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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2002-149,172,176 Adoption IN RE: ADOPTION OF BABY BOY PEEK IN RE: ADOPTION OF BABY GIRL RABEA a/kla MARY CATHRYN McFADDEN IN RE: ADOPTION OF BABY GIRL CORCORAN IN THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA ORPHANS' COURT DIVISION NO. 02-0149 ADOPTIONS * * * * IN THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA ORPHANS' COURT DIVISION NO. 02-0172 ADOPTIONS * * * * IN THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA ORPHANS' COURT DIVISION NO. 02-176 ADOPTIONS IN RE: REQUESTS FOR FEES AND COSTS OF PETITIONER ADOPTION SERVICES, INC BEFORE OLER, J. OPINION and ORDER OF COURT OLER, 1., December 28,2004. These cases arise out of three separate adoption proceedings in which Petitioner Adoption Services, Inc., was the adoption agency involved. In each case, Petitioner submitted a fees and costs report, detailing various charges to the adoptive parents in connection with the adoption. 1 In each case, the court approved certain of the fees and costs as reported, but reserved a decision on others? 1 Report Disclosing Fees and Costs, dated Apr. 24, 2003 (hereinafter Peek Fees and Costs Report); Report Disclosing Fees and Costs, dated June 18, 2003 (hereinafter Rabea Fees and Costs Report); Report Disclosing Fees and Costs, dated Mar. 10,2003 (hereinafter Corcoran Fees and Costs Report). 2 Order of Ct., Apr. 24, 2003 (hereinafter Peek Fees and Costs Order); Order of Ct., June 18, 2003 (hereinafter Rabea Fees and Costs Order); Order of Ct., Mar. 10, 2003 (hereinafter Corcoran Fees and Costs Order).. Hearings were held on the issue of approval of the reserved charges on June 9, 2003, August 14, 2003, December 3, 2003, and May 17, 2004. For disposition at this time is Petitioner's request for approval of those charges. F or the reasons stated in this opinion, the amounts sought by Petitioner will be reduced. STATEMENT OF FACTS Petitioner Adoption Services, Inc., is self-described as a fully-licensed, non-profit private adoption agency. 3 Petitioner's main office is located at 28 Central Boulevard, Camp Hill, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania.4 Petitioner provides assistance to potential parents in all types of adoption proceedings, including domestic and occasional international adoptions. 5 Additionally, Petitioner provides a number of services to potential adoptive parents, including counseling, home studies, and post-placement . 6 servIces. Petitioner handles up to 70 adoptions a year. Adoptive parents are advised to anticipate an average cost per adoption, including legal fees of a law firm retained by the agency, and, in some cases, medical expenses of the birth mother, of between $36,000.00 and $40,000.00 per adoption.7 In the present cases, charges to the adoptive parents as shown on the reports of fees and costs were $43,874.00,8 $58,830.02,9 and $43,500.98.10 3 Petitioner's Ex. 2, Hr'g, June 9, 2003. 4Id. 5 Id. 6Id. 7 NT. 10, Hr'g, June 9, 2003. Petitioner did not request that transcripts be prepared of the notes of testimony on the three hearing dates following the initial proceeding on June 9, 2003. For that reason, cites are not available for those proceedings. 8 Peek Fees and Costs Order. Of this figure, $6,344.53 was attributable to medical bills of the birth mother. Id. 9 Rabea Fees and Costs Order. Of this figure, $24,561.58 was attributable to medical bills of the birth mother. Id. 10 Corcoran Fees and Costs Order. Of this figure, $10,320.95 was attributable to medical bills of the birth mother. Id. 2 The evidence at the hearing showed, inter alia, that, for the modest number of adoptions which it was handling per year, Petitioner was expending well over $600,000.00 per year in advertising costs,l1 was paying the agency's owner12 from about $36,000.00 to $52,000.00 per year to rent a modest house purchased for $138,000.00,13 as well as a substantial salary and professional services fee,14 and was charging for travel fees at a rate more than double the actual travel costs to the agency. With specific reference to the latter fees (now denominated "professional fees" on the reports following earlier cases in which the court limited travel fees to their actual costs), in the Peek adoption, actual costs of $1,671.30 were incurred as opposed to $3,568.32 charged; in the Rabea adoption, actual costs of $1,272.50 were incurred as opposed to $2,536.59 charged; and in the Corcoran adoption, actual costs of $1,048.95 were incurred as opposed to $2,602.61 charged. In addition, attorney's fees alone in the Peek case totaled $7,537.13. In the court's view, the extent of the expenses being incurred by Petitioner for the limited number of adoptions being facilitated by the agency is not compatible with the ideal of matching adoptive children with the most qualified adoptive parent or parents. To the contrary, this ideal is frustrated by limiting the class of available parents with whom the agency can deal to those with substantial material wealth. In that sense, the charges are not, in the court's opinion, within reasonable boundaries. This is said without any intention to impugn the integrity of the agency, its owner, personnel, or legal counsel, nor to denigrate the unquestioned happiness which the agency brings to those adoptive parents who are able to qualify for its services. 11 Petitioner's Ex. 37, Hr'g, Dec. 3,2003. 12 See Petitioner's Ex. 38, Hr'g, Dec. 3,2003. 13 Cumberland County Recorder of Deeds, Book 35H, pg. 394. 14 For example, in 2000, the owner's income from the agency totaled $174,275.45. See Petitioner's Ex. 38, Hr'g, Dec. 3,2003. 3 DISCUSSION Judicial Oversight of Fees Charged to Adoptive Parents. The Pennsylvania Adoption Act provides as follows: (a) General rule.-Within six months after filing the report of intention to adopt, the intermediary who or which arranged the adoption placement of any child under the age of 18 years shall make a written report under oath to the court in which the petition for adoption will be filed and shall thereupon forthwith notify in writing the adopting parent of the fact that the report has been filed and the date thereof. (b) Contents.- The report shall set forth: . . . (8) An itemized accounting of moneys and consideration paid or to be paid to or received by the intermediary or to or by any other person or persons to the knowledge of the intermediary by reason of the adoption placement. . . . (c) Appropriate relief-The court may provide appropriate relief where it finds that the moneys or consideration reported or reportable pursuant to subsection (b)(8) are excessive. Act of October 15, 1980, P.L. 934, 91, as amended, 23 Pa. C.S. 92533 (emphasis added). The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has held that courts may reduce adoption fees that they deem inappropriate pursuant to their ability to provide relief from an adoptive agency's excessive fees. See In re Baby Girl D., 512 Pa. 449, 517 A.2d 925,927 (1986). In fact, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has upheld lower court decisions to disallow any fees other than the reasonable expenses of the adoption agency. In re Adoption of B.A.B., 517 Pa. 84, 88, 534 A.2d 1050, 1052 (1987). These decisions have been premised on the public policy of avoiding either the appearance of or the actual occurrence of selling children. In re Baby Girl D., 512 Pa. at 454, 517 A.2d at 927. For example, advertising costs have been included in the reasonable expenses of an adoption agency and charged to the adoptive parents when the costs of advertising have been legitimate and reasonable. In re Baby Girl D., 512 Pa. at 458, 517 A.2d at 930. 4 In the present case, the court is of the view that the advertising costs incurred by the agency are umeasonable for the results achieved, that the rent being paid to the agency's owner is not economically justifiable, that the agency's travel fee schedule does not comport with actual costs, and that resulting charges to the prospective adoptive parents are excessive. However, because the agency is to some extent a captive of past budgetary decisions, the court will, in these cases, reduce the travel expenses authorized to actual costs and reduce the other charges by nominal amounts only, for the purpose of establishing the principle of more active oversight by the court and permitting the agency to plan accordingly in the future. F or the foregoing reasons, the following order of court will be entered: ORDER OF COURT AND NOW, this 28th day of December, 2004, upon consideration of the issue of certain fees and costs in the above-captioned adoption matters, following a hearing held on June 9, 2003, August 14, 2003, December 3, 2003, and May 14, 2004, and for the reasons stated in the accompanying opinion, it is ordered and directed as follows: 1. At No. 02-0149 Adoptions, Petitioner's fees and costs are reduced by $1,997.02; 2. At No. 02-0172 Adoptions, Petitioner's fees and costs are reduced by $1,364.09; and 3. At No. 02-0176 Adoptions, Petitioner's fees and costs are reduced by $1,653.66. BY THE COURT, s/ 1. Wesley Oler, Jr. 1. Wesley Oler, Jr., 1. Stuart S. Sacks, Esq. Smigel, Anderson & Sacks, LLP River Chase Office Center, 3rd Floor 4431 North Front Street Harrisburg, P A 17110 5 6 IN RE: ADOPTION OF BABY BOY PEEK IN RE: ADOPTION OF BABY GIRL RABEA a/kla MARY CATHRYN McFADDEN IN RE: ADOPTION OF BABY GIRL CORCORAN IN THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA ORPHANS' COURT DIVISION NO. 02-0149 ADOPTIONS * * * * IN THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA ORPHANS' COURT DIVISION NO. 02-0172 ADOPTIONS * * * * IN THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA ORPHANS' COURT DIVISION NO. 02-176 ADOPTIONS IN RE: REQUESTS FOR FEES AND COSTS OF PETITIONER ADOPTION SERVICES, INC BEFORE OLER, J. ORDER OF COURT AND NOW, this 28th day of December, 2004, upon consideration of the issue of certain fees and costs in the above-captioned adoption matters, following a hearing held on June 9, 2003, August 14, 2003, December 3, 2003, and May 14, 2004, and for the reasons stated in the accompanying opinion, it is ordered and directed as follows: 1. At No. 02-0149 Adoptions, Petitioner's fees and costs are reduced by $1,997.02; 2. At No. 02-0172 Adoptions, Petitioner's fees and costs are reduced by $1,364.09; and 8 3. At No. 02-0176 Adoptions, Petitioner's fees and costs are reduced by $1,653.66. BY THE COURT, 1. Wesley Oler, Jr., 1. Stuart S. Sacks, Esq. Smigel, Anderson & Sacks, LLP River Chase Office Center, 3rd Floor 4431 North Front Street Harrisburg, P A 17110