ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – Residents in Pine Hills are upset after they found multiple signs advertising adoption in yards around the Robinswood Community.
In efforts to keep the community clean, Rose Mariediehl, president of Robinswood Community Improvement Association said she and her board members pick up hundreds of unpermitted signs throughout the year.
On Saturday, Mariediehl said one member stumbled across this sign in the grass.
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“[It was] very upsetting, very alarming very concerning...,” she said.
Our team asked if she had ever seen a sign like this before.
“Never and I have been picking up signs for years,” Mariediehl said.
The web address on the sign directs users to a website that showcases a family.
On the homepage there is a note:
“If you’re an expectant momma and would like to reach out to us, please do - we would love to hear from you! We hope to meet you, love you, and support you in any way possible.”
The family posted an email address for users to contact them.
Mariediehl said she believes this was predatory.
“We are regular people, and we don’t need to be taken advantage of. The last thing we need is for people to come into the community and take advantage of us,” she said.
Her association reached out to the family through email.
The family apologized for placing the signs, but the group was not satisfied with the response and still wanted more answers.
News 6 reached out to Jeanne Tate, an adoption attorney with Heart of Adoptions Inc.
Tate said she understands residents’ concerns.
“I’ve never heard of anyone putting yard signs in a neighborhood in an effort to try to find a child for adoption,” Tate said. “I think it’s certainly unorthodox and it raises ethical questions about whether there has been compliance with Florida law.”
Florida state law shows it’s unlawful for any person except an adoption entity to place any advertisement or offer to the public, in any way, by any medium whatever that a minor is available for adoption or sought for adoption.
Tate said to advertise in any form to the public several prerequisites must be completed.
She said the ad must be placed by a licensed adoption entity whether that is an attorney or an adoption agency.
We connected with the family who said they learned this was illegal after we brought it to their attention.
They sent us this statement:
When we received your email we consulted with an attorney and did confirm this is in fact not legal. We had no idea until today. It’s our understanding that this is a common error in judgment by hopeful adoptive parents.
We were recently victims of an adoption scam, and we were simply trying to be creative as we try to grow our family.
From our experience to adopt through an agency is on average $40k-$60k, and most of that money goes to fund agencies and not to birth moms who are truly in need. We’ve been trying to connect privately with an expectant/birth mom to eliminate the third-party adoption agency, and solely use an adoption attorney. Eliminating the third-party allows for greater support of birth moms. Adoption has unfortunately turned into a business, an ugly one, and our highest priority is to grow our family by an ethical adoption.
Today we’ve been greatly educated, and again, appreciate you bringing it to our attention and giving us an opportunity to respond. We hope that this informs other hopeful adoptive parents as well so they can avoid this oversight.
The signs will, of course, be removed.
We’re greatly sorry if we offended anyone and it was by no means our intention.
Tate said her agency has a lot of empathy for adoptive parents who are looking to grow their families through adoption, but this may not have been the best way to go about adopting a child.
“We have to avoid advertisements that don’t follow the structure of Florida law so not only are adoptive parents and birth parents are protected, but children are protected,” Tate said.
The family said they hope other adoptive parents learn from this mistake.