Operators of a private adoption agency in Utah have been accused of duping parents in Samoa into giving them their children and then falsely describing the youngsters as orphans to prospective adoptive parents in the United States.
A federal indictment says that more than 80 children were illegally taken from their families by conspirators working through the Wellsville office of Focus on Children .
The agency allegedly charged the adoptive parents a fee of 13 thousand US dollars to facilitate the adoption and immigration of a Samoan child.
Authorities said that both sides of the adoption process had acted in good faith but the alleged fraud leaves the status of the children and their placement in U.S. homes uncertain.
U.S. Attorney for Utah Brett Tolman says authorities are working to put the birth parents and adoptive parents in touch to discuss a resolution.
If no agreement is reached, courts in either or both countries might become involved in determining on a case-by-case basis who gets legal custody of the adoptees.
