|  BEWARE
OF ADOPTION FRAUD
by Michael J. Gurfinkel, Esq.
Dear Atty. Gurfinkel:
My husband and I are US citizens, and have been
trying to have a child for several years now. My unmarried niece
in the Philippines is pregnant, and is about to give birth. She
is very poor and could not afford to raise the child. I know that
I will be able to provide a good life for her child. I was thinking
of flying to the Philippines when the child is about to be born,
and have the child's birth certificate registered, showing me
as the natural mother.
My husband and I would then apply either for a US
passport for the child, or petition the child.
Do you think that we will encounter any problems,
if we were to claim the child as our own, and bring the child
to the US?
Very truly yours,
AB
Dear A. B.:
I would strongly advise against bringing the child
to the US in the manner you suggest. The Embassy and the Philippine
authorities refer to this type of wrongful conduct as "adoption
fraud". Typically, this fraud involves a married couple falsely
claiming a “given” child as theirs, (through a supposed
birth) and applying for a US passport for the child, or filing
a petition for the child as their own “immediate relative”.
The US Embassy is well aware of how people attempt
to engage in such fraud. The Foreign Affairs Manual (which is
a manual containing guidance for the Embassy), lists various types
of suspicious activity which may indicate “adoption
fraud”, and the steps the Consuls should take in
order to determine whether or not the child is the couple’s
natural child.
If a man claims a child is his natural child, but
the circumstances surrounding the birth of the child are suspicious,
the Embassy may decide to dig deeper, and investigate whether
or not the supposed father had access or physical contact with
the mother at or about the time of the conception. For example,
if a child was born in a particular month, the Embassy would want
to make sure that the father and mother were together nine months
earlier. If the documentation shows that the father was in the
US, and the mother was in the Philippines during the time of the
supposed conception, then how could he be the father of the child?
If a woman claims to be the mother, some of the
warning signs of fraud are:
- The alleged mother arrives in the Philippines only a few days
before the child's birth.
- The alleged mother is middle-aged, or this is the first child
of a couple who has been married for many years.
- The child was born in a private home (not a hospital), with
the mother unattended, or only with a midwife (Hilot) present.
- The alleged mother claims to have had no prenatal care and
not to have known the baby’s due date.
- The alleged mother claims the child was born prematurely.
- The physical features of the child and the alleged parents
do not seem compatible (the child does not resemble the parents).
- The mother has no pictures of herself while she was pregnant.
- A medical exam of the “mother” reveals she never
gave birth.
There are many more “warning signs”
of adoption fraud, and if any of these warning signs are present,
the Embassy will undoubtedly investigate further, including interviewing
neighbors. The Embassy may even suggest that the couple undergo
DNA testing, in which case the results must be at least a 99%
"match", in order for paternity or maternity to be established.
If anyone wants to bring in a child, I suggest that
they seek the advice of a reputable Attorney, and do it the legal
way, by adopting the child through court action before the child’s
16th birthday.
There are two ways to adopt:
(1) Petition the child as an orphan
(if the parents are dead, have abandoned the child, or the natural
mother is in capable of providing proper care and support),
(2) Petition the child as an adopted
child (by having two years of legal and physical custody).
Also, the natural
parents should not be raising the child you adopted. Even if you
satisfy the requirements of adoption, the case could still be
denied if the natural parent(s) continue exercise “primary
parental control” over the child. If you are going to adopt,
you need to follow and comply with the rules, and not try to find
ways around them.
Under no circumstance should anyone engage in adoption
fraud. It is wrong and illegal.
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