Canadian families asked to bail out bankrupt adoption agency
Canadian families asked to bail out bankrupt adoption agency
WINNIPEG FREE PRESSSEPTEMBER 8, 2009
WINNIPEG — Hundreds of Canadians are being asked to put a price on children — by bailing out a bankrupt adoption agency.
About 350 Canadian families in the process of adopting overseas children were left in limbo when Cambridge, Ont.-based Kids Link International Adoption Agency, which operated as Imagine Adoption, was placed into bankruptcy on July 13 amid suspicions of fraud.
The families are working with bankruptcy trustee BDO Dunwoody to put together a proposal to rescue Imagine Adoption. They've been asked by the trustee to donate $4,000 each to help complete the agency's unfinished adoptions.
"We're very hopeful, yet we remain cautious," said Laura Morrison of Winnipeg. They've been waiting anxiously to complete their adoption of an Ethiopian child.
"This is a huge step, that we're even being given an opportunity to finish our adoption."
The families have until Sept. 21 to vote on the bailout plan.
"The families involved in this are so committed to their journey," she said, adding she and her husband Chad now hope to have their new child home with them within a few months.
Morrison said that the restructuring plan that the families hope to take to bankruptcy court would provide a new board of directors, an advisory committee and staff. She says they have been assured that $4,000 per family would be enough to activate the agency.
"They're estimating within 30 to 36 months, all adoptions will be completed," she said.
An average international adoption costs about $20,000. If the families don't get the agency reactivated they lose more than money — they lose the many months of work they put into the adoption process, securing police checks, fingerprints, medical certificates, reference letters and more.
Waterloo Regional Police have launched a fraud investigation into Kids Link International. A notice posted in July on a BDO Dunwoody website dedicated to the Christian non-profit agency's bankruptcy says there are not enough funds in the bank to service the families using Kids Link.
According to other documents cited on the site in July, the agency had $1,086,004 in liabilities and $723,004 in assets. An additional claim of $800,000 was put forward by BDO Dunwoody for the affected families.
With files from Canwest News Service
© Copyright (c) Winnipeg Free Press
s