Adoption Scammers: The Story of Tara Lynn Lee

Few occasions are more joyous in a courtroom than the completion of a successful adoption. I know; I’ve been there. I also know most birth moms want what is best for their child and most adoption agencies and attorneys are trying to do what’s right for everyone involved. Which is why it’s important to recognize when this is not the case.

The Con Artist

On February 27, 2020, mother-of-five Tara Lynn Lee, operating as the Always Hope Pregnancy and Education Center, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for running an adoption scheme that broke the hearts and emptied the wallets of hopeful and expecting parents-to-be. Between 2014 and 2018, she matched multiple couples to the same birth mother, made up fictitious pregnant women, and paired adoptive parents with women who had no intention of giving up her child. Then as the due date approached, Lee would break the bad news; the birth mom has disappeared and Lee can’t find her, the pregnant mother has been shot and the baby died, or some other creative, bold-faced lie. And she used the profits from those stolen dreams to buy high-end jewelry and luxuries for herself.

This was not someone who scammed people from a distance. Tara Lee got to know each couple she scammed. She talked to them on the phone, listened to their hopes and dreams, sympathized with their infertility…