Plan proposed to save adoptions

Plan proposed to save adoptions

Posted By MICHAEL PEELING

Posted 18 hours ago

Almost two months after an international adoption agency went bankrupt, leaving 400 Ontario families wondering if they would be able to adopt, the agency's trustee has proposed a plan to rebuild Imagine Adoption and complete 350 adoptions.

To aid the company in getting back on its financial feet under the direction of BDO Dunwoody, couples such as Glen Walter's Carolyn Cormier and Stephane Leclerc have been asked if they would be willing to pay $4,000 on top of the $12,500 they've already paid in adoption fees.

Cormier said the extra money isn't what concerns her.

"We'll absorb the money," she said.

"It's not about the money, it's about the emotional toll. I'd rather research the proposal before voting than see the adoption agency go belly up again."

The couple has one child, 10-year-old Laura Marie. After years of trying to conceive again, they decided to adopt a young child from Ethiopia and have studied the language and culture extensively.

International adoption has been on Cormier's mind since she was a child.

DECLARED BANKRUPTCY

But two years into the actual adoption process, on July 14, 2009, Imagine Adoption declared bankruptcy and the Waterloo Regional Police fraud squad is conducting an investigation into the agency.

If the Leclerc-Cormier family and others accept the proposal to fix the bankruptcy of Imagine, adoptions could be completed starting next year.

The other 50 families have already completed the adoption process because they were in the advanced stages -- children were living in an Ethiopia transitional home.

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"They say it could take 36 months to complete the 350 files still outstanding," Cormier said.

However, she said it has been suggested to her by other families the adoption process could be sped up.

Before that can happen, the families have to vote in favour of the proposal.

"We want to vote yes,"Cormier said.

"But first we want to know where we stand. We want to know where we sit on the list of 350 families."

Cormier believes many of the families she has communicated with are in favour of the proposal, which includes an option for families interested in adopting children from Ghana who can't adopt a child from that country now.

Talking to families who now have adopted children has given Cormier "a bit of hope."

"It's encouraging," she said. "The kids are doing well."

The proposal by BDO Dunwoody, the trustee overseeing Cambridge, Ont.- based Imagine Adoption, came to Cormier and Leclerc on Friday with an outline of the company's operation situation, financial details, including a cash flow statement, and monitoring terms.

The next meeting of the affected families is on Sept. 21 in Cambridge. Cormier and Leclerc plan on being there to cast their vote, if not beforehand from a distance.

Cormier is under the impression that the sooner the votes are cast, the sooner the adoption process can resume.

"We just need a little more information before we vote yes," she said.

Article ID# 1736272

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