Creditors vote to revive Imagine adoption agency

Creditors vote to revive Imagine adoption agency

Mon, September 21, 2009

By PATRICK MALONEY, LONDON FREE PRESS

The hundreds of families stunned by the collapse of an international-adoption agency have renewed hope today, after voting overwhelmingly to re-start the organization.

The Imagine Adoption creditors, which includes the would-be adoptive families, voted 248-20 at a meeting Monday to approve the agency’s proposed restructuring — a plan that will cost each family $4,000 but promises to finish a process some started as long as two years ago.

“We've gone from rock-bottom and feeling hopeless to feeling more hopeful . . . today was just the icing on the cake,” said Shannon Warren of Ingersoll, who along with her husband, Matthew, voted for the proposal.

“We’re very happy.”

Imagine, which was based in Cambridge, facilitated adoptions from Ethiopia.

The agency filed for bankruptcy in July amid questions from its three-member board of directors about unusual expenses, including two luxury-vehicle leases and rental properties.

The Waterloo police fraud squad also launched a criminal investigation.

The restructured agency, which will employ two former Imagine staffers and be overseen by an eight-member board, still needs approval from a bankruptcy court, due to hear the matter Sept. 29, and requires a licence from Ontario’s Ministry of Community and Social Services.

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Patrick Maloney is a Free Press reporter.