The stages of our grief were lessened as we prayed for God to guide our tongues and protect our hearts. How we handled all of our emotions during this most painful and confusing time we knew would be mirrored and echoed by our son. Up to this point in his young life, a major disappointment for him had never occurred. As his parents we kept these facts in our sights. We prayed that our actions and reactions would teach our son constructive coping skills there by preserving his hope and strengthening his faith. So while we probably never will understand all the why's of our circumstances thus far on our journey to adopt a daughter, again we consciously choose to just accept and move on unconditionally. A daunting task when the hurt and the defensive anger is just below the surface and ready to rear its ugly head. Somehow, and miraculously Gods love and guidance was ever present and obvious because what we humanly wanted to do and what we did were at opposite ends of the spectrum. We all received the gift of faith.
As the Sapp's chose not to mentioned on their blog a word of the miraculous circumstances surrounding the adoption of their daughter, and the family that loved and lost her, we turned the page silently, as we believed this chapter of our adoption journey which intersected with the Sapp's had indeed concluded.
And so by the third week of February Orson Mozes contacted us again with photo referrals of 2 more infant girls. Seeing the photos below and being told to choose one felt so foreign. When we found our first referral it was us who found her by some circumstance still unexplained. Yet now here was Orson Mozes, who we could no longer trust telling us to chose between these two baby girls.
Was this really how adoption was supposed to be? Is this how God wanted us to proceed? Having a wounded heart made making major life decision's extremely difficult. We wanted to do the right thing, however we didn't know what that was. We hoped and prayed for some type of sign, some guidance, some clarity to assist us in the decision we were about to make. So for some reason, if you remember way back in the beginning of this rewind I mentioned we had first contacted an agency ( 5 years prior to signing with AIP ) called ASA whose literature and video tape we received and for what ever reason at the time, never even looked at. Remembering I had this information I pulled off the shelf all that paper work and the video in the hope of finding a direction to take. To see and compare agencies. In our search for knowledge, miraculously we received a confirmation. Low and behold when I opened the big manila envelope and poured out its contents, out dropped the agency's "Foreign Adoption Director" business card and this brochure.
ORSON MOZES IS IN THIS PHOTO, WHICH I JUST FOUND OUT TODAY AS I LOOKED AT THIS BROCHURE AGAIN FOR THIS POST.
That moment it became crystal clear to us that God was in control of our destiny, and we were where God wanted us to be.
We had contacted Orson Mozes at ASA 5 years prior to signing on with him at AIP, and we never knew it until this day in Feb when we were heart broken over the loss of one child, and told to chose another.
After receiving this confirmation we chose Marina who is the little angel in the second photo. Unbeknown to us at the time this story is far from over...
MAY 1, 2008
SANTA BARBARA NEWS PRESSHere is the article, and although not seen here a full head shot
photo of Orson Mozes appears today in the Santa Barbara News
Press. I think the solidarity of all of us contacting the reporter
speaks volumes of our resolve. Orson Mozes can run, but he wont be
able to hide for very long. This story describes small snippets of
our pain. When Orson Mozes and his wife Christen Brown owners of AIP
appear in civil court all the evidence will be presented and they
will be held accountable.
This reporter will also be in the courtroom in Santa Barbara when
Orson Mozes faces arraignment on the 62 criminal charges.
Together as a group WE are making a difference as we support each
other, the DA in Santa Barbara and our attorney Joni Fixel who is
handling the civil litigation. I applaud all of our efforts.
Alleged scam victims speak out
KATHLEEN STINSON, NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
May 1, 2008 12:00 AM
Seventeen victims across the country in the case of a Santa Barbara
man who allegedly bilked more than 100 people out of thousands of
dollars in an adoption scam have asked the News-Press to tell their
stories in hopes of improving the chances the suspect will be caught.
Former School House Road resident Orson Mozes, 56, is wanted on
felony counts of allegedly taking money under false pretenses and
grand theft by use of the Internet, according to an arrest warrant
filed March 27 in Santa Barbara County Superior Court by the District
Attorney's Office.
Alleged victims accuse Mr. Mozes of promising them the "best" kids --
primarily from Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Russia -- through his agency,
Adoption International Program. Allegations concern taking money and
then not delivering.
"All victims reported they contacted Mozes after viewing specific
available children whose photos were posted by Mozes/AIP on Internet
Web sites," according to court documents obtained by the News-Press.
According to the District Attorney's Office, 66 percent of the
victims in the investigation were unable to adopt any child through
Mr. Mozes and AIP. Another 30 percent were "only able to adopt after
several heartbreaking, expensive and lengthy referrals (of children).
This investigation could only locate three to four families from 2004
to 2007 who successfully adopted their first referral and in a timely
manner."
Since publication of the first News-Press story on April 22,
seventeen alleged victims have contacted the paper. They communicate
with each other via "Stop Orson Mozes AIP" on Yahoo Groups.
Mr. Mozes' whereabouts are unknown.
An e-mail from one of these alleged victims, Ann Young, to other
victims in the case states, "If anyone does any communicating to the
media, or has connections to the media, we as a group stand united
and will speak of our experiences. Our stories and our resolve can
help prevent future innocent adoptive parents from the types of
crimes that were perpetrated upon us. Speaking out puts people like
Orson Mozes ... who run adoption agencies with illegal and unethical
practices on notice."
Another of alleged victim is Candy Bushouse, of Kalamazoo, Mich. In
November 2004, Ms. Bushouse said she saw a photo of an 8- to 9-month-
old girl from Kazakhstan on the Web site, www.precious.org. This site
showed photos of children available through various adoption
agencies, including AIP.
Ms. Bushouse said she contacted Mr. Mozes, who told her to send
an "agency fee" of $12,850 to him at his School House Road address in
Santa Barbara. He also instructed her to send another check for
$5,000 to someone in Kazakhstan to "hold" the child. She said the
money was sent to a named person, not a government agency.
She said she had previously adopted a male child through another
agency and so had her paperwork or dossier required by the U.S.
Government completed. She said the adoption in that case had taken a
total of nine months start to finish.
Ms. Bushouse said she hoped to travel soon to Kazakhstan to adopt the
young girl for whom she had paid a hold fee so that no other family
could adopt her. However, she waited for months to get the clearance
to begin the process in Kazakhstan from Mr. Mozes.
"He really has a temper -- he would scream at me and hang up on me,"
Ms. Bushouse said.
She said sometime during this time, Mr. Mozes called her to say the
girl she had held was gone and offered no explanation. She agreed to
hold another child.
Some months after that, she contacted a couple in Kazakhstan who
checked on the second child referral. They e-mailed her back that the
child was no longer there.
Ms. Bushouse said when she questioned Mr. Mozes about it, he said the
couple was lying, but later admitted that was the case.
In March 2006, Mr. Mozes got a letter of invitation for her to travel
and begin the adoption process -- more than a year after she first
contacted AIP in November 2004.
"When you're over there (Kazakhstan), you're almost helpless -- you
have no clue if the interpreter" is being honest, Ms. Bushouse said.
She said she thinks Mr. Mozes's crime is that he charged too much for
everything.
"All the costs were inflated," she said.
Ms. Bushouse said when she arrived at the airport in Kazakhstan, Mr.
Mozes required her to pay "close to $8,000" for her lodging, which
was an eight to nine-week stay in an apartment while she went to
court.
She said the woman who lived next door to her at the apartment spoke
English and told her the apartment cost $200 a month including heat.
She said she nearly froze in another apartment Mr. Mozes provided on
the way back because the heat kept going on and off.
"I had to threaten to take pictures of the apartment to the U.S.
Embassy to get a warmer apartment," Ms. Bushouse said.
She said the adoption cost just under $50,000, about $13,000 more
than her other adoption.
Alleged victims Ann and Chris Young, of Calverton, N.Y., contacted
AIP in 2005.
Mrs. Young said Mr. Mozes told her to FedEx $12,850 as an "agency
fee" to his address on School House Road to "hold" a six-month-old
child.
Mrs. Young said it took six months to get her paperwork done. The
United States requires all those who adopt, including those adopting
overseas, to prove their fitness through interviews, F.B.I.
fingerprints, tax records and tax statements.
Ms. Bushouse explained the reason many people prefer international
adoptions is because they are "closed" and the birth parents cannot
come back and contact the child.
She said while she was waiting for approval paperwork from the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security before traveling to Kazakhstan, she
saw the child she had paid Mr. Mozes to hold on a blog that said the
child had been adopted by another family.
"He would put a beautiful picture of a Gerber baby up on the Web
site" and in at least one case, she said, she knew that two people
paid to have the child "held" for them.
"Mr. Mozes' crime was promising us this child would be ours and that
none of his other clients would be able to adopt the child once she
was held, and taking our money," Mrs. Young said.
She said she was able to adopt through AIP after losing multiple
referrals she had "held."
Ms. Bushouse said they stayed with Mr. Mozes ultimately because they
had too much money invested to start over with another agency.
"I had wanted to bail out, but after investing too much money, you
can't afford to back out and start over paying fees," she said. "It
just takes too much time and too much money to change to another
agency."
Several of the victims filed a civil lawsuit in January 2008 in
Pennsylvania against Mr. Mozes, alleging violations of the Racketeer
Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act.
Any person having information about the whereabouts of Mr. Mozes may
contact Laura Cleaves, supervising investigator with the Santa
Barbara District Attorney's Office, at 805-737-7885.
e-mail: kstinson@newspress.com
