Over the past two years, we have worked with nearly a dozen families
that have had their lives financially and emotionally destroyed by the
adoption of children from the Luoyang orphanage. We have written
frequently about Luoyang and its deceptive "aging out program," but we feel it is time to re-iterate our deep concern for families seeking to adopt children from this orphanage:
Don't do it.
Several
adoption agencies have also not been acting in good faith as it relates
to Luoyang. Families we have worked with have written of their
experiences with Luoyang, and the devastating impact these adoptions
have had on their families. They have admonished their agency to cease
working with Luoyang, only to be told by their agency statements such as
that even if the children are not really orphaned, the program allows
children to come "to Christ" through adoption. Adoptive families have
been told that even if 90% of adoptions from Luoyang are fraudulent, to
think about the 10% of the children who really need homes. Thus,
families are encouraged to see "the big picture" in their adoption, and
not to speak publicly since that might discourage the "saving" of other
children.
We recognize that the possibility exists for
true orphans to be found in Luoyang, but families must recognize that it
is impossible to confidently ascertain if a child is a true orphan or
an area recruit for "education" prior to adoption. The orphanage has
worked hard to disguise these adoptions, have told the children to lie
to their adoptive families about the true nature of their histories, and
have emotionally manipulated these children into hiding the truth from
adoptive families. The CCAA, when confronted by angry adoptive families
about Luoyang adoptions, responded with a letter to each family on
March 20, 2013. After reviewing the official circumstances behind each
family’s adoption, the CCAA made the following statement:
After
the child was admitted into the CWI, to find an adoptive family for the
children, the orphanage prepared and submitted their files as orphans
for international adoption. Per the adoption laws and regulations of
China, the provincial Civil Affairs Office was in charge of reviewing
the child’s file and forwarded it to the China Center of Children’s
Welfare and Adoption (CCCWA.) Following regulations and protocols the
CCCWA matched the children with families. It’s not CCCWA’s
responsibility to check the truthfulness of a child’s file and CCCWA has
no means to decide if the information is accurate or not. Foreign
adoption agencies are not authorized to check the truthfulness of
information in a child’s file in China.
The
lack of transparency and the inability of adoptive families and agencies
to obtain accurate information about a child pre-adoption should serve
as major warning flags to all Chinese adoptions, but especially those
from Luoyang.
Adoption agencies will try to make you
feel guilty about not adopting from Luoyang. They will tell you that if
your don't complete the adoption, the child will be turned out onto the
street, with no home or family. In the case of Luoyang, this is almost
always a lie. They will indicate that it is normal for a young,
healthy male child to come into the orphanage at 8 or 9 years old, and
that older children can easily not remember who their birth parents are,
where they lived, etc.
The red flags are almost
always present in the finding statements of these children. The trick
is for adoptive families not to be conned by the agency, the CCAA, and
the orphanage into adopting these children. Doing so brings unhappiness
to the children, the Chinese birth families, but especially severe
financial, emotional, and sometimes physical jeopardy to the adoptive
families themselves.
January 13, 2014:
Another adoptive family has decided to speak up about their experiences with the Luoyang orphanage: http://theadoptioncafe.com/2014/01/13/fraud-revealed/
To be notified of new postings, e-mail me.
We also have a paid subscription blog for families interested in more detailed analysis of China's program. Due to the sensitive nature of these articles, they are available by subscription only. (http://www.research-china.org/blogs/index.htm)
27 comments:
My story began July 2012. I read on an advocacy board about a 13 year old healthy boy from the Luoyang orphanage who supposedly desperately needed a family before aging out. The post said that this boy was 13 years old, had lost both parents at the age of 7, and was placed in the orphanage by his ailing grandmother. He was an excellent student, loved math, physics and chess and wanted to have a family again.
I contacted the agency who had his file, requested more information and received pre-approval from China. Since he was a healthy boy, there was no reason to contact an international adoption doctor for evaluation. However, I remembered a conversation with Dr. Jenista, whom I had consulted before to evaluate another file. At that time she had emphasized that she always looks at the child’s growth data. I decided to look up the height and weight for this boy on an American standard growth curve, and immediately became very concerned. The boy’s height and weight were consistent with the 98th percentile, and his final projected height was 6’2”. Taking into account that the boy was of Chinese descent, and it was statistically VERY unlikely that he was that tall.
He did not appear to have overgrowth syndrome or any other medical condition that could explain his height. There were exactly two explanations: Either the height and weight data were inaccurate or the age was incorrect. I launched into extensive research on the internet on incorrect age of Chinese adoptees and stumbled on Research-China’s blog entitled "The A-ha Moment"
I read the blog with great concern, and my suspicion grew that this boy’s story was a part of the Luoyang scheme. I contacted the agency, notified them on my suspicions, and referred them to the blog, at the same time asking for an update. The update said that at the age of 13, his height was 172 cm and weight was 49 kg. It further stated that "he has got a birth certificate when he was sent to the welfare institute, so his age is true." His height was again consistent with the 98th percentile. I asked the agency for a bone scan, even offering to pay for it, but the agency told me that my request for a bone scan would not be granted in China, so they would not ask for it.
(cont.)
At this point, I contacted Research-China and asked for their input on the situation. They replied that the boy “definitely fits the profile of the problem adoptions we have been seeing out of Luoyang” and they warned me that there was a “very, very good probability that he has Chinese birth family that will hold his loyalty to them and to whom he will probably return.”
Research-China’s answers solidified my decision to discontinue the adoption. I felt so certain that this was a scam that I went ahead and notified a local police department, the local FBI office and the Department of Homeland Security. I wrote a detailed e-mail to the agency in which I notified them in a detailed manner, including referring to Research-China’s blog, explaining why I chose to discontinue the adoption process. I further included that I had alerted authorities.
I learned later that the 13-year old boy was indeed part of the Luoyang scam, just as I had feared. A wonderful family come forward and adopted him, only to find out later that he was 17 years old and that his background story had been falsified. Unfortunately, the agency did not inform them of my suspicions of a scam, and no bone scan was done to confirm the age. Even worse, the growth data that this family received had been changed after I had reviewed them, to make them consistent with the alleged age of the boy. I cannot imagine what hard times this family is going through, as they are dealing now with this situation.
My heart goes out to all the American families whose kindness of heart and faith have been preyed upon and shrewdly exploited by some unscrupulous individuals. Not only are American families victimized, but the tragedy extends to the many children languishing in Chinese orphanages who desperately need adoptive homes. Each scam adoption prevents such a child from finding a home.
I was lucky to avoid becoming a victim, thanks to hard work of Research-China in spread awareness in the adoption community. Such scam adoptions are immigration and economic fraud, and they need to be stopped immediately.
I recommend to all prospective adoptive parents to be “smart consumers” and to prioritize logic and common sense over feelings or religious faith. I further recommend to contact an objective experienced third party, such as Research-China, in particular when there are red flags. Finally, I hope that my story contributes to the stopping of fraud and promoting the adoptions of children who are in true need of a home.
Not exactly scientific here. You have Brian's assertion, and we all know how Brian loves to find scandal in China to draw attention to himself, and then we have one post, from anonymous. Not saying that this one instance is not accurate, because, how could I know? There is NOTHING here in either Brian's story or anonymous' post that can be checked or verified in any way.
It is very important to be sure that the children we adopt are not victims of scams.
It is also important to be sure that the Americans feeding us scandals in China are trustworthy. And how can we know if they are trustworthy? They will provide verifiable facts that we can check. It will not be 100% hearsay and "anonymous."
So, Bri, write us back when you have something we can hang onto, real verifiable evidence.
Until then, you and your conveniently anonymous poster are just hot air.
Dianne
People please please listen to this warning. If you are adopting an older healthy child from Luoyang or any of the surrounding orphanages, this is a huge red flag. My family has lived it and it's still going on. The former director of Luoyang is now working with other orphanages....beware. For every kid that comes here for school or "opportunity" or whatever...with family still involved in China...for every one of those kids, a special needs child with NO ONE is left behind. There is no shortage of children who desperately need someone yet the program is being turned into an educational exchange at the expense of ones who really need a family.
Why is it too much to ask for a transparent and ethical adoption program? The CCCWA says that they cannot verify the truthfulness of a child's file....baloney. They don't WANT to verify the truthfulness of a child's file.
Dianne:
This is not a "fact paper." This is an advisory. If you are looking for data, you can read about our analysis on Luoyang on our subscription blog. There we look at the submissions from 2000 through 2011. For the experiences of others, you can read the links I included at the top of this advisory. None of this information is my assertions -- they are simply the orphanage data and the experience of those who have adopted from and worked in the Luoyang orphanage. Feel free to ignore it. I am simply allowing families to be made aware of these problems.
Dear Dianne,
I am a family involved in this. I actually have a letter in MY HANDS with the exact statement from the CCCWA stating they cannot verify the truthfulness of a child's file nor can the agency. Several families have that letter. I have lived this nightmare. The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it. If people would wake up, perhaps we can all work together and demand the changes to make this program ethical. Perhaps families will not continue to be hurt. There is a reason for anonymous postings.....because we have been blasted and accused of having other motives. Not to mention this is OUR FAMILY, we would like to maintain some level of privacy. I don't need to defend myself to you however I am not willing to just sit by while you say the very thing I have lived is nothing but hot air.
Unless someone provides facts that are "check-able," what can it be but hot air? Tell me how it can be different?
Of course, you are entitled to your privacy, and etc., but to ask people to believe in something with no proof and no names and no etc., etc., etc., how is that at all helpful? How is it any different than a story about bigfoot or alien abduction?
It was your choice to post here. I did not force you to do so. And am I demanding that you reveal yourself? No. I am simply pointing out that an anecdotal report written by a mystery person with no facts to check inside of it is worthless. And I do believe that you should take responsibility for the things you post.
If you want it do be worth something, you'd have to make it more than just hot air.
THIS, as written, helps no one.
And if it scares a good family away from adopting a child who is legitimately without a family, then it has the power to hurt, but not help.
At best, without facts, it is nothing more than gossipy sensationalism. At worst, it could do damage. Want a different outcome? Then supply facts that others can independently check. You know, the scientific method?
Dianne
Dianne, I am the first poster here. I have almost adopted such a boy but thanks to Brian's blog, I did not. The other family who did adopt this boy is living a nightmare. Your comment "we all know how Brian loves to find scandal in China to draw attention to himself" is nasty and ignorant.
We talk about real families here, real lives who have been profoundly affected.
Your comment "So, Bri, write us back when you have something we can hang onto, real verifiable evidence" is desides the point. Excuse me for being so blunt but you are clueless. You have NO IDEA what you are talking about. This is very real, this is not just "hot air".
You say that there is nothing here in either Brian's story or anonymous' post that can be checked or verified in any way.
Serious? I am willing to talk with you. How about that?
Dianne,
If you have adopted a child, can you prove that your child(ren) were ethically available for adoption? If there's suspicion that they were taken or you were lied to, how will you explain that to your child(ren)? Don't EVER think that this is a minor detail of your children's lives.
Or do you work for adoption agencies or benefit from them? In which case, you wouldn't be concerned with how much your child might despise you after realizing that you never cared about his or her life.
Disturbingly, many "about to age out" almost 14 year old Chinese kids are listed as "desperately in need of adoption" on Adeye Salem's blog:
http://www.nogreaterjoymom.com/2013/11/adoption-awareness-rescue-me.html
She's "advocating" for folks to step out in faith and adopt these very, very likely to have falsified history kids. Supposedly healthily Chinese teens who have "no recollection" of their lives prior to arriving at the orphanage.
Shady as all get out!
we have just brought a 15yr old girl from Hunan just outside of Louyang here on a student visa. She was in a welfare institute. We were not lied to, she has family in China and brought pictures of them. Many of her friends have been adopted recently. some had family and were released by family so they could have a better life. The adoptive families were present when they said their final goodbye and have pictures.
this site makes me angry because you are making generalizations and probably keeping famies from adopting children that need families. Some families will sacrifices for their children and let them have better lives. I have some friends that arenot able to continue their adoption because they are unable to find their family members.
i understand that some have been hurt but do not advise against adoption. Advise to be better informed to ask more questions. There are many chikdren that need help. The girl I brought home may have family in China but they live in a village with no running wate, no doors on their huts they call home. Some live in caves outside the welfare institute. She would have no future if we didnt bring her here and educate her. She may xhoose to go back to China but she will always be our chikd. Our family now stretches around the world. I will always consider her my daughter and will never regret bringing her here.
Be informed but do not give up on these children. They need love and family. I pray I am able to help bring more aged out children here on student visas. They need help too.
Thank you, Brian, for issuing this Advisory. Thank you, too, for all the ways you have helped our family cope with the trauma caused by our two fraudulent Luoyang adoptions.
I posted on this blog last November, adding our family's story to The "A-ha" Moment piece. At that time, we had reported the horrible truth to our agency. Both of our Luoyang adoptees were too old to be adopted (both were over 16 when we got them), and both were NOT orphans. After we reported to our agency, we submitted a letter to the CCCWA. As is noted in the Advisory, the CCCWA actually responded, and Brian has provided one of the disturbing paragraphs from the CCCWA's letter. The letter that my husband and I received from the CCCWA included that paragraph and more--an admission of FRAUD!! Based on their "investigation" of our adoptions, the CCCWA concluded: "Our investigation confirms that there's a discrepancy between the facts and what was stated in the children's file, that the village committee and other local offices provided documents which were untruthful." The letter goes on to say that both adoptees "really needed someone to take care of them." Unfortunately, the orphanage "tried to do a good deed while using a wrong approach." The admission of fraud is amazing. But the investigation did not yield the real facts. The CCCWA's report was highly inaccurate. Instead of confirming what we now know to be the truth (real birthdates, that all the adoption certificates, including birth and death certificates are fraudulent, that parents are alive, siblings and extensive family, including grandparents are doing quite well, how kids were recruited into the adoption scam, etc.), the Report introduced new false information. And NO SOLUTION was offered.
Since reporting to the CCCWA, we have also reported our situation to the Department of State. We were advised to consult an immigration lawyer. The immigration lawyer said, "This is a nightmare. They [our fake adoptees] are illegal, and there is no way to make them legal."
It took the young men in our home almost two years to tell us the truth, but now they are completely forthcoming. They know that the deception carried out against American families is wrong. They want to be reunited with their families. After documenting how the fraud was carried out and getting as many facts established as possible, we then asked Brian and Research-China to make the first phone contact for us with the Chinese families. Brian and his wife did a masterful job of calling the Chinese mothers. This was a tremendous professional service. The phone calls from Research-China paved the way for the young men here to then call home. We now have hours of recorded proof that parents are alive and willingly participated in this fraud. We know the ways in which kids were recruited from various towns and from within the orphanage, which is often used as a boarding school rather than as an orphanage. The families told the young men in our home to "shut up," to "think" before they talk. To "study hard" and make us Americans "like" them. In the midst of this huge scam (yes, it is huge), we are blessed. The two who so successfully conned us for so long are now willing to tell us the truth. Research-China has been a godsend to our family (phone calls, translations, advice) and has helped us as we worked through all the deception and turmoil that entered our home back when we bought the Luoyang Lie.
Dianne,
I have facts. I have spent a year establishing the facts. I have proven and can continue to prove that the two young men in my home were too old to be adopted and are not orphans.
Kerry
The Chinese authorities no longer have to go to all the trouble of pretending the kids are orphans. No more messy fake death certificates. No more messy fake birth certificates. No more messy fake Resident Registrations. No more messy possibilities of a kid telling the truth! Now you can adopt an "AT RISK" kid. Who goes out and finds the "at risk" kids? Who recruits and does the propaganda pieces for this new brand of adoptee? People like former Director Pei, a man who did so much to bring you the Journey of Hope kids! The fake older kid, Journey of Hope adoptions were simply a forerunner of this new and improved way to defraud American families. My husband and I begged New Horizons not to participate in the "at risk" program. We warned the agency about working with Pei. Our advisory was ignored.
Kerry
Dianne, why is this information so threatening to you? Hearing from families involved is not enough for you? Do you really think people are just randomly posting anon thoughts as if in some secret club with Brian and his "hidden agenda" where we all sit around and plot how to damage adoption? Are you willing to post your birth certificate as well as your parents, proving to me who YOU are?
Give me a break! No one is going to just post all those personal details in a public forum. If you have proper connections that can actually help--if you are an immigration attorney, work for the state dept, etc etc.....then i would encourage you to contact Brian so you can be in touch with families, giving them real solutions.
Or turn a blind eye to it if you want, no one is forcing you to believe anything.
Regardless of whatever personal mission you are on, the fact is that something has got to change in China adoption. If you don't see that--you are not nearly as informed as you think you are. This isn't about one side versus another.....this is about ensuring a program is ethical and honest and if there are red flags they should be taken seriously. If you don't want to believe what anyone is saying in this forum.....so be it.
Dianne,
If you wanted to adopt a child, wouldn't you want to know that he/she wasn't kidnapped and that family wasn't frantically looking for him/her or the child really needed a new family/home? What would you tell the child(ren) you adopted when they want to know their stories? Or do you think this detail about their lives is minor? After all, it's only THEIR life story.
Or do you work for an adoption agency or child welfare services, so you don't care about these children, where they came from, or their true histories? If they get adopted, then great, the money rolls in. Then the truth doesn't matter, or at least don't let them find out the truth and fraud until AFTER the fees have been paid.
It's completely asinine for anyone to commit to reading Brian's postings, yet not believe a single word. Do you not have anything better to do with your time? How sad. Perhaps you can find something else to pour your energy into instead of arguing with people who are truly LIVING THIS nightmare that Brian speaks of.
I have been very open about our own experience with Luoyang older children (we have two). (Brian has linked me in a previous article.) Our daughter is so deeply wounded and paralyzed with fear over this entire thing. I can't even begin to tell you how difficult this has been on her. **AND IT DIDN'T HAVE TO HAPPEN**. She had a seemingly loving family in China and her life was happy and NORMAL (her words). And now her life will never be the same.
She feels safe and secure in our home and has attached to us for those very things. But she thinks about her China family every single day.
I am as pro-adoption as the next decent person, but I am unashamed to speak the truth about the adoptions taking place with fraudulent information. Because lives are being destroyed because of it.
And for those families who have accepted the falsified information and have figured out a way to cope with it, good for you. But eventually these children will need to come to terms with their identities...and that's going to be terribly difficult for them.
Lori, I understand the compassion behind your statement, and I know families are desperate, but I don't approve of anyone living with the lie. Of course, most of the adoptees have not yet told their American parents the truth. But we do know of cases where the US family has decided to live the lie.
Once our "sons" told us the truth, we told them we would not lie for them. We would work to find a legal solution so that they could live the rest of their lives without reproach. Since knowing the truth, we have told anyone who would listen. Two immigration lawyers, a family lawyer, and a judge told us not to perjure ourselves in any way. We had already decided that we would not lie now that we know the paperwork is all fraudulent. We then showed our "sons" where U.S. forms usually have the warning, "Under penalty of perjury, I attest that the information provided here is truthful." It is a little easier for us to tow a hard line because we are homeschoolers. All our church and homeschool teachers and friends know our situation. We did not claim our Luoyang "sons" as children on our tax return. No one is using any of the false paperwork for anything, including a driver's permit, U.S. passport, job, etc. We had decided we would not lie about our situation, no matter what. This puts us in a terrible state of limbo with two MEN sitting here -- ages 19 and 20, instead of 17 and 16. But being committed to not lying has kept us going, searching for a LEGAL solution. We reported to WACAP, we reported to the CCCWA, we reported to the Dept of State. Some of the solutions offered us are unethical, as far as we are concerned and would basically force us to perjure ourselves. We continue to believe that God will make a LEGAL way through this.
I am curious about how the 15 yr old girl entered the USA on a student visa. How many years is she allowed to stay? When did this student visa possibility come into being? Is this a New Horizons program? This particular girl, being 15, will not be able to be adopted, correct? I have never heard of a student visa situation such as mentioned here.
In January 2007, our son and his wife began the Chinese adoption process. They expected to adopt an infant. They were put off for three years.
Then in 2010, they were talked into adopting two teenagers from the “Journey of Hope” program (supposedly a brother and a sister who were turning 14 & 12 years old very soon). In fact, they really had to “hurry up” and adopt, or the boy turning 14 would be “aging out” and unable to ever have a family. Then the brother & sister would be separated, and it would be so very sad.
Our son & daughter-in-law were taken in by the scam. They had every good intention, and believed that this was the right thing to do.
Nine months after coming back to California, the girl falsely accused our son of lewd & lascivious behavior, and he was arrested. We bailed him out & he lived with us until six months later when the girl’s Chinese friend also falsely accused him of other sexual offenses. He was arrested again, but this time the bail was set at $1 million. We could not bail him out, and now it is December 2013, and he has been in jail for over two years without a trial. This is his third Christmas in jail. People ask, “Why so long without a trial?” All I can say is that the attorneys keep asking for continuances, and it is not unusual in Orange County, CA.
He only gets out of his cell two hours a day, but not every day. Some days he doesn’t come out at all. He hasn’t seen the sky in over two years because this is a county jail — not a prison.
In May 2013, his wife of 22 years committed suicide.
He lost his businesses and everything that he loved.
The only way to make things right is for everyone who has adopted Luoyang kids, and the kids themselves, to start telling the truth.
Our family is Christian, but for some to say that it is okay to let this adoption scam go on because some Chinese kids might be drawn to Christ in the process, is very perverted. Christ always wanted evil to be brought into the light and Christ is Truth.
Unless you have experienced it first-hand, you can not know how stressful it is to live not just with one, but with two older Luoyang liars. We were conned by our Luoyang liars each and every day for nearly two years. One liar alone might be tempted to tell the truth. But two liars keep each other in check. There is also the phone and QQ network by which the broader group of Luoyang liars keep track of each other and pass along messages. Best of all, most of the Luoyang liars are in regular contact with their real families, even parents, back in China. If you, as the unsuspecting U.S. parent or sibling, are being conned every day, and the Luoyang "kid" is not self-disclosing or bonding in any authentic fashion, it is stressful beyond description.
It is likely that key Luoyang liars are reporting everything we have written in this blog back to Luoyang.
Dianne, you are just as anonymous as you accuse the other posters of being. You have not given your name, either, or proved that it was really your name. A last name, to start, would help make it real.
I have read 2 Washington Post articles with actual research and named authors, detailing corruption and child trafficking in China. There are others in other publications like this. You have not bothered to do any research yourself if you randomly throw out unfounded accusations of the type you accuse others of doing.
If your son is Michael Snyder (the details fit -- when the 12 & 14 yo Chinese kids were adopted, arrested in 2010 for the first time) the evidence strongly suggests he DID sexually abuse his 12 yo daughter -- that the girl confessed to her mom who called the police (who found evidence indicative of sexual abuse):
http://m.laweekly.com/los-angeles/blogs/Post?basename=michael-snyder-childrens-book-author-who-calls-himself-mr-mike-arrested-for-child-sex&day=10&id=informer&month=03&year=2011
It's not just Luoyang. I wish more people would speak up about other provinces besides Henan.
Question we are planning on adopting a girl from this Orphanage. We were told she has a living grandmother, so we wrote her asking for approval for adoption.Did get nice letter back, did anyone else have this before. We were told she is 11.
Sorry for my English, but I am not from the USA. This orphanage lies in everything. On 3/21/2013 we were matched with a two years old boy from the Luoyang SWI. He´s special need was ASD. Our pediatrician beware us that something was wrong with the weight and eight and he saw some signs of development delay. So we asked three times about updates and we received each time a different number of theeth, weight and eight. At the end we decided to travel to China (Juni 2013) and see by ourselves. At the first sight we noticed he had more special needs than ASD. We spent a hole day in a hospital: results he had a severe neurological damage, without possibiity of recover. After two days the CCWA matched us again, this time with our daughter, a 19 months old girl with VSD and PDA from another orphanage from Guangdong. We love her, she is our little miracle, but our experience was terrible. We will never forget it.
Thank you for this.
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