IFRAME: //www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-FSC5
Menu
____________________
WMYD - Detroit, Michigan
Watch Live Watch
Alerts
1 weather alerts 1 closing/delay
Close x
Watch Live Watch
* TV Schedule
* Contests
* Contact Us
* TV20 Marketplace
* Ann Marie's All Stars
* Sign In
* Newsletters
* Sign Out
* Manage Emails
A woman's adoption business may have been fake — as well as a baby she
promised two families
Contracts show same baby promised to 2 families
Posted: 1:58 PM, Dec 11, 2018
Updated: 2018-12-12 15:49:55Z
By: Heather Catallo
MACOMB COUNTY, Michigan — Ever since WXYZ television station did a
segment about a mother who says she’s an adoption worker , but she
isn’t licensed by the state of Michigan, families have been calling,
emailing and reaching out on social media to share their heartbreaking
stories.
Now we've obtained new documents that show the same baby was promised
to more than one family; both families paid thousands of dollars for
the alleged adoption "services."
One of those families is the Markley family. Stacey Markley says she’s
having a really tough week: the baby boy that her family was supposed
to adopt was allegedly due on Sunday. But now she doesn’t even know if
that baby ever existed, and she wants some answers.
Tara Lynn Lee promotes herself online as an adoption worker. But the
37-year-old from New Haven, Mich. is not a licensed adoption worker in
Michigan and state officials tell us the companies and nonprofits she’s
associated with are not licensed either.
Lee’s home was raided by the FBI in November .
Several sources close to the investigation say Lee is under scrutiny
for allegedly promising the same baby to more than one potential
adoptive family at a time.
“We were so prepared for this baby, everybody was excited for us. And
then just to turn around and have nothing, to this day it’s still hard
for me,” said Markley from her home in Ohio.
Markley says she and her husband hired Lee to help them adopt a baby
boy. She says based on the contract they signed, they were paying Lee
to care for the birth mother who had “matched” with them. Now Markley
isn’t sure if there ever was an actual birth mom or a baby.
“It’s heartbreaking because I’m surrounded by all this baby stuff and
it doesn’t have an owner,” Markley said.
Markley says Lee’s stories about the birth mother never added up.
“It was constant, for the two months that we were matched with her, it
was – ‘oh, we didn’t meet up, she canceled, I canceled – I had to go
deliver a baby.’ So it’s like we never got word of how anything was
going,” Markley said.
Markley says Lee had them sign a contract, and they handed over $17,000
when they “matched” with the birth mother. But when they asked for
additional proof of pregnancy, Markley says, they didn’t get it.
“I knew in my heart that day that that was going to be the end of it
— we weren’t going to be going forward with this, and we weren’t going
to be matched anymore. I called my mom crying that day,” she said.
She says after a lot of fighting they eventually got about $12,000
back. Lee’s paperwork shows she kept $4824.75 for expenses.
Lee’s contract from July states that “TL Pregnancy Services is a
licensed counseling and adoption education center," but state licensing
officials confirm Lee is not a licensed counselor.
After Markley spoke to WXYZ, we discovered what appears to be a second
contract for another couple in a different state. The contracts are
dated two weeks apart: both promising a baby born 12/9/18 from what
appears to be the same birth mother named “Tracy.”
Meanwhile, Lee’s attorney says she has been cooperating with the FBI
probe.
“I do know that the government is investigating, and that’s their job,
and they could do their due process and do their due diligence, but as
it stands today we have heard nothing. To the extent that they’ve asked
us for information, she’s been in full compliance,” said Sanford
Schulman.
Schulman also told WXYZ in an email that, “Always Hope has never
claimed to be a licensed agency and this is explicitly noted in every
contract. Always Hope provides support for expectant mothers who choose
adoption. Every stage was overseen by qualified attorneys who could be
consulted throughout the process.”
But when WXYZ pointed out that the contract was with TL Pregnancy
Services that claimed to be licensed, Schulman seemed unaware of the
claims Lee made in her contract. There is no record of a company called
TL Pregnancy Services with the state of Michigan.
As we reported last week , state records show, prior to 2016, Lee ran
something called Always Hope Pregnancy Center LLC. Lee is also
connected to the Always Hope Pregnancy and Education Center Inc. in
Jacksonville, Florida.
Lee is listed as a director on a nonprofit called Always Hope Adoption
and Family Services, Inc. in Sterling Heights, Michigan. State
officials tell us that organization and Lee are both now under
investigation by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services,
and neither is licensed to handle adoptions.
The FBI investigation is still underway into Lee. If you know more
about this adoption probe, please contact Heather Catallo at
248-827-4473 or at hcatallo@wxyz.com
Copyright 2018 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material
may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Why we redesigned the website
* Home
* TV Schedule
* Detroit Weather
* Site Map
* Privacy Policy
* Terms of Use
* EEO
* FCC Public File
* Public File Contact
Social
[logo-scripps.png]
Scripps TV Station Group
© 2019 The E.W. Scripps Co