It seems there is never a loss for this type of "advertising" to buy human beings...please tell me why this is legal. (Click on the title of this post to view the video news story).
You can read the entire story and "comments" written here:
http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=4920936&page=1
Pregnant Waitress Takes Offense When Offer to Adopt Baby Comes With
the Check
The Rules on How to Adopt a Child Vary From State to State
By RUSSELL GOLDMAN
May 24, 2008—
A pregnant waitress working outside Seattle expected to find a tip
left on the table after serving drinks to a large party but instead
found an offer to adopt her baby.
"We wish to adopt a baby. We are a caring, happily married,
financially secure and loving couple. We want to share our joy and
love with a child," read a calling card left with the bill and picked
up by waitress Julie Moore Monday.
Moore and her husband, J.D. Ross, called the number for the couple's
lawyer found on the card not to give him their baby but to give him a
piece of their mind.
"I was just shocked, because they didn't say a word to me about being
pregnant, ask me how my pregnancy is going, or ask me if I was
pregnant or anything," Moore told local television station KING 5.
"I don't wear a wedding ring at work. For them to assume I'm not
married or that because I'm working in a service industry that I
maybe couldn't afford to have a child, I don't know, I felt there
were too many assumptions there," said Moore, who is reportedly five
months pregnant.
Albert Lirhus, a lawyer for the adoptive couple whose names have not
been made public, said the card was not intended for Moore
personally. He said leaving such cards was a common practice in
Washington state among parents looking to adopt.
"People trying to pursue independent adoptions often leave cards and
letters, or buy classified ads. The husband, in this case, left the
card on a bill holder but did not intend it for anyone in
particular," said Lirhus, an adoption lawyer in Seattle.
Lirhus said the husband was not the one who paid the bill and did not
know Moore was pregnant when he left the card.
"He didn't know anyone in the restaurant was expecting a child. He
just left the card in a public place."
The lawyer said his clients were "distraught over this and absolutely
understand why someone would be upset about this."
Lirhus said his number was on the card with instructions to ask
for "Joan." He said "Joan" was not a real person, but a code that
indicated to whoever answered the phone that the call was a priority.
He said his office had received several calls from people who had
found the card. Though none have come with offers of babies, all were
positive and some offered encouragement.
ABC News was unable to reach Julie Moore for comment. Laws about if
and how people looking to adopt can advertise vary from state to
state. In some states adoptive parents are prohibited from
advertising and must work exclusively through agencies.
In other states it is common practice for prospective parents to
place classified ads in newspapers, said Karen Greenberg, president
of the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys and an adoption lawyer
in Boston.
"It is different in every state. In Massachusetts, individuals can't
just go out and begin a search for baby. Adoptive parents need to go
through a state-licensed agency," she said. "In Washington,
apparently, they rely much more on word of mouth."
Couples desperate to adopt have used all manner of media to find a
child. In 2007, a Michigan couple, Sherry and Karl Dittmar, used the
social networking site MySpace to advertise for a pregnant birth
mother willing to give up her child for adoption.
Within weeks of posting their ad, the couple received more than
30,000 page views and ultimately found a woman who was willing to let
the Dittmars adopt her baby, according to the Detroit News.
People using advertising to find a child to adopt need to be
sensitive to the rights and concerns of the birth parent, said Adam
Pertman, executive director of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption
Institute, an adoption policy think tank.
"Generally, people should not go up to someone on the street who
happens to be pregnant and ask her if they can adopt her baby. There
are many good books and professionals who can instruct parents on how
to best find and adopt a child. None would recommend going into a
coffee shop and asking a waitress if you can have her baby."
Copyright © 2008 ABC News Internet Ventures
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