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Woman fakes pregnancy in adoption scam
Submitted by SHNS on Fri, 08/01/2008 - 13:16.
NAPLES, Fla. -- After years of waiting, Steven Mielke and his wife Monique celebrated in February upon learning they would finally have a bundle of joy to call their own.
For nearly three years the Naples couple had been working with Heart of Adoptions Inc. to adopt a baby, a process Steven originally thought would be much easier than it was.
So in February, when learning they had a match, both Steven and Monique were excited.
"We've been waiting for a long time," Steven Mielke said. "We were excited. We told our friends and family the good news. Did whatever little things we could to prepare ourselves to be parents."
But the couple's dreams were crushed in late April when the deal with the 23-year-old birth mother broke up. Then, in late July, Steven and Monique learned that the woman they had been paying to have their baby had never been pregnant in the first place.
Stephanie Blume first entered Heart of Adoptions on Feb. 25, with a proof of pregnancy test from Planned Parenthood of Collier County, according to an arrest report.
Blume filled out a profile, which was eventually passed on to Steven and Monique.
"She gave all the right answers," Mielke said.
Steven and Monique were matched with Blume, and started paying her living expenses through the agency, Mielke said. But in about a month, red flags started going up when Blume wasn't going to her doctor's appointments.
"For some reason she wasn't going," Mielke said. "We kept pressing and asking why."
By the end of April, the Mielkes and the agency broke off the deal. At the time, Mielke said he and his wife thought Blume may have had second thoughts about the adoption.
Regardless, they were heartbroken.
"It was really hard, really disappointing," Steven said. "To finally be matched up with someone and to think we found this person, it was just tough."
But things would get tougher.
On July 21, investigators from the Collier County Sheriff's Office received information that Blume had never been pregnant, and instead had obtained another woman's urine, faked the pregnancy test and had been defrauding the agency and the Mielkes all along, the sheriff's office reported.
Robert Moore, whom Blume had listed on adoption forms as a possible father of her baby, told investigators he was certain he could not be the father of the child, reports said. Moore told the investigators he heard Blume had a miscarriage but had no knowledge of her seeing a doctor.
Blume's sister, Rebecca Yanez, also told investigators that Blume had a miscarriage, the sheriff's office reported.
Investigators then spoke with Blume, who discussed her involvement with the scheme.
Exactly what she told the investigators has been redacted from an arrest report, but investigators later questioned a man named Robert Lyons about whether he gave his daughter's urine to Blume for the pregnancy test, reports said. Lyons' response was also redacted from reports.
On Wednesday, Blume was arrested on a felony charge of grand theft and a misdemeanor charge of providing false adoption information. Steven Mielke said he and his wife paid close to $4,000 to Blume, through the agency, in living expenses, and also paid about $900 in attorney fees.
Collier County court records indicate that Blume is already on probation after being adjudicated guilty on drug and petty theft charges from early February.
Steven Mielke said learning about the alleged fraud has been hard on him, and twice as hard on his wife. The couple is still looking to adopt.
"I feel really, really sad for her to think what's going on in her life to do something this terrible to someone else," Steven said of Blume. "I'm also pretty angry and I want to make sure she gets whatever punishment she has coming to her. She certainly deserves it.
"It doesn't get much lower than that, I've got to say."
(Contact Ryan Mills of the Naples Daily News in Florida at XX(at)xxx.com.)
Adoption
"Then, in late July, Steven and Monique learned that the woman they had been paying to have their baby..."
"It doesn't get much lower than that, I've got to say."
Yes, I am afraid that it gets MUCH lower than this! How about the women whose wombs are opened by crazed Potential Adoptive Parents (PAPS) who want the baby the mother carries and leaves the mother to die. Several cases like this have been in the news just recently.
Then there are the PAPS who use coercion, threats and will stop at nothing to get the baby they are so desperate to have as their own. Such was the case with Stephanie Bennett, a young woman in Ohio who went to her school guidance counselor to change her schedule and ended up with her baby girl, Evelyn, stolen from her in the night.
There are cases and cases and cases, both current and old, of illegal, immoral and unethical practices being used to obtain healthy infants for adoption. Perhaps they key is in the first quoted line above where these people felt comfortable paying someone to have their baby. That implies ownership, and the baby, whether it existed or not, would still belong to the mother who was bearing it.
Here is some advice for people who desire a family..get pregnant while you still have viable eggs; don't wait until all things are right, appropriate and you have accomplished all your goals but one...ooops...meant to have a baby!!
And, remember that there are thousands of children languishing in foster care; take one of them and leave the babies alone.
It is a myth that women go on as if it never happened when they surrender, and surrender it is, indeed! A woman surrenders her will to forces greater than she when she is desperate, alone, and without resources. Consider helping the mother with her baby, not out of it.
Sandra Young
Senior Mothers Activist Coalition
Mother of Loss, 1967
You Don't Always Get What You Want
It seems that, the more desperate a person is for something that isn't theirs by right, the more they leave themselves open to a con job. The fact that they were PAYING FOR A BABY should give folks pause, right there.
The fact that these people, who could do a child some good, would only take a womb-fresh infant rather than taking in and helping an older child that is in foster care shows that they were ripe for the pickings. They wanted something for themselves...NOT for the child. They don't have my sympathy, either.
That money could have helped a young mom and her baby get a decent start in life. The act of adoption and the power of the industry has made this nation one that no longer respects true motherhood.
Why are PAPs paying for a
Why are PAPs paying for a mother's living expenses anyway? How unethical is that?!
That is baby-buying. Period.
Her behavior was awful--theirs is just as bad. Taking an infant from a troubled young woman? Where is the decency in that?
Maybe not everyone is meant to have children...
Adoption is the new word for legalized kidnapping.
Yes, it does get lower then this. How about US citizens going to third world countries for years "adopting?" kidnapped kids and turning a blind eye to it. Legalized kidnapping is the worst.
Why Is This Not Also Headline News?
It's alarming to know people are walking around dreaming, wanting and thinking of unborn babies in pregnant women as "theirs".
"Finding" a pregnant women or being "matched" with a pregnant women is an erroneous attempt to stake a claim on an unborn child that is NOT in any sense a child that is legally surrendered and available.
Courting a pregnant women, keeping track of her every move, such as whether she's keeping her doctor's appointments - how is any of this not stalking.
Adoption: A Multi-Billion Dollar Unregulaed Industry
Adoption, once a social institution designed to allegedly help "unwanted" children find homes, now exists as a huge industry made up of baby brokers and facilitators who operate without any licsening other than that to run any business. Adoption agencies are less regulated that nail salons (L. Anne Babb, Ethics of American Adoption).
In the supply and demand world of infant adoption there is an invisible line between reputable agencies and unscrupulous child traffickers. They ar all in the business of meeting the demand.
Those who want infants at any price and thus deal with private agencies - even non profit - or adoption facilitaors takes this risk.
Complaining about it is akin to a "John" complain that the prostitute he paid for didn't do what he hired her to, or buying a watch on a street corner and complaining that its not authentic. Caveat emptor.
Adoption needs to be cleaned up and profiteering removed. Until that happens all parties to it are at risk - most of all innocent chidlren having their parenthood transferred to whomever has the fee - even pedophiles.
Those seeking to adoption can find safe solutions in "The Stork Market." Each person needs to chose to be part of the problem or part of the solution.
Babyrama
There's no reason to buy a book to understand what is going on with infant adoption.
Just go to any adoption website and read how expectant mothers are lured with offers of FREE help, then read the promises made to hopeful adopting customers.
<<< Steven Mielke said he and his wife paid close to $4,000 to Blume, through the agency, in living expenses, and also paid about $900 in attorney fees. >>>
Exactly WHAT did the Mielke's pay about $900 in attorney fees for when there was NO legal surrender nor any legal adoption?
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