Families Warn Of Orlando Adoption Agency

Local6.com

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Concerns from families from across the nation wanting to adopt children has prompted a Problem Solvers investigation into an agency run by attorneys.

The heartbreaking tales involve an agency called Homecoming Adoptions, or HCA, Local 6's Donald Forbes reported.

Central Floridian Melissa Bartley said she is suing partly because she never received a young girl from Russia who she was allegedly promised.

"I felt hurt, betrayed, distraught," Bartley said. "I had my heart set on having a child, and it is just heartbreaking. I don't think I am ever going to be a parent."

Bartley said she wants back the tens of thousands of dollars she claims she has paid for a child.

The woman also said the process of adopting a child was extremely stressful and partly led to her husband's suicide.

"I wish there was a way to warn people; don't go to this agency," Bartley said.

David and Corey Gaynes said their journey to adopt has been a nightmare.

The couple said while they were able to adopt a 2-year-old and 1-year-old, they have spent $80,000 and four years waiting for a set of twins.

They said the adoption agency has let them down every time.

"It's just the most painful experience of my life," Corey Gaynes said.

"We are not sure where our money (has gone) and how much of it has been used," David Gaynes said. "When we call the agency and say we want to find out when you paid the people in Guatemala and how much you paid them, they don't answer our questions."

The HCA agency is run by attorneys Kurt Alexander and Kendall Rigdon.

It's an agency under intense scrutiny by the Department of Children and Family Services, Forbes reported.

DCF received at least five complaints about the agency from different families. The Better Business Bureau has received 11 complaints in the last three years, Forbes reported.

And DCF stripped Homecoming Adoptions of its adoption license in 2006, Forbes said.

"They are basically playing a shell game to get out from under the review of the DCF," DCF attorney Shane DeBoar said. "They didn't want us in there investigating complaints."

At a judicial hearing last week, the attorney representing HCA said it shouldn't have to fall under the same guidelines as a certified adoption agency.

"Homecoming Adoptions Inc. was never a child placing agency," HCA attorney James Taylor said.

Taylor said Homecoming is a group of attorneys who want to help the adoption process along.

Judge George Sprinkel has ordered Homecoming to hand over its adoption files to DCF in the next 30 days.

"Homecoming told us by phone they couldn't go into specifics because of attorney-client privileges," Forbes said "But they did say that international adoptions have become complicated over the years and that they are doing their best. (They) urge prospective parents to be patient."