I'm rather surprised to read your response. It showed a remarkable lack of understanding, of adoption, of adoption scams and of this adoption scam in particular.
Allow me to clarify things for you.
First of all, adoption is a combination of two things. A woman unable to care for her child and an adoptive couple, usually unable to have children of their own. Selling a baby is strictly against National Law and people who do it are usually prosecuted to the fullest extent the law will allow.
Second, adoption scams DO steal an adoptive couples dreams. They are dreaming of holding a child in their arms, dreaming of raising it, giving it their love, teaching it how to be a responsible adult. They WANT these things and it's true up to a point that one child is as a good as any other...at first. But babies take nine months to develop. Usually adoptive parents don't have to endure the whole nine months waiting for the baby to be born, but however long it takes eventually they begin to feel that they have formed a bond with the child they are promised, so when a mother or scammer tells the prospective couple that, for whatever reason, they can't have the baby after all, it's like the child died in their arms. They are hurt and have to mourn. They also lose hope. Adoption is a long and difficult process. The United States has some rather stringent adoption laws and, on top of that, many adoption agencies try to screen prospective parents before they start to match them with adoptable babies. Their hope that some other mother will select them as worthy parents for her child becomes overshadowed by the realization that whatever mother they are talking to may be attempting to trick them again. Another point here is that, very often prospective parents of an adopted child have spent a good deal of money preparing to receive the child promised to them (buying clothing and furniture, hiring lawyers so that they know what they have to do to be able to bring the child home and give it their name, perhaps even painting a room, things like that), so even if there weren't laws against "buying another kid" as you so astutely put it, they might not have the resources available to do so.
Last, but most certainly not least, the only thing you said about "the Lady" that I agree with is "She isn't evil." This scam wasn't for money, it was for attention. The scammer in this particular instance wanted to feel important to someone. It's true that she did get some items and possibly some money, but her ultimate desire wasn't to bilk the prospective parents of her "child" out of their life savings, it was to feel important to someone.
That said, there's a good chance that all three women will have to go through some form of therapy before they are ready to trust another mother telling them they are the right people for her baby and the next time you make one of these pronouncements it might be a good idea to have all the facts first. That way you wouldn't get the goats of so many people.
(Original Air Date: 02/22/07) Dr. Phil explores one of the cruelest cons in America: adoption scams. Couples hoping, wishing, praying to have their own child, become easy targets for heartless con artists who pose online as birthmothers. Meet three women who wanted nothing more than to hold a newborn child in their arms. Instead, they say they were misled, lied to and left devastated by a woman who claimed to be pregnant with a baby meant for them. Now Marie, Crissy and Jen might have a chance to confront Melissa, the woman who deceived them. With the help of private investigator Harold Copus, they track her down, and even Dr. Phil is shocked by what happens when they find her, including their close encounter with a man and his shotgun. When Melissa sits down with Dr. Phil to tell her side of the story, will her victims finally get their chance to confront her face to face? Talk about the show here.
