Families attempt to rescue adoption agency

Families left in limbo after an Ontario-based adoption agency went bankrupt earlier this month have agreed to work together to rescue the firm.

During a first creditors' meeting held in Kitchener-Waterloo on Thursday, the families voted to work with the bankruptcy trustee BDO Dunwoody to present a proposal to the court in hopes of restructuring Imagine Adoption so it can complete the adoptions it started.

“What a moving moment it was to see all 189 people present vote in favour of working towards taking the agency out of bankruptcy,” Christine Starr, chair of Families of Imagine Adoption, said in a statement.

“But this is just a first step towards the completion of all files. There is much more work to be done.”

The Cambridge, Ont.-based agency, which for the last two years helped Canadians adopt children from Ethiopia, Ghana and Ecuador, posted a bankruptcy notice on its website July 13.

A number of Canadian families, many of whom have already paid $15,000 in adoption fees, are now waiting to find out when they will be matched with their adopted children. They have been listed as unsecured creditors in bankruptcy documents, posted online through BDO Dunwoody.

The fraud division of the Waterloo Regional Police has opened an investigation into the adoption agency.

The investigation began after two members of the three-member board of directors of Kids Link International, which operated under the name Imagine Adoption, expressed concerns to police about the agency.