I just couldn't afford to keep him. And if it wasn't for Steve Dubin, I would never have gotten the money I needed to keep my baby." As well, after all of our paperwork was returned to us in September 2007 after having turned Steven Dubin over to the Buck's County District Attorney's office and the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, we found out that Steven Dubin was still negotiating with a couple in France to adopt Danielle Gatlin's baby after we had already signed the adoption contract with Steven Dubin on February 15, 2007 and had given Steven Dubin $20,000.00 (the first part of three installment payments).
When Steven Dubin found us through our adoption agency in February of 2007, he was a member of an attorney adoption association called AAAA (American Academy of Adoption Attorneys). After Steven Dubin had committed fraud on us, I had turned him over to AAAA and found out that they had several complaints on Steven Dubin already on file. AAAA never got back to me nor did they resolve any issues that I had with Steven Dubin. Philly FOX 29 News sent out their investigative reporter and cameraman to interview my wife and I on Monday, January 7, 2008. As the reporter was coming up the mountain to my house to interview us, he got a call from one of the members of AAAA who told him AAAA had an emergency meeting on Sunday, January 6, 2008 and that Steven Dubin's membership with AAAA had been suspended indefinitely, but that the suspension of Steven Dubin's membership had nothing to do with FOX 29's interview with us.
We pray continually to adopt the child or children meant for us. We want all prospective parents to adopt the children meant for them. This page of our website is for public service as well as to serve notice to the people that have done us wrong that we are not giving up until this injustice is corrected.
What you will find here is details about our failed adoption. I will have letters explaining what has happened during our tumultuous journey in trying to adopt a baby from Pennsylvania.
I am going to give everyone a little bit of what has happened to us and why we feel the way we do about Steve Dubin.
There has been a lot of correspondence with Steve Dubin, FOX News, other adoptive parents, and various agencies around the country.
To start from the beginning, we saw a listing for a birth mother that was provided by Steve Dubin to another attorney here in New Mexico who in turn provided it to the adoption agency we were working with.
The following is basically the letter we sent to many agencies around the country. At the time this letter was written, a lot of facts were not readily available. This letter was sent out at the end of May of 2007.
We (Wayne DeChano and Danielle DeChano, husband and wife) are prayerfully requesting this agency to investigate a Steven G. Dubin, an adoption attorney in Southampton, PA; because we believe a crime has been committed. We believe Mr. Dubin created a scenario wherein a (supposed) birth mother was in a situation where she had no option but to give her baby for adoption. Steven Dubin did this in order to obtain $27,500.00, from us; wherein, he then wrote out checks to cash illegally.
My wife, Danielle DeChano, and I, Wayne DeChano, have just returned from a terrible five day ordeal and nightmare of a trip where we found out that we were scammed and have been scammed for the past four months by a Pennsylvania adoption attorney named Steven G. Dubin located at 80 Second St. Pike, 1st floor, Southampton, PA 18966, ph.(215)322-4100. Over the past four months, Steven Dubin has scammed us out of $27,500.00. The total two loans came to over $31,000.00 for the adoption and other monies included another $6,000.00 for travel, baby furniture, baby clothes, etc., all for a baby that now we’re not sure exists.
The scam started in January 2007 wherein Catherine Troy of Adoptions Plus, ---------, ph. --------, our adoption agency, received through email from Lisa Olewine, an adoption attorney in Albuquerque and eventually our attorney for the adoption, a list of birth mothers doing private adoptions with Steven Dubin. We chose one from the list by the name of Danielle. Her supposed due date was May 26, 2007 (a copy of this list is enclosed). We contacted Steven Dubin in late January 2007. I spoke to him first from my office. After my call, he called my wife and spoke to her. Steven Dubin told my wife and me almost the exact same story about Danielle Gatlin and the story goes as follows:
Danielle Gatlin, a pregnant client of Steven Dubin’s, had just gotten out of jail from serving a six month sentence, and because she was on probation she had no choice but to give the baby up for adoption because if she did not, immediately after the birth, the baby would be placed into foster care by the state of Pennsylvania. As well, Steven Dubin stated to me and my wife separately on these phone calls that he chose the adoptive family, not the birth mother and he chose my wife and I and if we wanted this baby, it was ours. My wife and I were both concerned about the birth father not being identified. The reason why Steven Dubin said the birth father was so hard to identify was because Danielle Gatlin was a “party girl” and had slept with so many different men, she did not know who the father was. Steven Dubin said he had lost only three adoptions over the past thirty years since he has been practicing law and that these birth fathers didn’t want to pay child support. That weekend, Steven Dubin sent adoption papers to me by email with our names on them for the adoption of Danielle Gatlin’s baby. The cost of the adoption on those papers was $30,000.00. After some negotiation, the cost was set at $27,500.00 and new papers were sent for me and my wife to sign.
This all sounded too good to be true. An attorney that chooses the adoptive family and a birth mother that had no alternatives. I researched Steven Dubin and found him to be a legitimate attorney and I called the reference he supplied me to verify all of his information. As well, I found Steven Dubin was a member of the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys. I also sent the second set of adoption papers he emailed me to an attorney which was referred to me by Adoptions Plus, our adoption agency. This attorney is Lisa Olewine, -------------------, ph. -------------.
After Lisa Olewine reviewed the private adoption contract, she told us it was a pretty standard adoption contract, but she thought the $27,500.00 was a bit steep. We then had to secure a second loan in order to meet the total amount owed to Steven Dubin and Lisa Olewine in order to adopt Danielle Gatlin’s baby. I get paid twice a month and the payments of these two loans eats up about three-fourths of one paycheck. My wife and I signed the private adoption contract with Steven Dubin on February 15, 2007 and sent him out the first disbursement of $20,000.00 on the same day. The second disbursement of $4,000.00 was sent on March 20, 2007. The third disbursement of $3,500.00 was sent on April 19, 2007. Copies of the bank wires are enclosed.
According to the private adoption contract my wife and I signed with Steven Dubin on February 15, 2007, the only criteria that would keep us from adopting Danielle Gatlin’s baby was not meeting our financial obligations, but we did so to the letter. A copy of this contract is enclosed. After we had fulfilled our financial responsibilities according to the contract with Steven Dubin, we gradually found out why a Pennsylvania attorney would adopt in New Mexico. It was because in PA, a birth mother receives no compensation, whereas in NM, the birth mother can receive up to $15,000.00 compensation as long as itemized records are kept and no cash goes directly to the birth mother.
Our attorney in New Mexico, Lisa Olewine, was very concerned because Steven Dubin was not keeping itemized records of the disbursement of funds, but was writing checks out to cash. Lisa Olewine’s letter dated March 27, 2007 to Steven Dubin is enclosed wherein she expressed quite emphatically all of these concerns and again that these itemized records be supplied to her. I also requested these records of receipt and never received an answer or gained any information on the records. Her other concern was that two other possible birth fathers were identified. Steven Dubin had not had them sign a New Mexico Relinquishment of Parental Rights form.
On Thursday, May 17, 2007, I received an email from Steven Dubin (email enclosed) stating Danielle Gatlin was scheduled for a c-section at Mercy Suburban Hospital, 2701 DeKalb Pike, Norristown, PA 19401 on May 22, 2007. In this email was the first time Steven Dubin eluded to the fact that Danielle Gatlin had the right to change her mind at any time. A signed contract and $27,500.00 later, this written statement was very different from the original oral statement that Steven Dubin had made to me and my wife back in January 2007 which got us to sign the private adoption contract with him to begin with.
Our hearts sank and we hoped against hope that this was all going to work out as we had originally been told by Steven Dubin. In this same email, my wife and I were instructed to show up at the hospital on May 22, 2007. This was no easy task because it was so close to Memorial Day weekend. We finally arrived at the Inn we stayed at in Pennsylvania, at around 5:30 AM, after having traveled all night. I called Steven Dubin twice, once at 5:30 AM and then at 7:30AM. At my 7:30 AM call, Mrs. Dubin told me the hospital had not contacted her yet and she would let us know when they did. At 10:30 AM, I called Mrs. Dubin again and she gave me to Steven Dubin. He told me the hospital did not have her checked in yet, but he would let me know as soon as the hospital contacted him. We waited until later that evening and I called Steven Dubin again. He said the hospital normally called him when the birth mothers had checked in and as soon as Danielle Gatlin checked in, the hospital would call him and then he would contact me to let me know that Danielle Gatlin had checked into the hospital. I called the hospital on May 23, 2007 to see if Danielle Gatlin had checked in with them yet and the hospital told me they had no record of a Danielle Gatlin even registered with them. At this point, my wife and I decided to go to Steven Dubin’s office unannounced. Steven Dubin’s front door to his office is locked and in order to enter you must be let in from someone inside. Gloria Raver, his legal assistant, let us in. Ms. Raver snapped at us that she was not expecting us and that Steven Dubin was not in and he would not be back for thirty minutes. We said that was fine and that we would wait.
Steven Dubin showed up and he too was upset we showed up unannounced. Without any introductions, he looked at us and snapped at us stating, “Alright fine, ask me your questions.” Then he turned around and walked away from us and we followed him into his office. He told us he had not tracked down Danielle Gatlin yet and did not know where she was and he gave explanations such as she might have gone to another hospital or she did not want anybody to know where she was so she might have asked the hospital to keep her stay confidential. At this time, our attorney Lisa Olewine called to speak with Steven Dubin. My wife then spoke with Lisa Olewine and she told my wife another two possible birth fathers had been identified and to have Steven Dubin have these two possible birth fathers sign the New Mexico Relinquishment of Parental Rights form as well. My wife had told Lisa Olewine that Steven Dubin had not told us about the two new possible birth fathers. My wife asked Steven Dubin if he had gotten a New Mexico relinquishment form signed by the two new possible birth fathers. Steven Dubin said he did not because one was identified as Jorge Garcia and the phone book was filled with them and the other he said he did not know his name. We left his office with and assurance from him that when he knew more, he would call us. An hour and a half later, Lisa Olewine called and told me the birth mother, Danielle Gatlin, had changed her mind because the birth father wanted the baby and he would fight the adoption. Lisa Olewine also told us that Steve Dubin wanted us to know that he would not be in his office for the rest of the day and that he would be in court all day the following day, Thursday, May 24, 2007, and that he did not want us to show up at his office again. Lisa Olewine ended the call by saying she would bill us for the remainder of her charges and she was sorry about what happened.
I called Steven Dubin three times that day, on Wednesday, May 23, 2007 telling him he needed to meet with my wife and me and face us concerning the $27,500.00 we gave him. I did not hear from Steven Dubin until around 5:30 PM on Thursday, May 24, 2007 wherein he agreed to meet with us at 1:30 PM at his office the following day, Friday, May 25, 2007.
On Friday, May 25, 2007 at 1:30 PM at Steven Dubin’s office, my wife and I both told him he misrepresented the facts of this case to get us to sign the adoption contract. We reminded him of what he told us saying he chose the family and not the birth mother and the baby was ours if we wanted it, and he chose us. As well that Danielle Gatlin had no choice but to give up the baby for adoption because the baby would go into state care immediately after it was born because she was on probation. He denied ever having said that to us. We told him because he misrepresented the facts that we wanted our $27,500.00 returned to us that afternoon. He gloated at us and told us that was not happening and we were not getting our money back. My wife asked him what the name of the supposed birth father was that within an hour and a half was identified and showed up at the hospital to claim his rights as a birth father and Steven Dubin said he did not have that information. We left his office with my wife telling him we would see to it that he would never scam anyone in New Mexico again.
During this obscure nightmare of a trip to Pennsylvania, we never spoke to nor saw a birth mother, we never visited a hospital, Mercy Suburban Hospital did not have a Danielle Gatlin registered and we have no knowledge of an actual birth that ever took place. We know a letter was written by Mrs. Dubin on May 17, 2007 to Mercy Suburban Hospital, but anybody can write a letter.
We then went to the Bucks County District Attorneys Office and spoke with Danielle A. Peters and filed a complaint against Steve Dubin and truly, Ms. Peters was the first person to show us kindness during this whole nightmare of an ordeal. She also directed us to file a complaint with the Disciplinary Board which we will be doing as well.
To take the innate desires of a couple to have a child and abuse it and profit from it as Steven Dubin has done is not only corrupt it is immoral. Because of this, we no longer have the funds to pursue adopting another child. We prayerfully are requesting the agencies that will get notice of this letter to please help us regain our $27,500.00 that was stolen from us so mercilessly.
Sincerely,
Wayne DeChano and Danielle DeChano
During the time I have been speaking to various government agencies and media, we have been threatened with a lawsuit for slander. We are not stating anything that is not fact. The following letter was sent to Steven Dubin and his attorneys:
January 30, 2008
Steven Dubin
80 Second St.Pike
Suite 7
Southampton, PA 18966-3800
Dear Mr. Dubin,
The definition of slander is “a false statement meant to do harm.” You told fraudulent and deceptive information to me and my wife and to our New Mexico attorney, Lisa Olewine, in order to get us to sign your adoption contract and to obtain $27,500.00 from us. I had to obtain a combination of two loans totaling $33,880.00 forcing me to do Financial Time for the next ten years of my life. My first amendment rights give me the privilege and freedom to speak the truth to the press or any one else I wish to concerning what you did to us and the devastation you brought into our lives.
You and I both know everything I have said to FOX News is the truth. As well, does Amelia Kittredge of the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania wherein she, Amelia Kittredge, shared with me, by phone, her findings that you lied to us and our attorney (Lisa Olewine) and she was putting this in her report to the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. At this point, as I see it, anything that you or your attorneys do to bring attention to your fraudulent and deceptive business practices will only aid me in my plight concerning you notifying and warning the unsuspecting public of your fraudulent business practices and in the return of the $33,880.00 that me and my wife’s lives are being held hostage over.
All the agencies that perform the checks and balances concerning you were notified and given ample time to bring you to justice. AAAA suspended your membership and the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, so as not to totally destroy your practice, decided to discipline you privately (hopefully, as my plight continues, more people will come forth whom you have destroyed, and the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania might change their discipline to a public hearing).
You and your attorneys must do whatever you deem necessary and all of you have the right to do so, just as do I. My unalienable rights of freedom of speech as afforded me by the First Amendment gives me the right to speak the truth to FOX News or any other media of my choosing. Therefore, I will not be threatened or psychologically blackmailed by you or your attorneys. A copy of your January 21, 2008 letter, via your attorney to us, will be sent to FOX News today as well as a copy of this letter.
In closing,
Wayne DeChano
Cc: file, FOX News, any future media
In April 2008, we received confirmation from the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania that Steven Dubin has in fact been found guilty of fraud, but the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania again refuses to make this finding available to the public and list the information on their website. This information is not available to the public. In fact, Steven Dubin, many times before, has been turned to the Bucks County District Attorney's Office and the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. These same government agencies have found him guilty of many crimes against adoptive parents and none of this information is available to the public. The following is the email I received from the Disciplinary Board:
From: Kittredge, Amelia C. [Amelia.Kittredge@pacourts.us]
Sent: Friday, April 04, 2008 7:42 AM
To: DeChano, Wayne D.
Subject: Danielle's Telephone Message
Wayne, Danielle left me a message which was, understandably from her point of view. At this time, there was one thing I wanted to immediately correct. Mr. Dubin was disciplined for violation of Rule 8.4 (c), which provides that it is professional misconduct for a lawyer to “engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation.” As a Condition of the discipline imposed, the fee agreement had to be changed, as I mentioned. Take care, Amy Kittredge
I have received a great many emails over the past two years from various adoptive parents who have had the misfortune of dealing with Steven Dubin. But the most heartbreaking email I received came in January of 2009 was that of Gem.
I have received verbal permission from Gem to post her email on this website, but in my attempt to protect her, I will only reference her email. To begin with, I want to state, I have the upmost respect and admiration of Gem's courage because she has chosen to fight the injustice Steven Dubin has done to her. Our first contact with Gem was from the adoption list that our adoption agency received from Steven Dubin in 2007. She was on the list. My wife and I both asked about Gem's baby, but were told by Steven Dubin she was already matched with an adoptive couple. Steven Dubin was listing her baby for $30,000.00. So, because we believed that Gem had already been matched, we went on to Danielle Gatlin. Then, after two years, lo and behold, Gem finds us. Her heartbreaking story goes as follows:
Gem had contacted Steven Dubin to find a good home for her baby. At that time in her life, she could not provide the life she wanted for her child. Dubin had misled Gem and made her believe that he had her matched with an adoptive couple. Dubin constantly verbally assaulted her by telling her no one wanted her baby and yet, unbeknowest to Gem, he had listed her baby at $30,000.00. In Gem's words, "...he emotionally abused me and stalked me constantly. I continually asked him to speak to the adoptive couple he supposedly matched me with. He wouldn't let me speak with them and at one point had his wife and secretary call me and pretend to be Amish women."
The birthfather to Gem's baby was already in jail when Gem met Steven Dubin. The birthfather was serving two four-year sentences, had been convicted, and had admitted to his crime. Steven Dubin told Gem that he could and would get the birthfather (Gem's common-law husband) out of jail, but she and he had better not back out of the adoption or Dubin would see to it that Gem and the birthfather would be put UNDER the jail. Steven Dubin got Gem's common-law husband out of jail in two days. It absolutely floored Gem and amazed her that Dubin or anyone could work the system in this way and accomplish what Steven Dubin did.
After almost eight months pregnant and still not having had contact with any adoptive parents, Gem became worried that she would give birth and there would be no adoptive family for her baby to go to. Therefore, Gem left Dubin and found her own adoptive couple for her baby and charged them absolutely nothing for the adoption of her baby.
Steven Dubin became furious and told Gem she had better give him another baby or let him sue her common-law husband's family over an accident he had been in years ago concerning his family and that then they could all split the money from the lawsuit.
Gem also stated, "...he is destroying peoples lives and making birth mothers scared and sometimes helping them to scam clients for his own financial gain!!" Which, of course, makes me wonder even more if that nightmare of an ordeal that happened to my wife and I at the hands of Steven Dubin and Danielle Gatlin was just another scam from the beginning.
Another quote from Gem, "He is a liar and a thief and he preys on weak drug addicted girls, he stalks methadone clinics and he makes us feel worthless like nobody would ever want our children."
In my book, Gem is a hero and my hat goes off to her. Other than the one-hundred dollars per week allowed to birthmothers by the state of PA, Gem didn't take a penny from Dubin or anyone else for her baby. Even though she was in a very dark place in her life at that time, she was relentless in trying to find a better life for her unborn child. I have the upmost respect for her selfless actions.
In God's name, I wonder, what are the judicial and political contacts that Steven Dubin has, wherein he can get someone out of jail who has already been convicted, keep government agencies (the Bucks County DA, the Supreme Court of PA Disciplinary Board) in a code of secrecy concerning him, keeping them from posting on their websites the complaints that they have both received on Steven Dubin that has spanned beyond a decade and have been enough complaints that could wallpaper a small room. As well, when FOX News returned from interviewing us in January 2008, Steven Dubin threatened to sue them if they aired our story. So, FOX News, instead of airing our story about a crooked adoption attorney in PA who used fraudulent and deceptive business practices to obtain almost $30,000.00 from us and get us to sign his contract, they aired a failed adoption story. This astonished me. I would think that news stations are accustomed to being threatened with lawsuits. After I protested this story and several close friends protested, FOX News removed the video from their website.
The following is my March 14, 2008 letter to Kingsley Smith (FOX 29 News Director) in protest in having aired a different story than our story.
March 14, 2008
Kingsley Smith
WTXF Fox 29
330 Market St.
Philadelphia, PA 19106-2796
Dear Mr. Smith,
Enclosed is a copy of my “Beware” letter and May 30, 2007 letter concerning a Southampton, PA adoption attorney named Steven Dubin, which caused your station and your employee, Gary Scurka, to contact me back in November 2007 and stated that not only did your station want to do our story, but wanted the exclusive to our story as well.
I gave my word and the exclusive to our story to your station and your employee Gary Scurka. I kept my word, sent and shared any and all correspondence between me and Steven Dubin, as well, any and all data pertaining to our story as requested by your station while your station continued its investigation until your story aired on February 27, 2008.
Your station, on January 7, 2008, sent Jeff Cole and his cameraman, Mark, to film our story and home. In no uncertain terms, Jeff Cole did receive our story. You can imagine my astonishment when I saw the story that was created on me and my wife by your reporters. On January 7, 2008, Jeff and Mark knew, without a doubt, what story they were here to get and did get it flawlessly from me and my wife. Our story is not and never has been about a failed adoption and a nine-month old baby boy. Our story is about a crooked adoption attorney from your state that deliberately lied to us and our New Mexico attorney from the get-go, gave us fraudulent information to get us to sign his adoption contract and to give him almost $30,000.00 for a total of almost $34,000.00 in loans which I am forced to pay monthly, holding our lives hostage and leaving us without means to continue our dream of adopting a child. For the record, that lie again, Dubin told the three of us, was because the birth mother, Danielle Gatlin, was on probation; she was not considered to be a fit mother by the state of Pennsylvania. Because of this, she had no choice but to give her baby up for adoption or the state of Pennsylvania would take the child into custody as soon as it was born and that he, Steven Dubin, chose the adoptive parents, not the birthmother and he chose us and the baby was there if we wanted it. This is our story we gave to your station. There is even a one minute monolog, filmed by Mark, given by my wife, which states very clearly what our story is about. Your station could have done a failed adoption story right there in Philadelphia rather than putting out the expense to fly 2500 miles to New Mexico. This is the story we told but it was not the story aired by your station. Our story was never told as promised by your station.
Your station took footage of my wife and our home which I allowed and gave my permission on the premise that our story would be broadcast. Your station edited statements made by my wife and me from the January 7, 2008 interview so we were perceived as having been devastated by a failed adoption and not because we were lied to and given fraudulent information to by Steven Dubin so we would sign his adoption contract which has now left us with an empty bank account and no money to continue with another adoption. Jeff told me that when he and Mark returned from shooting our story, Steven Dubin threatened to sue your station if you aired our story. I believe this is the reason your station created a story about us with the footage that was taken.
Sir, now that I have brought this wrong to your attention, and as people who gave you their word and kept it, I expect you to keep your word and make this wrong right, re-air that broadcast and this time, air our story please. I wish to receive no rebuttals from you. No further contact is needed, only that when I go back on line again to your website that I will see our story has been aired by your station as promised. Your immediate attention to this matter is greatly appreciated.
In closing,
Wayne D. DeChano
Nobody understands what this feels like unless it has happened to them. Losing an adoption is like a child dying, the difference is you do not have a body and there does not seem to be any closure. Anyway, this is how we feel . Some people choose to let these things go and move on and try to forget it. That is their prerogative and good luck to them. Others, like us, don't like to be hurt and will fight back. We did not just lose a lot of money, we were raped emotionally because of the fraudulent and deceptive nature of the act invoked by Steven Dubin.
To date, no money has been collected by us from Steven Dubin. Only a fraction of the amount he owes us was offered and we would have had to sign a release as well. We cannot accept this money because, simply put, it would be blood money.
Because of the refusal of the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania and the Bucks County DA's Office to list Steven Dubin's crimes against adoptive parents on their websites or to make any of Steven Dubin's disciplines known to the public, if I were to take down this website there would be no other helpful information available on Steven Dubin out there and I don't want to have happen to other adoptive parents what has happened to us. If I were to sign a release from Steven Dubin, I would have to take down this website and in the future, information concerning Steven Dubin would not be available to the unsuspecting public.
We have prayed continuously and earnestly about what to do and how to do it. I came across this passage recently that has cemented my resolve to do what is right:
Exodus 23:1-8
Justice for All
1 “You shall not circulate a false report. Do not put your hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness. 2 You shall not follow a crowd to do evil; nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after many to pervert justice. 3 You shall not show partiality to a poor man in his dispute.
4 “If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him again. 5 If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying under its burden, and you would refrain from helping it, you shall surely help him with it.
6 “You shall not pervert the judgment of your poor in his dispute. 7 Keep yourself far from a false matter; do not kill the innocent and righteous. For I will not justify the wicked. 8 And you shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the discerning and perverts the words of the righteous.
If you have any questions, I can be reached at wayne@ourbabywish.info