Texas Agency Forced To Shutter Marshallese Adoption Business
Adoptions International, which flew in Marshallese birth mothers through Hawaii, was suspended in June and last week lost its accreditation.
A Texas adoption agency that worked with birth mothers from the Marshall Islands must stop all international adoptions after losing its accreditation on Thursday, according to an announcement from the U.S. State Department.
Adoptions International failed to comply with standards, the announcement said. The agency that yanked the accreditation, , did not respond to a request for details.
But in June, Civil Beat reported that Texas attorney Jody Hall, who ran Adoptions International, was arranging adoptions involving birth mothers flown from the Marshall Islands to the U.S., through Hawaii, in defiance of a treaty between the two nations.
鈥淵es, it鈥檚 legal to pay for tickets,鈥 Hall wrote a prospective adoptive mother. The attorney wrote that it was easier to 鈥渃ontrol鈥 the women from the Marshall Islands, compared to Marshallese already in the U.S., because they had to cooperate to get the plane tickets.
鈥淲e placed 3 in the past 3 weeks,鈥 she wrote.
Five days after that story, IAAME suspended Adoptions International. IAAME is the only organization authorized by the federal government to screen international agencies, as required by law.
After Thursday鈥檚 cancellation, the those with open cases to contact Adoptions International, which is required to transfer the cases to another provider. The adoption agency also must issue refunds.
Hall did not respond to a request for comment.
Her agency is still licensed by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission.聽 In response to a complaint, the agency in July found some 鈥渄eficiencies,鈥 including that its licensing staff did not have access to records when it did an inspection. But the agency did not revoke or suspend the license.
Hall remains in good standing with the State Bar of Texas.
Two of Hall鈥檚 clients told Civil Beat that they tried to adopt from Marshallese birth mothers already living in the U.S., which is legal. But then the adoptions fell through, and Hall offered an alternative 鈥 flying in a birth mother living in the Marshalls.
One client鈥檚 fees included money paid to 鈥渉elpers in Honolulu鈥 whose job was to pick up birth mothers at the airport and take them to hotels during their layovers before flying on to Dallas.
Hall told some clients that her contact in the Marshall Islands helped birth mothers get together the documents they needed to travel and go to government appointments.
Until recently, she worked with Justin Aine, a well-known adoption fixer who in March was charged in the Marshall Islands with human trafficking.
Other U.S. lawyers also fly Marshallese women to the U.S. for adoptions, as documented in a Civil Beat investigation in November, despite reforms two decades ago intended to give the Marshallese government control over international adoptions. None of these attorneys have faced sanctions for their activities.
