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Former Strongsville adoption agency owner admits to charges involving fraudulent adoption from Poland
Updated: Feb. 04, 2022, 2:28 p.m. | Published: Feb. 04, 2022, 2:00 p.m.
By John Caniglia, cleveland.com
CLEVELAND, Ohio – The owner of a former international adoption agency admitted Friday to charges involving the fraudulent adoption of a child, who later suffered severe abuse.
Margaret Cole, 74, of Strongsville pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Cleveland. She appeared just days before she was to go to trial before Judge James Gwin on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States and making false statements to officials in Poland. Gwin will decide the sentence May 27.
Cole owned European Adoption Consultants, a business she founded in 1991. It operated in several countries, including Poland and Uganda.
She is the third person connected to the agency to plead guilty to criminal charges. Debra Parris of Lake Dallas, Texas, and Robin Longoria of Mansfield, Texas, previously admitted to charges involving their work for the business. They will be sentenced next month.
The charges against Cole alleged that in 2015 she worked to bring a child from Poland to Parris’ relatives in Texas. They were not eligible for inter-country adoptions.
Court records allege that a client from Salt Lake City, Utah, had sought to adopt a child, but the child had a sibling. The family felt it could not handle the physical and emotional needs of two children. For the adoption to go through, Parris’ relatives took the second child.
Cole’s agency did not do a background check or a home study of Parris’ family members. Cole admitted that she concealed that the child was transferred to the home of a relative of the adoption agency. One of Parris’ relatives was sentenced to 48 years in prison for abusing the child.
The charges accuse Cole of lying to authorities in Poland in order to continue profiting from adoptions there. She wrote to officials that the crime appeared to have taken place overseas.
We had an adoption fall through with them, 23 years ago. European Adoption Consultants. VERY bad experience used "bait and switch" tactics. All around unprofessional and sleazy.
I thought EAC was shut down years ago. Their office was in North Royalston OH then.
It continues to be extremely difficult to close an adoption agency. Complaints against EAC go back more than 20 years. It would seem that our regulatory process, which we are told is the "best in the world" might have room for improvement. It would also seem that it would be in the best interest of everyone to move a little faster to close down bad actors in the adoption industry. But that unfortunately has not happened and I don't see it happening anytime soon.
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