Adoption Agency Accused of Hiding Child’s Medical Conditions

The adoption process is often long and complicated, with bumps along the way. This can be especially true when relying on an agency to adopt a child. While adoption agencies are supposed to be honest and helpful, working to make lives better for parents and children, this isn’t always the reality, as one couple recently found out.

The Meeker family, working with Starfish Children’s Services, a nonprofit New York-based adoption agency, had been told by the agency that the girl they were adopting had a condition known as spina bifida. While the couple was prepared to deal with this condition and provide the girl with the life she deserves, it turns out that the agency may have concealed the truth about the child’s health.

Once the Meekers adopted their daughter, they realized that the agency had grossly understated her health problems. In addition to having spina bifida, the girl was blind and deaf and suffered from epilepsy, cerebral palsy, scoliosis and hepatitis C, among other conditions. The costs and nature of the care she will need are well beyond what her adoptive family can provide; they already have one biological child as well as three adopted children with special needs.

The Meekers are not seeking to revoke the adoption, but have taken legal action against Starfish Children’s Services to help pay for the girl’s care, now expected to cost millions of dollars over the course of her lifetime.

For assistance in dealing with an adoption agency and help making sure your family and the child you are adopting are treated fairly, turn to an attorney with experience and compassion. The adoption attorneys at Jakubowski, Robertson, Maffei, Goldsmith & Tartaglia work to achieve positive results for families throughout New York City’s five boroughs.