Adopting a ‘Brangelina' Standard: Judith Leekin, who allegedly collected nearly $3 million in an adoption scam that began in the 1970s with two foster boys in Queens.

Adopting a ‘Brangelina' Standard
By ALICIA COLON
August 28, 2007

http://www.nysun.com/article/61453

The "Brangelina" brood hit Manhattan last week and was assaulted by the
paparazzi, tourists, and the ignorant, who think nothing about invading
the privacy of a celebrity family. Naturally, anonymous Web posters
spewed their hateful envy on various entertainment forums and inevitably
one nastily inquired why Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt didn't adopt
American orphans. But, according to a terrific book, "The Baby Thief:
The Untold Story of Georgia Tann, the Baby Seller Who Corrupted
Adoption," by Barbara Bisantz Raymond, adopting in America hasn't always
been the safest option.

Recently, New York was rocked by the arrest of Judith Leekin, who
allegedly collected nearly $3 million in an adoption scam that began in
the 1970s with two foster boys in Queens. She subsequently adopted
several disabled New York children and was under investigation for
alleged cruelty when she fled to Florida. The teenage children in her
care were found in what police in Port St. Lucie, Fla., reportedly
called a house of horrors.

Before reading about the case, I had no idea that the city made
supplemental payments after children are adopted, but there is a lot
about this case that appears to confound even the authorities. After Ms.
Leekin's arrest, the city's Administration for Children's Services
scrambled to explain how she had been allowed to take the children in
while using different names. The ACS said the adoptions had taken place
before the policy of taking fingerprints from adoptive parents to verify
their identity was introduced in 1999. The authorities in Florida have
asked a New York Family Court judge to unseal the adoption records in
the hopes they may shed some light on the alleged scam. Four adoption
agencies are believed to be involved, but until the documents that have
been requested — birth certificates and caseworker reports — are
obtained, they can't identify the agency or agencies that did the
placements.

The scandal is eerily familiar to what has been uncovered about "baby
thief" Georgia Tann. I met the author of the new book that tells the
thief's story, Ms. Raymond, a Queens resident who is herself an adoptive
mother, and was shocked to learn the implications of Tann's crimes, even
though they occurred decades ago. Ms. Raymond told me Tann was involved
in more than 1,000 adoptions in New York.

Tann was a highly respected director of an orphanage in Memphis, Tenn.,
who used her position to oversee more than 30 years of baby-stealing,
baby-selling, and abuse. While she is credited with popularizing the
worthy undertaking of adoption, she corrupted the mission by arranging
adoptions for profit to the rich, the famous, and the unfit to parent.
Joan "No Wire Hangers!" Crawford was one of her clients, and we all have
heard from her two adopted children just how unfit a mother she was.

Tann operated between the 1920s and 1950s under the auspices of a
Memphis mayor, Edward Hull Crump, and employed a wide network that
included judges, attorneys, and social workers whom she would bribe with
"free babies." These children came to her after being seen by "spotters"
who either targeted babies ripe for abduction or located desperate
single women seeking a better future for their child.

Many of the birth certificates she provided as part of the adoption
process were altered, and she was the chief force behind the legislation
that sealed these records. Tann and her cohorts convinced the powers
that be that her stolen and kidnapped children, as well as all other
legally or illegally adopted children, should be forevermore barred from
accessing the simple facts of their birth that most people take for granted.

Ms. Raymond told me her daughter has met her biological mother and that,
although it may be painful for adoptive parents, they should support
their search. I asked her if opening the adoption records would
discourage adoptions. "On the contrary," she said, "Alaska and Kansas
are the only two states that have always allowed adoptees access to
their birth certificates and adoptions there have increased."

Tennessee passed a law in 1996 that allows access to birth records.
Since then, five other states have passed similar laws. According to Ms.
Raymond, open records bills are pending in seven more states, including
New York.

I recommend her book to our Legislature because while the Brangelina
children know the answer to "Who am I?" every other adopted child here
deserves to have that answer as well.





CURRENTLY CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES VIOLATES MORE CIVIL RIGHTS ON A
DAILY BASIS THEN ALL OTHER AGENCIES COMBINED INCLUDING THE NSA / CIA
WIRETAPPING PROGRAM....

CPS Does not protect children...
It is sickening how many children are subject to abuse, neglect and even
killed at the hands of Child Protective Services.

every parent should read this .pdf from
connecticut dcf watch...

http://www.connecticutdcfwatch.com/8x11.pdf

http://www.connecticutdcfwatch.com

Number of Cases per 100,000 children in the US
These numbers come from The National Center on
Child Abuse and Neglect in Washington. (NCCAN)
Recent numbers have increased significantly for CPS

*Perpetrators of Maltreatment*

Physical Abuse CPS 160, Parents 59
Sexual Abuse CPS 112, Parents 13
Neglect CPS 410, Parents 241
Medical Neglect CPS 14 Parents 12
Fatalities CPS 6.4, Parents 1.5

Imagine that, 6.4 children die at the hands of the very agencies that
are supposed to protect them and only 1.5 at the hands of parents per
100,000 children. CPS perpetrates more abuse, neglect, and sexual abuse
and kills more children then parents in the United States. If the
citizens of this country hold CPS to the same standards that they hold
parents too. No judge should ever put another child in the hands of ANY
government agency because CPS nationwide is guilty of more harm and
death than any human being combined. CPS nationwide is guilty of more
human rights violations and deaths of children then the homes from which
they were removed. When are the judges going to wake up and see that
they are sending children to their death and a life of abuse when
children are removed from safe homes based on the mere opinion of a
bunch of social workers.


CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES, HAPPILY DESTROYING THOUSANDS OF INNOCENT
FAMILIES YEARLY NATIONWIDE AND COMING TO YOU'RE HOME SOON...


BE SURE TO FIND OUT WHERE YOUR CANDIDATES STANDS ON THE ISSUE OF
REFORMING OR ABOLISHING CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES ("MAKE YOUR CANDIDATES
TAKE A STAND ON THIS ISSUE.") THEN REMEMBER TO VOTE ACCORDINGLY IF THEY
ARE "FAMILY UNFRIENDLY" IN THE NEXT ELECTION...