Many Americans are choosing to adopt children from other countries to expand their families. However, these families rely on international adoption agencies to guide them in finding children in need of homes. In Ohio, one couple went through this process with the hope of finding a daughter to complete their family. Little did they know, the child they adopted had a dark secret.
The Davis family, consisting of Adam and Jessica Davis and their four children, were thrilled to welcome a new child into their home. Instead of having another biological child, they chose to adopt a child from overseas. After searching for an agency to assist them, they found a little girl who they thought would be a perfect fit. However, when the child learned to speak English, the family discovered a horrifying truth.
The Davises started working with an agency based in Ohio called European Adoption Consultants. The goal of the agency was to give orphans the opportunity to find parents in America. That seemed like a worthy goal to the Davis family. After a short period of time, the agency called to tell the couple about a girl.
They located her. Her name was Namita, and she desperately needed a home. The agency said Namita’s father had died, and her abusive mother wanted nothing to do with her. If she did not leave Uganda, she would have no future. Although the agency said there was a fee of a hundred fifty thousand dollars, the Davises decided money didn’t matter; they already thought of Namita as a member of the family.
They flew to Uganda to pick her up, but they had no idea that not everything was as it seemed. This was in 2015. When they met Namita, they loved her immediately. She lived in a terrible place called God’s Mercy Orphanage. The couple knew they had to get her away from a filthy group home. They finalized the adoption, and soon they returned to America with a new member of their family.
Adam and Jessica introduced Namita to their four children. They nicknamed her Mata; it felt like a perfect fit. No one suspected anything was wrong. Mata quickly became accustomed to life in the U.S. She did well in school and learned English. But as her English improved, so did her ability to communicate something big.
One year later, Mata loved her new family and had much better English skills. She started referring to her old life with details that didn’t make sense to Adam and Jessica. She discussed her mother, her village, her siblings, and how much she loved them. This didn’t match the story about Mata’s life that was in her adoption file.
A horrible revelation dawned upon the couple. Namita was never an orphan. She lived with a loving family, and they’d never wanted to give her away. The family was baffled about how she ended up at the orphanage. The couple knew they needed to do something, so they called Karen Riley, an activist who reunites trafficked children with their mothers. Riley agreed that this story was a prime example of a sign of trafficking.
Riley told the Davises that she’d found Namita’s mother, and they immediately set up a Skype call so that she could know that Namita was okay. Namita’s mother had a harrowing story. The adoption agency had pulled a common scam in international adoption.
They arrived in Namita’s village and started offering to match children with sponsors in the U.S. who would take their children to America for an education. The parents believed their kids were going to school in America and would soon return. They did not know that the agency was taking custody and selling the children to unsuspecting families in the U.S.
Adam and Jessica were in agony because they loved Mata, but she belonged with her family. They made the decision to take Mata back to her family. They had an amazing reunion in Uganda. They were ecstatic to see her again, and they were grateful to the Davises for doing the right thing and bringing her home.
European Adoption Consultants had been doing this for years. Unfortunately, most children were not returned to their homes. The FBI raided their office and stopped them from transferring child guardianships. Although they’re out of business, other nefarious adoption agencies continue to scam people and steal their children.
The Davis family completed a miracle by sending Namita home. They’re committed to working with advocates like Riley to reunite more families and their children. This is a cautionary tale about working with groups demanding large sums of money with a story of child abandonment.
