U.S. Couple Seeks Damages Against Overseas Adoption Agency For Overselling Talents Of Adoptee
By CHRISTIAN PLUMBER
Published December 30, 2012
A well-to-do couple in the wealthy Boston suburb of Newton set out to become parents. What they got instead is a lawsuit with groundbreaking potential in the adoption game. Last week Conrad and Jody Berson filed a $10 million dollar lawsuit against the Hope and Love Adoption Agency based in the Republic of Belarus. The lawsuit seeks compensatory and punitive damages for fraud, breach of contract and intentional infliction of emotional distress for alleged misrepresentation of the background of their adopted child, Adam, now five-years-old.
The Bersons seek to recover compensation for underachieving adoptee.Mr. Berson is a prominent cardiologist and his wife is active in local charity efforts in Newton. According to the lawsuit, the Bersons sought a child appropriate for their family. It also alleges that Hope and Love misrepresented Adam as coming from high-achieving, university educated parents and was without any mental deficits of any kind. It describes five-year-old Adam as “listless, morose and generally unexceptional” contrary to Hope and Love’s description of him in its marketing materials.
The Berson’s attorney, Bernard Bloomstein of Arps, Klein & Bloomstein LLP, said that fraud committed by adoption agencies is common and more needs to be done to counter it. “Parents like the Bersons spend tens of thousands of dollars to adopt gifted children and they deserve to get what they paid for,” he said. “Too often agencies paint an inaccurate picture of a child’s potential.”
Hope and Love defended its placement of Adam via email. “Adam is a child from wonderful and great parents,” said Hope and Love’s owner Vyacheslav Kebich. Kebich denied the Berson’s charges that Adam’s parents were misrepresented.
While the Bersons attempt to recover damages against their adoption agency, Adam remains in legal – and familial – limbo. Although he still is the Berson’s legal child they filed what their counsel has called a petition for “parental separation” – the precursor to un-adopting Adam. Adam continues to live in the Berson home but lives separately and is cared for by a nanny and a social worker. “The legal separation was more of a statement,” said Bloomstein. “The Bersons want Adam to have everything he needs during the litigation but want to make it clear to him and the rest of the world that his future is with another family.”