Utah international adoption agency, Focus on Children, as been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of adoption fraud. The indictment names seven people including agency owners Scott and Karen Banks of Wellsville, Utah, and covers the period between March 2003 and June 2005.

Specifically addressing the adoptions of 37 children by US families of Samoan children , it alleges coercion on the part of the agency was used to obtain children from birth families.

Samoa is not the only birth country Focus on Children deals with, however, and families working with other agency programs have also lodged complaints. A Texas woman says in this article that she spent $7,000 with Focus on Children hoping to adopt from Ukraine, but after months of runaround ended up ending her relationship with the agency without a child, and without a refund. Other families trying to adopt from Russian and Kazakhstan are also voicing dissatisfaction.

The indictment charges Focus on Children and the seven individuals with 135 criminal counts:
* Two of conspiracy;
* 37 of bringing in illegal aliens to the United States;
* 37 of encouraging or inducing illegal aliens to come to, enter or reside in the United States;
* 34 of fraud and misuse of visas;
* 19 of laundering of monetary instruments;
* six of monetary transactions in property derived from unlawful activity.

A PDF copy of the indictment is available on line here. It's in total legalese, so makes for a dry, slow slog reading, but it's there for anyone interested.

There is no question that making the choice of which agency to work through is one of the most difficult for potential adoptive parents to make. Normally, people going into the process are starting from scratch information-wise, and have no idea how to even begin to judge the competence or integrity of one agency over another.

Indictments are certainly one way to gauge, but unfortunately many agencies that end up being closed down have been doing business for a long time before that happens.

It is the responsibility of every parent to educate themself as thoroughly as possible on every detail that may eventually impact their child. This responsibility begins with deciding upon the agency that is to provide the connection between you and your child.

Adoption.com is a valuable resource in the quest for information to educate. You can find an overview here, and idea of what you pay for here.

The "Adoption.com Guide to International Adoption" also has information on agencies.

And although public discussion of individual agencies is not allowed, there is a wealth of information on how to choose, what to look for both good and bad, questions to ask, and so on, on the international adoption support forum, and access to those who've gone before, like the forums provide, can be invaluable.