Brian and I filed our grievance letter of the declination of the grant disbursal of our three children. We did so in a one day time turn around. We were notified by Kelly, President of RR BOD, that we would have a decision by July 23rd. The letter arrived in our mail on July 22nd as it was said it would; but, instead of our grievances being addressed we received a letter which would not only repeat what RR wanted but would also demand even more of us if we wanted the grants of our three children released. Not one single mention was given to the grievances we filed. Not even a recognition that we did in fact have a grievance. The BOD consists of the very people who have bullied us to conform to their demands or give up our children's grants. Instead of an impartial party making a decision on our grievance it went back to the very people who made the decision in the first place. The grievance letter (which also included all documentation) we filed with RR is as follows:
As a family who has adopted both privately and domestically we are familiar with how the overall process works. We are also well aware of how the trust and faith we have put in RR in the past has not only been broken openly and blatantly but also underhandedly and viciously. We have stood our ground these past couple months not because we think we are special but because we have very good reasons to do so. Our trust has been broken by Andrea Roberts and various members of her "staff" and our confidential information has been shared with those whom have NO business nor any right to see or be told. Andrea has abused her position of one having access to personal and sensitive information. We have that documentation as to many others including our own USCIS.
We will address each of the points you will see below in the reply letter we received from RR BOD. This is not about creating sides or about hatred. This is about breaking a cycle of domination over the emotions and lives of families and children. Brian and I will never cave to that which is wrong. We will not sell our souls for money. Our souls tell us that we are to be strong for that which is right and to not allow the fire of bullying to be fueled.
1. We will not release our phone number for privacy reasons. We already know that information from our prior home study which was in fact given to RR has been released to other people from Andrea Roberts herself.
Our social worker chose not to have her personal phone number and address released to RR for the very same reason as us. As an independent sw (the state of Texas allows independent sw to perform home assessments), her physical address and phone number happen to be her personal ones. Due to the breach of confidential information our sw has indeed seen on the part of RR she chose not to release that info. I had mistyped her email adding in a certain part merely as an oversight. To ask for something they in fact already have :a) because my sw has emailed RR-Michelle Zoromski in particular, and b) RR emailed my sw false allegations against us, is redundant and simply just an exercise in bullying on their part.
We will not release the name and information of our facilitation team per their request. It has already been established (including documentation) that RR facilitator, Serge, has already attempted to identify the team who is working with us and reported that whomever that was that they needed to clear our adoption with him as well as the availability of the children we intend to adopt. This idea that Serge and RR are the ones to clear adoptions through was in fact negated by both the US Embassy in America as well as in Kiev.
2. Once again the personal contact information for our social worker will not be released to RR due to their blatantly violation of privacy and confidentiality.
Our social worker emailed to Michelle Zoromski a letter stating that she approved us to adopt the three particular children we are committed to. Later it was requested that she still fill out the SW Preapproval Form of which she did. We did not send that in to RR. Our sw faxed it to Michelle Zoromski. We did however include a copy of it in our grievance. Our social worker in fact sent a reply to Kelly Mokashi on Wednesday, June 12th stating that she did in fact approve us and that at no time did we (the Burmans) forge her signature as was accused by RR.
3. Once again the error in typing our sw email was an oversight but not one which was not corrected with the email sent by our sw to Michelle Zoromski and Kelly Mokashi.
Omission of our initials on certain lines of the application form titles Disclosure Form are for the reasons that our trust in RR and Andrea Roberts to keep information private and not abuse her position to obtain and try to stop our adoption was broken. Information that not only was private but personal was improperly shared by Andrea Roberts, in addition to the fact that Andrea also attempted to obtain information regarding our current adoption from our USCIS officer as well as attempting to tell the officer information which was not her place to tell the officer with regards on how to do her job (that was confirmed by our officer). Andrea is NOT a social worker. She is NOT running an agency. She has NO RIGHT to do or ask those things.
With regards to our home study, it was already established in an email that we would not be sending in our home study as they were given notification by our social worker that we did indeed have approval. Now RR is saying it MUST be sent. The purpose of a grievance letter response is not to demand MORE things or information but to address that which is being described as grievance. They do not need my home study to verify if we have been approved since we already have USCIS approval and our dossier has already been in Ukraine.
USCIS approval will not be needed when we give RR our travel date as having a travel date from Ukraine is indicative that we have already received approval from our government. In addition to this fact, it was once again established that Andrea Roberts cannot be trusted with information because she went ahead and contacted USCIS without having a Form G28 or written permission as required by USCIS in order to give out our information or discuss our adoption.
4. Giving our children's names and birth dates. WE did fill out on the application where it states to give the children's names as they appear on RR. That is what they asked for and we gave it. Once again, RR is NOT an agency therefore they are not the ones who HAVE to verify if my children are the children who are on their website. We already have that confirmation from reputable organizations who work with the children directly (unlike RR) as well as our facilitator who already confirmed the identities of the children. Life2Orphans, Megan Fordenbacher, has worked with our children directly and is well aware and confirmed that the children for whom we submitted CSPs for are indeed the children listed on RR as did Grace Haven's Tina Kacirek and a mom who spent nearly 6 weeks with two of our children. Our facilitator is a competent individual who knows their job and has successfully completed many adoptions therefore our trust is in her to do her job which is to confirm the identity of our children.
Confidentiality Form-This form states that we must sign in stating that we know we are not allowed to talk to anyone about the process of appealing the decision of the RR BOD to not release the grant funds raised specifically for our children yet it is up to the discretion of the BOD whom they release information to. We have already seen documentation of the release of our information, some of which is not even to be in the hands of RR, to those they deem on a need to know basis and then those individuals have in turn shared that information with others. We are not cutting ourselves off from the support of the organizations and individuals who have helped us. Not to mention, what ministry requires a family to sign a confidentiality agreement when they themselves have proven they don't maintain confidentiality? We have given our home study to grant organizations who have proven they maintain our confidentiality.
Disbursement of grant funds- Now the funds are being disbursed in two installments with one being after court. A big issue with just that part is that per RR documents we are required to sign, no funds are disbursed after the completion of court. So they are asking me to believe they will disburse the second half of money after court yet they repeatedly say they don't do that.
Once again they are asking for identity of our facilitator by having them send confirmation of our SDA appt. Why is our family being asked to give this specific confirmation when many other families are being told that RR only needs to know what the travel date it? Again, they are not an agency and the claim that they (RR) has a responsibility to ensure a successful adoption is not their assurance to make.
Now the requirement of our court decree is being made in order to receive the second disbursement of funds. Not one person has had to do this and it is not the ministry's place to ask such a thing.
Again, this was to be a response to our grievance letter and not a chance for RR to make even more demands. It is a shame that what has started out as a wonderful opportunity for a ministry to be helping our family celebrate bringing home three of the orphans that have sat on their web page and the web pages of other organizations and hearts of so many has in fact turned into a situation where that ministry has abused their position to manipulate their demands to appear as if this is only to ensure a "successful adoption". If an organization such as RR is not willing to do everything in its power to work towards helping children and families unite than why are they in operation to begin with? This is supposed to be about the children yet RR wants to place such ridiculous demands on our family. Our adoption in Bulgaria was not a failed adoption. We did not fail our boys but rather our adoption was derailed. What happened in that adoption does not give anyone the right to determine if we need to go through more hoops than other families. That money was given by families to these children NOT by Andrea Roberts or her BOD. We have applied for and received grants without having to provide this ridiculous requirements as being set forth by RR. Compassion and understanding is what we all need to share not judgement and tyranny. All we asked for is the grant funds which were lovingly donated by so many people with the intent that it would go to the family/families who adopted them. There were no strings attached to the giving so it is incomprehensible why RR would attach the strings to the disbursement. This is about three older children with special needs who have a family working hard to bring them home so they can grow up with the love of our family. Andrea Roberts' job is not to identify whom she thinks is fit to adopt the children. That is the job of social workers. Social workers who have gone to school and hours upon hours of training. Andrea Roberts position is that of the head of a ministry designed to help families bring home children through the grant disbursement of funds raised by so many people. Let's all work together to resolve the crisis not further perpetuate it by increasing demands.
Brian and I love each and every one of our children and we will continue our very best to work towards helping those who truly do love the least of these.
June
25, 2013
Reece’s
Rainbow
Attention
Kelly Mokashi
Board
of Directors
PO
Box 4024
Gaithersburg,
Maryland 20885
Re: Burman
Family Adoption of Three Children from Ukraine
Dear
Board of Directors of Reece’s Rainbow:
We write to
appeal your decision denying us the grant funds raised for three children we
intend to adopt: Paige, Nolan and
Lauren. For the details reasons set
forth below, the funds donated for these children should be provided to the
adopting family (us), and we ask for you to release them to us at the
appropriate time in the process.
On May 4, 2013,
we wrote an email to Reece’s Rainbow (“RR”) announcing our intention to adopt
three children who are listed on your site as “Paige,” “Nolan,” and “Lauren.” That date commenced our relationship with RR
for this adoption. We have included all
correspondence since that time as an attachment to this letter, per your
grievance requirements.
Our initial
communications with RR were with Michelle Zoromski, donations coordinator. As the correspondence reflects, the
relationship began on a very positive note and has deteriorated from
there. On May 14, Michelle informed us
that in order to receive the grant funds associated with the three children we
are adopting, we needed to provide RR (i) approval from our social worker, (ii)
the children’s full names and dates of birth, (iii) USCIS approval, (iv) our
appointment date in Ukraine, and (v) and estimate of our adoption
expenses. To eliminate any doubt, we
have reattached each of these items to this letter, with the exception of the
travel date which we expect to receive in the next 5 weeks. We also provided RR with our completed
application(attached).
While we have
had certain back and forth related to this documentation, as reflected in the
attached correspondence, the requested documentation is complete. And yet, instead of moving forward in a
productive way to release three children from the institutions where they reside,
we have suffered public attack and slander by members of your staff. First, we were publicly accused of criminal
activity – a claim that is not only false but completely fabricated. The letter
sent by the President of the Board of Directors of Reece’s Rainbow notified in
writing the desire by Reece’s Rainbow to know if our social worker did in fact
sign her name to our approval to adopt and to verify if we had fully disclosed
all information regarding a past adoption as well as correspondence to our
social worker with the belief of Reece’s Rainbow that we used our social
worker’s name and information without her approval. Then, Andrea Roberts made direct and inappropriate
contact with USCIS to discuss our pending case.
Notably, USCIS acted promptly and did not release any information to her
because she did not have our permission.
We have USCIS approval. Third, an
individual from Reece’s Rainbow contacted Baylor and attempted to speak with
our social worker without our permission or consent. All of this deeply saddens us, particularly
when we are seeking to bring home three children who need a family!
On June 20,
2013, we received a letter from you denying our grant application. The stated reasons for the denial are (i)
failure to complete the required application in full with all components, (ii)
failure to submit the required $25 application fee, and (iii) failure to
complete the required application within 10 days of verbal commitment. We respond to each of these reasons in
turn.
First, our
application is attached hereto. We have
also provided the additional information requested by Michelle and set forth in
the third paragraph of this letter. As
such, we are unaware of additional materials you may need to process this
application. Of course if such
information is outstanding, please advise us immediately. Second, we did not provide the application
fee because weeks ago the entire staff of RR stopped communicating with
us. We did not feel right paying the
money when no one was willing/able to respond to our emails letting us know
what the status was. In order to move
this process along, we have included $25 with this appeal and consider this
objection to our application resolved.
Last, you have stated that we did not apply within ten days of verbal
commitment. This is the first time we
are hearing of this requirement.
Michelle informed us, in her May 6 communication that documentation
needed to be provided to her “prior to our court date.” Moreover,
what your website does say is that, “Application for grant funds must be made prior to the completion of a child’s adoption.” (emphasis in original). It does not state that there are other time
constraints on the timeline of application.
Since our adoptions are not complete, we do not understand the third
reason for denial.
It is
unfathomable to us that we are in this dispute with a reputable organization
like Reece’s Rainbow. It is our sincere
hope that this documentation puts to rest any questions you may have about our
application for the grant funds given by numerous families in support of these
particular children. If there are
outstanding questions, please contact us directly and immediately. We expect to be traveling in the next few
weeks and as soon as we have the date, we will provide it to you, per your requirements.
Sincerely,
Brian and Shelly
Burman
cc. Kelly Mokashi, Board President, by email
Andrea Roberts, Executive Director,
by email
As a family who has adopted both privately and domestically we are familiar with how the overall process works. We are also well aware of how the trust and faith we have put in RR in the past has not only been broken openly and blatantly but also underhandedly and viciously. We have stood our ground these past couple months not because we think we are special but because we have very good reasons to do so. Our trust has been broken by Andrea Roberts and various members of her "staff" and our confidential information has been shared with those whom have NO business nor any right to see or be told. Andrea has abused her position of one having access to personal and sensitive information. We have that documentation as to many others including our own USCIS.
We will address each of the points you will see below in the reply letter we received from RR BOD. This is not about creating sides or about hatred. This is about breaking a cycle of domination over the emotions and lives of families and children. Brian and I will never cave to that which is wrong. We will not sell our souls for money. Our souls tell us that we are to be strong for that which is right and to not allow the fire of bullying to be fueled.
Our social worker chose not to have her personal phone number and address released to RR for the very same reason as us. As an independent sw (the state of Texas allows independent sw to perform home assessments), her physical address and phone number happen to be her personal ones. Due to the breach of confidential information our sw has indeed seen on the part of RR she chose not to release that info. I had mistyped her email adding in a certain part merely as an oversight. To ask for something they in fact already have :a) because my sw has emailed RR-Michelle Zoromski in particular, and b) RR emailed my sw false allegations against us, is redundant and simply just an exercise in bullying on their part.
We will not release the name and information of our facilitation team per their request. It has already been established (including documentation) that RR facilitator, Serge, has already attempted to identify the team who is working with us and reported that whomever that was that they needed to clear our adoption with him as well as the availability of the children we intend to adopt. This idea that Serge and RR are the ones to clear adoptions through was in fact negated by both the US Embassy in America as well as in Kiev.
2. Once again the personal contact information for our social worker will not be released to RR due to their blatantly violation of privacy and confidentiality.
Our social worker emailed to Michelle Zoromski a letter stating that she approved us to adopt the three particular children we are committed to. Later it was requested that she still fill out the SW Preapproval Form of which she did. We did not send that in to RR. Our sw faxed it to Michelle Zoromski. We did however include a copy of it in our grievance. Our social worker in fact sent a reply to Kelly Mokashi on Wednesday, June 12th stating that she did in fact approve us and that at no time did we (the Burmans) forge her signature as was accused by RR.
3. Once again the error in typing our sw email was an oversight but not one which was not corrected with the email sent by our sw to Michelle Zoromski and Kelly Mokashi.
Omission of our initials on certain lines of the application form titles Disclosure Form are for the reasons that our trust in RR and Andrea Roberts to keep information private and not abuse her position to obtain and try to stop our adoption was broken. Information that not only was private but personal was improperly shared by Andrea Roberts, in addition to the fact that Andrea also attempted to obtain information regarding our current adoption from our USCIS officer as well as attempting to tell the officer information which was not her place to tell the officer with regards on how to do her job (that was confirmed by our officer). Andrea is NOT a social worker. She is NOT running an agency. She has NO RIGHT to do or ask those things.
With regards to our home study, it was already established in an email that we would not be sending in our home study as they were given notification by our social worker that we did indeed have approval. Now RR is saying it MUST be sent. The purpose of a grievance letter response is not to demand MORE things or information but to address that which is being described as grievance. They do not need my home study to verify if we have been approved since we already have USCIS approval and our dossier has already been in Ukraine.
USCIS approval will not be needed when we give RR our travel date as having a travel date from Ukraine is indicative that we have already received approval from our government. In addition to this fact, it was once again established that Andrea Roberts cannot be trusted with information because she went ahead and contacted USCIS without having a Form G28 or written permission as required by USCIS in order to give out our information or discuss our adoption.
4. Giving our children's names and birth dates. WE did fill out on the application where it states to give the children's names as they appear on RR. That is what they asked for and we gave it. Once again, RR is NOT an agency therefore they are not the ones who HAVE to verify if my children are the children who are on their website. We already have that confirmation from reputable organizations who work with the children directly (unlike RR) as well as our facilitator who already confirmed the identities of the children. Life2Orphans, Megan Fordenbacher, has worked with our children directly and is well aware and confirmed that the children for whom we submitted CSPs for are indeed the children listed on RR as did Grace Haven's Tina Kacirek and a mom who spent nearly 6 weeks with two of our children. Our facilitator is a competent individual who knows their job and has successfully completed many adoptions therefore our trust is in her to do her job which is to confirm the identity of our children.
Confidentiality Form-This form states that we must sign in stating that we know we are not allowed to talk to anyone about the process of appealing the decision of the RR BOD to not release the grant funds raised specifically for our children yet it is up to the discretion of the BOD whom they release information to. We have already seen documentation of the release of our information, some of which is not even to be in the hands of RR, to those they deem on a need to know basis and then those individuals have in turn shared that information with others. We are not cutting ourselves off from the support of the organizations and individuals who have helped us. Not to mention, what ministry requires a family to sign a confidentiality agreement when they themselves have proven they don't maintain confidentiality? We have given our home study to grant organizations who have proven they maintain our confidentiality.
Disbursement of grant funds- Now the funds are being disbursed in two installments with one being after court. A big issue with just that part is that per RR documents we are required to sign, no funds are disbursed after the completion of court. So they are asking me to believe they will disburse the second half of money after court yet they repeatedly say they don't do that.
Once again they are asking for identity of our facilitator by having them send confirmation of our SDA appt. Why is our family being asked to give this specific confirmation when many other families are being told that RR only needs to know what the travel date it? Again, they are not an agency and the claim that they (RR) has a responsibility to ensure a successful adoption is not their assurance to make.
Now the requirement of our court decree is being made in order to receive the second disbursement of funds. Not one person has had to do this and it is not the ministry's place to ask such a thing.
Again, this was to be a response to our grievance letter and not a chance for RR to make even more demands. It is a shame that what has started out as a wonderful opportunity for a ministry to be helping our family celebrate bringing home three of the orphans that have sat on their web page and the web pages of other organizations and hearts of so many has in fact turned into a situation where that ministry has abused their position to manipulate their demands to appear as if this is only to ensure a "successful adoption". If an organization such as RR is not willing to do everything in its power to work towards helping children and families unite than why are they in operation to begin with? This is supposed to be about the children yet RR wants to place such ridiculous demands on our family. Our adoption in Bulgaria was not a failed adoption. We did not fail our boys but rather our adoption was derailed. What happened in that adoption does not give anyone the right to determine if we need to go through more hoops than other families. That money was given by families to these children NOT by Andrea Roberts or her BOD. We have applied for and received grants without having to provide this ridiculous requirements as being set forth by RR. Compassion and understanding is what we all need to share not judgement and tyranny. All we asked for is the grant funds which were lovingly donated by so many people with the intent that it would go to the family/families who adopted them. There were no strings attached to the giving so it is incomprehensible why RR would attach the strings to the disbursement. This is about three older children with special needs who have a family working hard to bring them home so they can grow up with the love of our family. Andrea Roberts' job is not to identify whom she thinks is fit to adopt the children. That is the job of social workers. Social workers who have gone to school and hours upon hours of training. Andrea Roberts position is that of the head of a ministry designed to help families bring home children through the grant disbursement of funds raised by so many people. Let's all work together to resolve the crisis not further perpetuate it by increasing demands.
Brian and I love each and every one of our children and we will continue our very best to work towards helping those who truly do love the least of these.
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