Part One

Today part two of the Dr. Phil show’s episode tagged “Adoption Scams” aired.

As I observed with the first half of the show yesterday, things went fairly well without a lot of the negative adoption stereotypes I was gritting my teeth waiting to encounter. The show continued where they left off in Thursday’s episode, focusing on three hopeful adoptive moms who were trying to confront “Melissa." The woman Melissa had posed to them as a pregnant mother looking to place her baby with them for adoption. There was no baby. All three woman present had also been promised the possibility to adopt the baby that did not ever exist.

Melissa may have received gifts or some money and bills paid from some of the women, others she only managed to steal their trust. Once confronted she expressed that she was sorry for her actions, her sincerity I feel could be up for debate though. This became especially obvious when she refused to allow two of the women to speak to her and would only consent to a face to face with one of the ladies. This particular woman she had told that the expected baby had died and she was sending her the cremated ashes. Nothing ever was sent to the prospective adoptive mother.

This had to make me wonder what kind of mind does such a crazy thing? Melissa obviously is in need of some intense therapy and hopefully the law will be keeping a close eye on her. This is just the kind of situation where I could even see a few real birthmother’s wanting to get in a van and drive down to confront her as well. Not only did she emotionally assault some of these women seeking to adopt, but she has perpetuated a negative image of people who do consider placing a baby for adoption, or have done so. At least no one seemed to be referring to Melissa as a “birthmother.” I would be anxious to learn if this woman can or will be prosecuted for her fraud in any way. I certainly think she should be.

Dr. Phil did end with a few positives. After all three women got a chance to confront Melissa, we learned that one of the women did go on to adopt a little girl from Guatemala. They also introduced several adoptive parents who had been on a previous show (sorry I did not catch that one). One couple had their information on Dr. Phil’s website and were contacted by two separate women and adopted TWO newborn girls within weeks of each other. The girls were so cute, they looked like twins!

I was truly happy to see that the three women in the episode, although their trust was sorely tested had the courage to say they would go on and continue their pursuit to complete their families by way of adoption. I know there are children out there and anyone who wants to be a parent should not give up that hope.