Adoption Rocks Ponzi Scheme and the Donna Ames Empire

The adoption industry is so ethical, so upstanding, so charitable, right? Then why is it that I keep running into stories of some of the most deplorable acts thought possible to man? A newborn, snatched from his mother’s breast because of unethical practices, lies, and misinformation to the new mother. Information withheld from her for the purposes of being able to commit this heinous act. Let me introduce you to Kim. Mirah Riben shares her heartbreaking story in this Huffington Post article. Before you continue reading, please read both parts 1 and 2 of Mirah’s article for reference. I’m not going to waste anyone’s time reiterating what is already out there. What Mirah states are the facts and the story. I’ll share my thoughts and opinions on it here.

First, let’s talk about Judge Davis. Judge Davis is the judge who approved of Kim’s “monthly gifts.” He is also the judge that, technically, terminated Kim’s parental rights – before she could even feel her child moving inside of her, per Alabama law (why is this still a law??). We also learned, from Mirah’s article, that he sits on the advisory board for Adoption Rocks. Why is there a sitting judge, overseeing the termination of parental rights for adoptions, who works for an adoption agency? Oh wait, according to Adoption Rocks, they aren’t an agency. Upon hearing about Kim’s story, from her own mouth, I posted a vague comment on their Facebook page asking if anyone had any bad experiences with this agency that they’d like to share. This is the response they gave: “We welcome everyone to our page to learn more about adoption. However, we are not anadoption agency and so I am not sure you will get the response that you are looking for. We are an awareness group located on the Gulf Coast that helps provide information to birth moms who are considering adoption. We provide them with the information that they need so that they can make an informed decision and know if adoption is the right path for them. We help both birth parents and adoptive parents come into contact with local resources like lawyers, agencies, OBGYN clinics and support groups, etc. We in no way facilitate adoptions. We only provide the information for people to use when contacting the various resources that we provide. I hope that this helps explain our organization a little better. Please feel free to message us if you have any other questions!”  Hmm. Yes, they never use the word “agency” on their website but the way they describe themselves certainly sounds like an agency to me. And I quote:

“Adoption Rocks is a non-profit organization located in Mobile and Dothan, Alabama. We are dedicated to loving, embracing, and enabling women with unplanned pregnancies and supporting those who seek to build families through adoption. Adoption Rocks was founded by a group of civic leaders, adoptive parents, and professionals who each had a strong concern about babies being born to single mothers and decreasing rates of infant adoptions in Alabama, especially the Southern portion of Alabama.

Adoption Rocks is working hard to place educational adoption materials into local Alabama health clinics, Alabama school nurse offices, Alabama crisis pregnancy centers, Alabama ob-gyn offices and more. Adoption Rocks is also trying to educate the general public about adoption as an option for crisis pregnancies in the state of Alabama. Over 50 percent of babies born in Mobile County, Alabama are born to unwed mothers. Roughly 6,000 children have been removed from their homes and placed in the legal custody of the state of Alabama due to abuse and neglect. Adoption Rocks is hoping to change this trend through education and awareness.

Join us!

Adoption Rocks is a volunteer driven non-profit organization. All the time and monies are donated by those who have a passion and a desire to help women and children.Our position is to help women who do not know where to turn when presented with an unplanned pregnancy as well as to help those who seek to build families through adoption By placing posters, card racks, web site and community events we are helping break the misconceptions people have about domestic infant adoption. If you would like to help or participate in a fundraiser, please fill out the online form or call us directly. You can also donate online to support Adoption Rocks. We look forward to hearing from you!”

But wait, it gets even better. Since leaving my comment not only has my comment and their response been removed, their whole Facebook page has been removed. Clicking on the link through the e-mail I received notifying me they had responded gives me THIS. There are a couple other pages called “Adoption Rocks” on Facebook but none of them are affiliated with the subject of this article.

Who is the brain child behind Adoption Rocks? Well, none other than adoption attorney, Donna Ames. So, while Adoption Rocks claims they are not an agency and do not facilitate adoptions, the creator and “CEO” of the non-profit group IS an adoption attorney who makes her living off of facilitating independent adoptions. This sort of sounds like a Ponzi scheme for more profits disguised as a non-profit to me, sort of like #BraveLove which has the CEO for Gladney Adoption Agency sitting on its board.

Donna Ames is an adoption attorney and an adoptive parent herself. While her practice appears to be fairly small, I can’t help but wonder how many vulnerable expectant mothers contact her via Adoption Rocks (the front for her money machine adoption practice) that she ends up representing and profiting from. It’s really quite brilliant, when you think about it, and is becoming the new way of doing things for the adoption industry. Set up a front organization. Say it’s non-profit and it’s about educating the public about adoption and how great it is, it’s about helping expectant and birth mothers (although no one making money from adoption is calling expectant mothers anything but birth mothers, sadly). The non-profit can be used to draw in expectant mothers who are then funneled over to the “legitimate” agency or attorney to legally facilitate the adoption. In Donna’s case, I wonder if her independent adoption work, per the IRS, would truly be considered non-profit. I do not know how much money she makes off of separating mothers and babies, but I can assume it isn’t low enough to be considered non-profit, unlike her Adoption Rocks organization. For this reason, tax documents are not available for Donna to show how much she makes facilitating adoptions because, well, she isn’t registered as a non-profit. Hence the need for Adoption Rocks.

Another interesting thing about the board of directors for Adoption Rocks is Yasmen Qurechi, M.D. She is listed as an M.D. However, when running a google search on that name, she is only popping up in 3 results – all associated with Adoption Rocks. When I run a license search on her for the state of Alabama, she is UNLICENSED. Why would an unlicensed M.D. be on the board of directors for an adoption agency (whoops, sorry, an adoption education organization)? Something is definitely not right there. When I broaden my search (not searching for exact terms and spelling – as provided on the Adoption Rocks website) I do find a radiologist by the name of Yasmeene A Qureshi. Totally different spelling than provided on the Adoption Rocks website. Upon doing a license search I found yet another spelling – Yasmeen Anjum Qureshi. I’m going to just go out on a limb and assume they’re the same people. Why the misspellings though? Can we safely assume that since Yasmen/Yasmeen/Yasmeene Qurechi/Qureshi is a doctor of radiology that expectant mothers are sent her way for imaging? Is she also part of the Ponzi scheme?

Who else sits on the board of directors for Adoption Rocks, you know, that agency that isn’t an agency and is all non-profit…

Chris Kalifeh. According to his LinkedIn profile he is a student in advertising. He states: “I am a student working on his advertising degree. I love people, art, and business. Selling a product I believe in. Making people believe I can help them and their business, then making it happen.”  SELLING A PRODUCT. I also found his website – The Kalifeh Media Group. Ironically </THIS Facebook page is no longer in existence either (since posting this, the page has magically appeared again). Hmmm. Are these people scrambling to erase evidence or is this a coincidence?

Well, what we do know is that up until just a few days ago BOTH of these pages were active. Going to the cached version of both Facebook pages shows you that Kalifeh Media Group was active yesterday and I know, from personal records (my e-mail where they responded to my comment) that Adoption Rocks was active until AT LEAST July 3.

We also know that as late as April 18 of this year Adoption Rocks was fundraising. Let that sink in for you.

Carmen Ives, R.N. is also listed on the board of directors. Her nursing license expired in 2012, yet she is still listed as an R.N. I’m starting to think they have the whole medical and judicial system in their pockets looking at these lists of people. A judge, a nurse, a doctor, an adoption attorney. There’s even a John Ives III M.D. – Is he related to Carmen?

Unregulated, unchecked, adoption industry run a muck. That’s what this is. And here we have Kim. Her child ripped away from her. Kate Sharp, of Harbert Realty in Birmingham, Alabama, the woman she still thinks would be a good mom. This woman made all of this come together. Her own selfish desires to be a mother instigated the legal kidnapping of SOMEONE ELSE’S BABY because of a legal loophole (and poor legal representation and legal advice). How could anyone take someone else’s baby if they didn’t want to give it to you. How does Kate sleep with herself at night?

As you read in the HuffPost article, pre-trial for Kim is July 24. Her legal fees will be IMMENSE. I know times are tight but this injustice MUST BE FOUGHT. Please share this post for Kim. She is in need of a legal defense fund. A GoFundMe page has been started for her and can be accessed here: Kim’s GoFundMe

But this is about more than Kim. It’s about setting a legal precedent that just because someone wants your baby they don’t have the right to come take it off your breast.

Donna Ames, adoption attorney

Source: https://facebook.com/donna.ames.5?tsid=0.8071477601770312&source=typeahead