Business ProfileforLutheran Child and Family Services

Lori was the LCFS social worker assigned to our adoption case, in service to our birth mother. Ms. Lori traveled to the hospital to meet with our birth mother. When she entered the hospital room, she lingered in the room’s entrance; when greeted by multiple others in the room, she did not make eye contact, even closed her eyes. We (the adopting parents) recognized Lori was there for the birth mother and needed to honor her confidentiality and establish trustworthiness with her client. Day 5 after delivery, we arrived at the hospital to find that the birth mother and baby had unexpectedly been discharged contrary to the timeline that had been shared with us. We were notified not by Lori, LCFS, nor by the IL Attorney Lori had been in communication with; we learned about our birth mother’s choice and subsequent discharge almost 16 hours after the fact from the stunned nurses on duty when we arrived to check in on the baby the morning after, just like we had each day prior. The nurses on shift were horrified that the social worker not contacted us and instead that they were the ones forced to give us the news. We were bewildered such a decision had been so carelessly handled. Monday found us unable to eat, sleep, or process without falling to pieces with grief. You can imagine our horror when we opened an email to find an additional bill awaiting us from Lori, the very person who hadn't only failed to communicate, but also handled the interactions in this case in such a heinous and insensitive manner. Every part of a failed adoption is excruciating. Receiving an additional invoice was never going to feel good. But receiving the immediate invoice–when Lori hadn’t even given us the dignity of communicating the birth mother’s decision–is negligent and unconscionable. This kind of mismanagement at such a delicate time with such little care is inconceivable. We wish for this kind of treatment to *never* be inflicted to another family again. It’s unthinkably heartless.