Parents Never Receive Adoptive Children; Agency Closed

Parents Never Receive Adoptive Children; Agency Closed

PEMBROKE PINES, Fla. -- Seven couples said they spent a total of $141,000 to adopt children they still have not received into their families, and the man whom they said they paid is nowhere to be found.Jose and Maria Estrada said they gave nearly $37,000 to an agency called Adoption Placement in the hope of adopting two children from Russia."I dream of taking the children to the park. I dream of taking the children to baseball games, taking them here, there, to Disney World. This may never happen to us," Jose Estrada said.

Two years later, there is no sign of the children, the money or the man who the Estradas said took the money, Robert Kuschel."First, he said that we have to trust the Lord," Maria Estrada said.The Estradas said that was the first of several excuses."(We felt) disappointment (in) trusting someone that you feel was honest and could come forward with a family for you, and now we see that it was just a game," Maria Estrada said.Rick Rammos and Jane Seaman gave Kuschel $27,000. Like the Estradas, they have a bundle of e-mail excuses and no child."I know we've been had. At least I know in my heart we've been had," Rammos said."It's been extremely difficult. I really can't put it into words because it's a very private matter," Seaman said."It's a rollercoaster. It's an emotional rollercoaster," Rammos said.Adoption Placement used to operate from a storefront in Plantation. Seaman said Kuschel then up and moved in the middle of the night to Orlando. Whenever someone tries to call Kuschel, it goes to a message that says, "No voicemails are now being accepted," NBC 6's Ari Odzer reported.The seven families involved said Adoption Placement used to be reputable until Kuschel took it over. They plan to go to police together to file complaints.The Department of Children and Families would not comment Wednesday on the case. A DCF document said Kuschel's license to run an adoption agency was suspended by the state in April, Odzer said.

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