FAMILIES BERATE ADOPTION LAWYER
ATTORNEY'S ACTIONS ASSAILED IN GRIEVANCES
ALAINE GRIFFIN
The Hartford Courant
The small, pink baby blanket Teresa Smith carried to court was supposed to swaddle the newborn Romanian orphan she had planned to adopt two years ago.
Instead, Smith keeps the blanket hidden inside a drawer at her Clinton home.
"It's a reminder of a big, hateful lie," Smith, 42, said Monday during an emotional disciplinary hearing for Westport attorney Maria Tomasky, at which four families recounted heartbreaking stories of stalled -- and in some cases unrealized -- foreign adoptions at the hands of Tomasky.
"I was absolutely devastated," Smith said. "I had grown to love this child in my heart only to learn she didn't even exist."
Since March 2004, nine separate grievances have been filed against Tomasky with the state agency that disciplines lawyers, Mark A. Dubois, chief disciplinary counsel, told Superior Court Judge Robert L. Holzberg.
The complaints charge Tomasky -- a leading adoption attorney in the state who, according to a supporter, has handled the adoptions of nearly 2,000 foreign children -- with failing to act professionally.
Tomasky, 57, of Fairfield, is cited for "lack of attention" and "lack of communication" with her clients and not paying back the tens of thousands of dollars the families spent on what they said was an emotionally charged and arduous process of becoming parents.
Dubois and Tomasky's attorney, David P. Atkins of Bridgeport, have been working on a plan to reimburse Tomasky's accusers, most of whom spent between $20,000 and $50,000 each to adopt children.
Tomasky, an immigrant who has retained her Polish accent, sobbed as she turned to her accusers in the gallery Monday and apologized. Tomasky, who has practiced law for more than two decades, said she was the first person in her family to go to college and get a professional license.
"To each of you, I'm sorry I did not make your dream a reality," she said.
Holzberg did not rule in the case Monday after learning that Tomasky is currently handling 12 other adoption cases. The revelation sparked jeers and fake coughs from the gallery. Holzberg said he wanted more information about how those cases will be handled since Tomasky has agreed to stop representing families seeking foreign adoptions.
Tomasky, who shook her head during the hearing in apparent disagreement with some of what she heard, likely will receive a court-ordered reprimand, though the suspension or loss of her law license is possible. She is not expected to lose her license, however.
Tomasky told the judge Monday that one of the adoption agencies she worked with "lied and misled" her during some adoptions, but she admitted making mistakes.
Smith, a registered nurse, and her husband, Daniel, 38, turned to Tomasky to adopt in 2002 and signed a $32,000 contract. For months, the Smiths grew frustrated as they tried to reach Tomasky, who would not return their phone calls. In February 2004, the Smiths received the call they were waiting for: A healthy baby girl would soon be theirs.
"With tears of joy, we shared the news and even thought of a name for her," Smith said.
But by April, the excuses started, the Smiths said.
A man named "Drago" was in Eastern Europe working on the adoption, they were told. He would soon send a video of the child. With each passing day, the video never arrived. In April 2004, Tomasky told the Smiths that Drago was back with the video but that it was in a European format and had to be translated. By May, still no video, the Smiths said.
That same month, the Smiths learned that Romania had put a moratorium on all foreign adoptions, but Tomasky assured them that their adoption was still going to happen. After some of their own sleuthing, the Smiths learned that Tomasky was being sued by others for breach of contract and that banks were foreclosing on her property.
But the Smiths stuck with Tomasky.
"Because she had our money, we felt trapped," Teresa Smith said.
The Smiths claim they learned through an agency that the infant girl they had already named, the baby they planned to wrap in the pink blanket, may have never existed.
"We didn't think someone could be capable of such a despicable act," Teresa Smith said. "She is a predator who knew exactly what she was doing, who took money from desperate people."
The Smiths went to Westport police. No charges were filed against Tomasky, who agreed to return $32,000 to the Smiths.
The Smiths' story mirrored the complaints of other couples who spoke Monday, some of whom were able to adopt children either through Tomasky or through other resources. The Smiths have since adopted a daughter who will be 2 in June.
Some of Tomasky's accusers urged Holzberg to take away Tomasky's law license.
"I hope she is disbarred so she cannot do it to someone else," said Steven Munzner, 40, of North Haven. A delay in the adoption of Munzner's son from Guatemala led to health problems for the boy, he said. Munzner's wife, Maureen, 44, spoke about the financial hardships they endured to finally adopt two sons.
"You're so vulnerable when you're in this position," she said. "When your only dream is to have a child and you struggle to raise the money to do it and to have someone take it like it was nothing."
Tomasky, however, had supporters at the hearing, including Joseph Bernabucci, who called Tomasky his "angel from Poland," the woman behind the adoption of his son and daughter.
Bernabucci said he and his wife waited years for their children and tolerated Tomasky's failure to return phone calls promptly, chalking it up to Tomasky's tireless efforts to find him a child.
Atkins, Tomasky's attorney, said that although Tomasky neglected her clients and failed to adequately inform them of the risks associated with foreign adoptions, she did not act deliberately. Atkins said that in 24 years of practicing law it is Tomasky's first time facing discipline.
"This is not a case of a lawyer who has pocketed clients' money," Atkins said. "These were acts of omission, not deliberate acts of commission. And she recognizes her mistakes."